Tuesday, October 15, 2013
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? Why, for example, would some critics refer to the show or the character Julia as “white?”
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Julia provoked a wide range of viewer responses from all over the racial spectrum. Some white viewers tended to emphasize Julia's blackness, commenting that it was refreshing to see an African American woman with plights similar to their own: how to be the perfect housewife and mother while still trying to make ends meet. Other fan letters emphasized the similarity of Julia's life to their own while avoiding the topic of race, but the sheer act of not mentioning it was very telling about their discomfort with the subject. A few had negative remarks, but again, mostly to do with Julia's ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteBlack viewers, on the other hand, were more critical of Julia's supposed "whiteness", pointing out that her tidy, spacious apartment was far from the realities of the urban slums that many others had to deal with, and that her race wasn't acknowledged nearly often enough. Her missing husband was a blow for black viewers, who often found it offensive that an African American man could not be depicted in a positive sitcom light (evidently, the prospect of dealing this directly with racial issues was too big a task for Julia's white showrunner to tackle). These viewers, though, often offered solutions. They advised the showrunner on possible plot lines or new characters, and offered their help in writing or playing black characters that would make the show more realistic, comprehensive, and representative of their culture. Viewers evidently had many responses to Julia, but all were colored by the issue of race.
Though the pilot was atypical (it did acknowledge Julia and her son's race, especially in contrast to their white neighbors), I found that the show was oddly avoidant of an issue it was so eager to present. Making a television sitcom about a working black woman in a leading role was far ahead of the times (Scandal's Kerry Washington was the first African American woman since Diahann Carroll to be nominated for an Emmy Award for a leading role on her own show!), but Julia's white writers were hesitant to think of Julia as embodying her race. Instead, feminine issues were tackled more: Julia saw harassment at work not because of her ethnicity, but her gender. Her bosses persecuted her because she was pretty, and hardly noticed the color of her skin. Julia was also beautiful in a general way. Anyone could acknowledge that she was elegant and a good mother, and her likability was not limited by race.
But the show didn't want to highlight racial issues or tensions. Julia was a show about a family, and although the depiction single African American mother may not have been standard for 1960s television, the comedy and lighthearted subjects explored on the show were appealing to broad audiences (inspiring fandom of black audiences that were probably harder to reach with traditional "white" sitcoms). In my opinion, Julia offered a positive depiction of fun and relatable black characters, a complete turnaround from the more polarizing Amos 'N Andy. Still ruled by networks and audience interests (as television would continue to be for decades), Julia was a departure from the standard, while still falling comfortably within the norm of issues and topics that could be addressed on television.
The range of viewer response to “Julia” mimics the struggles Americans were facing over the representations of Blacks and Whites in both society and the media during the later 1960s. As the decade of the 1960s ended, depictions of Blacks and Whites in the media was shifting, the two races could no longer stand in contrast to each other. This shift comes across in the drastically different responses to “Julia” based on race. White letters tended to include “self-consciousness about racial self-identification” (Bodrohkozy, 148). The writer’s of the White letters wanted to make it clear that they were surprised that they enjoyed a program that was black-centered. These White letter writers seem to struggle with racial difference, some tried to separate between “good blacks” and “bad blacks.” What it meant to be Black was changing, which also brought up issues of what it meant to be White (Bodrohkozy, 149). On the other side, the black viewer’s had issues with how this Black character was portrayed. Many called the character of Julia a “White Negro” they felt that she acted in a way that had previously been reserved for White characters. Viewers found themselves struggling to figure out a representation of Black that did not rely on being in opposition to what it meant to be White (Bodrohkozy, 153). The show brought to light an issue, which forced viewers to reconsider what it meant to be Black or White. The representations of both were changing and they were no longer two separate depictions that could be defined in clear conflict to each other. Racial identity and its representation had “become an uncertain and contested field as ‘black’ and ‘white’ became unhinged from their previous definitions” (Bodrohkozy, 153). Viewers were uncertain how to understand “Julia” in terms of race; she did not seem fit in with the general stereotypes of her race. As what it meant to be Black was changing in America, Black representations on television, like Julia, were mirroring that struggle.
ReplyDeleteMany of the reactions the public had to Julia remind me of those met by Amos ‘n’ Andy. The latter was seen as a great segue for African American recognition in the entertainment industry, despite its stereotype-spreading qualities--accomplished mainly by over-exaggerating already established stereotypes held of African-Americans. Julia, on the other hand, was criticized for being out of touch with many of the realities African-Americans faced in the late 1960’s. One critic, J. Fred MacDonald, stated the show “refused to be topical,” by avoiding racial issues entirely. At the same time, however, the show was lauded for its impact outside the African-American community. Bodroghkozy’s piece reveals that some fan mail from (self-reporting) Caucasian viewers went so far as to say they thought the program had the power to teach their children to “also see the good side of Negro people [rather] than all the bad side they see on the news programs such as riots, sit-ins, etc.”
