Responses to Julia
Discuss the range of viewer responses to Julia described by Bodrohkozy's article. Based on your viewing of the pilot and our discussion of television and race in the 1960s, why do you think the show was interpreted so many different ways?
The responses that Julia received seemed to be mostly those of disapproval, but in different ways. Those of color seemed to enjoy the show, mostly, but they wanted to add more and they wrote to the writers saying that they would be willing to help. For example, one viewer suggested that they add a teacher to the show or a friend for Julia’s son to play with. On the same topic of adding to the show, they believe that they needed a black head of the household. They thought that it was a “destructive black matriarchy” and would be upset if they didn’t see Julia end up with a black male by the end of the series.
ReplyDeleteAs far as white viewers, there were also varied responses on their end. For example, one said, “I enjoy Julia and I just happen to be Caucasian.” Another said, “Maybe if my children watch this program they will also see the good side of Negro people rather than all the bad side they see on the news programs and such.” There were many white viewers that really did enjoy what they were watching. On the other end, many people were upset that Julia was not, “telling it like it is.” She was basically described as a “white negro” and it was not realistic in any sense. Also, they made her seem more educated and sophisticated than her white neighbors, which did not sit well with many viewers.
I think that there were so many different responses because they had such a wide range of audience members. It wasn’t just focused on one group of people but many. Also, the conversation of race and gender was beginning to become more of a topic within television and I think that is one of the reasons that people were more responsive. It was coming out of being a “taboo” subject. Based on other shows, they were starting to be a little more realistic with what they were discussing on television and that is why viewers were more apt to send in their thoughts.
According to Bodrohkozy, people responded to Julia first and foremost along racial lines- white viewers responded very differently than black viewers to the show. White viewers were more blatantly having to grapple with issues of racial identity and difference than were black viewers. For some white viewers, the show was interpreted as an education in racial difference, with many viewers foregrounding themselves as "white" in their letters, which also lends itself to the importance placed on racial difference. Included in this anxiety over racial difference, white viewers would sometimes applaud the denial of race that Julia practiced. These white viewers were trying to found a depiction of black identity and experience, though problematically a lot of their understandings were based on black "otherness" when compared with whiteness- problematically constructing "blackness" as deviated from "whiteness". On the contrary however, other white viewers didn't approve of Julia's apparent "white-washing" strategy, which seemed to strip the show of African American culture. The show did not know how it wanted to represent the black reality of the time, and some white viewers were threatened by the perhaps both unrealistic and exception representation of the whitewashed, powerful single mother that Julia represented as well. Overall, white viewing of the show was grounded in anxiety over racial difference and the white audience grappled heavily with both authenticity of Julia's representation and the effects it had on white representation.
ReplyDeleteBlack viewers meanwhile had a different reaction to the show. First of all, some similar issues were grappled with by both audiences: realistic representation, the place of women, class issues, etc., but from a more positive perspective generally. Black viewers wanted to improve the show, where perhaps they couldn't identify with the "white" Julia character, they wanted to assist the program in improving. But these viewers had problems of their own. The central, single black matriarch brought up stereotyping issues about black family structure, particularly the exclusion of a black patriarch from the family. These viewers read the program as critically but with an eye towards improvement and the complaints they did have sprung from lived experience of their misrepresentation.
I think the show was interpreted so many different ways because of both the central issue of believability and the time at which it emerged. The show suffered from the context in which it was the first prominent black representation on TV in at least a decade. Because of this, the show suffered from the burden of representation- it was the only point of discourse on black television representation and so all opinions of black television representation were read in it. Similarly, because of that lull in representation, the expectations for the program could've ranged wildly from white people whose first exposure to black culture could be through television, or black people who lived the experience they were seeing misrepresented on TV. Also, this was a key moment in American history, the 60s saw the strengthening of civil rights actions and increased attention to the black American experience. Therefore, I would say a lot of people had opinions on the program because of its social context anyway.
The show being mostly devoid of cultural content also lends itself to so many interpretations. Hal Kanter trying to atone for his Amos n Andy sins failed in that he went from minstrel show to white-washed sitcom. When no real statement is being made about race in the program, its hard to engage with the program from a defined perspective. Everyone could react how they wanted because at no point did the show really assert its racial content or force the viewer to confront the issue. Rather, the viewer had to react based on what they expected to be represented vs. what they saw.
As with the show Amos ‘n’ Andy, Julia created many different responses to how race was being portrayed on the television. With the black viewers there were a few main concerns with Julia. One of these concerns was whether the representation of blacks was realistic or if it portrayed a white world for black viewers. One example of this is shown in a letter that was sent in to the show by an African American women said, “ Your work is good for an all white program—but something is much missing from your character –Julia is unreal. To repeat again – Julia is no negro woman I know & I’m negro with many friends in situations such as hers.” Another aspect of the show that concerned African Americans was the depiction of the black family. For white viewers, some thought that Julia showed the good side of African Americans and. On the contrary, many other white viewers saw Julia as a “white negro” and unrealistically portraying African Americans. An example of this is shown in a letter written by a white viewer that said, “ I do not object to white people being in the cast. What I do object to is selecting the black cast from people who are so white oriented that everybody has a white mentality.” I think that the show had so many different interpretations because of the different racial issues that were going on during the time period that the show was being aired. Also since both white and African Americans watched the show, there were bound to be different opinions of the show.
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