The Cosby Show Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Cosby institute - Essay ExampleThis study looks into The Cosby convey that would be best categorized under the conflict area of sociological theory. The sitcom challenged negative ideas of African Americans that have been embedded in American society for far too long. On the surface, The Cosby Show whitethorn have seemed like a simple television show, but the series had a far-reaching impact on American pop-culture and society. The show made people rethink how African Americans were perceived in the United States. Because of The Cosby Show, it was mathematical for other African American shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Family Matters to be palmy on television. plane though African American shows like Good Times preceded The Cosby Show, Bill Cosbys series was the low to present black people as having esteemed professions and living an upper-middle class life. In the show, Cosbys role was Heathcliff Huxtable, a prominent obstetrician, and his wife, Clair Huxtabl e, was an attorney. Even though the show premiered in the middle of the eighties, there was still general prejudice and racial fears of black people. In the minds of more Americans, professions such as a doctors and lawyers were traditionally dumb for whites. In previous years, not only were blacks not qualified for these jobs but also they were deemed inept and uneffective to be successful in these professions according to the widespread notion of racial superiority. The Cosby Show had proved this argument wrong. Not only did the show have a positive, successful black male, but the inclusion of a professional, black woman on television was groundbreaking at heart its own right. In Americas history, black women could only attain jobs as wash-maids or interior(prenominal) servants. To see a woman of seeming doing neither of those jobs and being a successful lawyer was also a monumental shift in the way black women have been categorized and stereotyped. For far too long, black women have had to face overleap and obstacles of their own. Within the confines of Americas racial and patriarchal history, black women have had to carry the bare(a) burdens of being black and female. Black women have had to contend with their own stereotypes, including the mammy role, the sensual mulatto woman, and the docile domestic servant. The externalise of Clair Huxtable contradicted assumed roles of not only black women but also women as a whole. The image of a black, professional woman who was not dependent on her husband challenged established racial preconceived idea and female and grammatical gender roles within American society. The show pushed back and made people question gender norms and racial categorization. The series defied not only established assumptions of gender but also of class. Because of Americas racial caste system, African Americans were thought to remain forever at the bottom of the social ladder. whiz of the main selling points for coming to Ame rica has been the typical rags to riches story, the idea of coming to the land of prospect and moving beyond ones social station. However, the reality was that where a person was born and what shinny color he or she had determined a persons social status in life and still does to this day. With the odds stacked against non-white people, however, there have been ethnic groups that have managed to move within the American class structure, including African Americans. The Cosby Show was an example of African Americans being able to become successful and not remaining at the bottom of the class scale as prescribed by many white Americans. The series also created conflict by defying who could rise above class and who could become wealthy. The Cosby Show revealed the fact that the