Representation Of Black Women In Media

Representation isn’t just a few POC’s in a show. Representation is the depiction of people that reflects the ethnic and racial backgrounds of people where that show takes place. And even that definition is one dimensional. Representation is also about portraying people of color in a way that isn’t a rehashing of detrimental stereotypes. Two popular shows that we give acclaim for their representation are as much as the problem as they are the solution. Shows like Orange is the New Black and Empire all feature diverse casts, ones that reflect the racial composition of today’s united states, but they also negatively reflect on black women in particular.

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OITNB is known for giving its characters nuanced story arcs and humanizing them despite their crimes. It’s good show in that sense, but if you look at all the backstories you find that there is no nuance for black women. They don’t regret their crimes, and the show gives you no room to feel sorry for them. On a show where half the cast is made up of POC it is seriously lacking in making them three dimensional characters. Take Black Cindy for instance, it’s implied that her crime was theft, but there is no saving Cindy. She’s portrayed as selfish especially in regards to her child, the only redemption that she has is her comedic timing, and that is given to every black girl at her table. Unlike Piper and Red we do not get to feel sorry for her because of her imprisonment, all of these women look out for themselves, especially Piper, but we are never  given nuance for Cindy. The black women on the show (with the exception of Poussey, who is the show’s version of ‘my black friend’) are all sexless and ghetto. They all came from the streets and they are all robbed of their sexual agency. The only black woman on the show who has ever been given a romantic storyline past or present is Poussey and once again she is the exception to the rule, until it’s time for her to become a plot device.

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Empire is a hodge podge of excellent one-liners, drama and stereotypes. Cookie exemplifies one of the main stereotypes of black women today. She is the angry ghetto black woman who beats her kids with brooms and just got out of prison. Cookie has a depth that makes her a two dimensional character, but the fact that her depth is rooted in drug dealing and the streets doesn’t allow her to be a complete character. She’s a stereotype’s stereotype and while she’s entertaining Cookie represents everything that we shame black women for, and the only way for the show to redeem, her would be to show her as more than Lucius's baby mama.

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There is nothing wrong with being from the streets or doing what you have to to survive, only showing television characters as drug dealers and ghetto baby mamas, only showing them as remorseless and unworthy of our sympathy, does nothing to uplift, it does nothing to present images that reflect the people. What these shows do, it’s not representation, it is a mockery of black existence and survival.