Issues in Fresh Prince of Bel Air

The following is an a extract from issues which were addressed in 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air'

While largely a comedy, this show has commonly addressed various relevant issues in a dramatic sense, including a frequent focus on African-American issues. A recurring theme was the comparison of Will's lower-class upbringing and the Bank's high-class lifestyle, and how this affected their cultural identities. Profiling and stereotypes based on both race and class were often addressed on the show, including episodes where Will and Carlton are arrested because they are seen driving a Mercedes, and where Carlton is rejected from a fraternity for being too "spoiled". Other issues addressed included inter-racial marriage, drug and alcohol abuse, pre-marital sex, single parenthood, gun violence, and teen pregnancy.


This is interesting as Crash also addresses similar issues, looking at different upbringings - lower and high class. In Crash Anthony and Peter come from a lower class background whereas Cameron and Christine come from a higher class background and this affects their cultural identities. Referring back to the extract when Will and Carlton are stopped in their Mercedes, they are stopped partly because of their colour of skin and a black person wouldn't normally be seen driving a Mercedes because they may not have been able to afford it, therefore it would seem that they may have stolen it.
However if a white person was seen driving a Mercedes, it is highly unlikely that they would have been stopped

Below is part of an extract written by Mary Beltran / University of Wisconsin-Madison. It was posted on FlowTV - which is a critical forum on Television and Media Culture.
The extract is Based on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

Without intimate knowledge of the evolution of ethnic representations on television and in film over the decades nor of the histories of various racialized groups, often it is too easy to see some variety in skin color combined with markers of upper-middle class status and to ascribe to these narratives the blanket interpretation of “positive” representation. If the non-white characters aren't criminals it must be good, right
The members of the Banks family, if anything, were ascribed stereotypes that have historically been the domain of wealthy white characters: Stuffy, materialistic, ditzy, and like their cousin Will, from more diverse West Philadelphia, in contrast was upbeat, confident, and playful–qualities that made him a favorite of many of my male students, of all ethnic backgrounds. Despite his central role in the narrative, Will's point of view and back story of growing up in a working-class, predominantly black neighborhood, which he has escaped by coming to live with the Bankses, is almost never treated in a realistic or sustained fashion, however. I find myself wanting to argue that “blackness,” if there is such a thing, as a result is left out. But then again, who is to say what form and meaning blackness has on an individual or family-by-family basis? And why can it not exist in Bel-Air? I see the flaws in my own argument, and have to admit that the representation of racialized groups is a topic that will continue to confoundus in various ways.
There's virtually no agreement on what it would mean to “represent diversity” accurately or fairly on television and in other mediated representations. Would this entail greater visibility of various racial and ethnic groups, increased realism and accuracy, or the inclusion of images that promote more egalitarian social relations? Even if “diversity” in this regard could be accomplished, would it even be supported by television advertisers and watched by enough viewers to survive?
Scholars, ethnic media advocates, advertisers, and media producers clearly disagree on these questions and will continue to do so, given the complexity of the matrix of production, representation, and consumption of media narratives and how race, ethnicity, and class are imbricated in that matrix and in U.S. social relations more generally. The 1990s programming that today's college students grew up on proves a complicated case in point. How to raise consciousness regarding patterns of representation that include the common invisibility and denigration(unfair criticism) of ethnic minorities, as well as the whitewashing of non-white histories and perspectives even while casting non-whites in more professional and “positive” roles? The challenge continues..
http://flowtv.org/?p=63