ReplyDeleteI find the argument that Julia and its titular character were seen as “white” to be extremely interesting, in part because it reminds me of many things people have said about one of my childhood favorites The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I think that part of the reason some people saw Julia as being “too white” lies in the schematic nature of the human brain. So many of us have stereotypes ingrained so deeply in our minds that we don’t realize how we categorize everyday items, or people. Because so many of Julia’s characteristics met what people believed were typical of Caucasian Americans, they found the show and its plot to be unrealistic with its black characters. Although tagging the show as being “white” is racist and may be seen as hindering the progress that NBC promoted, the fact that black people were shown with the same problems and dilemmas that people of other races and ethnicities faced was not lost on many viewers. Again, some of the fan mail that Bodroghkozy includes in his piece does an excellent job of illustrating this, as one letter includes “[T]he world will realize that the Negro is just like everyone else, with feelings and habits as the Whites have. And it’s immensely valuable to the many non-Negroes who just don’t know any Negroes, or don’t know that all people mostly behave like people.”
Bodrohkozy’s article discusses the many ways Julia was interpreted by people from various ethnic, social and economic backgrounds. NBC did not expect the show to be as popular as it was and “it was expected to die a noble dignified death, having demonstrated the network’s desire to break the prime-time color barrier” (143). With it’s unexpected popularity NBC then had to struggle to figure out just how best to portray African Americans as the main characters on TV. This was difficult, and remains difficult today, as minorities, like the majority, have many facets to them and no one story could ever portray everyone’s different experiences. However, since no other representations of African Americans as the main characters of a show were on TV Julia was expected to do the impossible and depict all African American families. This expectation was impossible to live up to and is the reason for such negative interpretations by those who felt that it wasn’t portraying their reality, many of which were justified.
ReplyDeleteThe show was criticized for making everything appear too easy for Julia and too “white.” She had troubles at work, but according to Bodrohkozy, they were never as extreme as the racial discrimination and often violence faced by African Americans shown on TV who were fighting for civil rights. By glossing over such cruelties Julia appeared to show that African Americans already had achieved so much and if they weren’t as resistant they could live a life as good as that of Julia. Many African American viewers also complained of her being too “white” because her actions and lifestyle never fully distinguished her upbringing or cultural values. Instead they promoted a white way of life. This may also have been because there was never a full understanding of what her reality would truly be like as only four of the writers hired were actually African American.
The show Julia depicts a middle-class black family: single mother Julia and her young son Corey. With the episode we watched, their life was not marginalized in a way one might expect a black family to be portrayed. Julia was offered a nursing job based on her work experience, the white family downstairs was welcoming and helpful, seemingly dealing with same issues. As Bodrohkozy writes, however, the show was criticized for “being extraordinarily out of touch with and silent on the realities of African-American life in the late 1960s” (143). In many ways this criticism opened up a discourse to talk about the racial uses of the time, with Julia being a jumping off point for confusion that surrounded racial inequality. Julia was called a “white Negro” so the show didn’t “scare off white viewers” (157). However, according the viewer letters Bodrohkozy highlights, many black viewers wanted to cast themselves in the show, perhaps further blurring the racial lines and wanted to be a part of a show where race and racism didn’t necessarily apply. I think the show was viewed in so many different ways because it didn’t look to define Julia or Corey as ‘black’ but just as people trying to make a living and going through the same obstacles anyone—or any white person—would go through.
ReplyDeleteResponses to the show Julia were rather mixed. Julia’s producer and creator Hal Kanter received many letters from viewers (the majority of whom were married women) that revealed interesting responses to the show based on race. The white viewers, the women feeling “self-consciousness about racial self-identification” saw Julia as a step forward in terms of racial acceptance (Bodroghkozy 148). They saw the fact that Julia and Corey were two African American people living comfortable lives among those who accepted them for the color of their skin and they believed that this was an indicator that real people were willing to be more accepting of African Americans. This, of course, glosses over the fact that the show is essentially devoid of African American culture. While this lack of African American culture in the show was meant to emphasize the fact that “black people were ‘just people’ to the extent that they conformed to a… white norm”, the show’s “unwillingness to allow the program to be ‘black’” actually caused a backlash in the African American community (150, 151). While Julia herself was black, she led a very “middle-class white American” life, and this was seen as an unfair representation of African Americans. The show’s attempt to destroy the concept of the African American being “the other” meant that it also destroyed its ability to dispel misconceptions about African American culture that was so prevalent before this point. The problem is that the show helped many non-African American people see African Americans in a different light and helped lead to acceptance, however the image that these non-African American people have is an incorrect portrayal of real African Americans and so any progress made in terms of race relations is ultimately lost. It’s not a true form of acceptance, they are only accepting what they want to accept, which is why many in the African American community were so upset. Of course, these two sides are the extreme ends on the spectrum of reactions to this show, but they do represent a good idea of how this show was received.
ReplyDelete“Julia” could be interpreted in so many different ways because it was such an inoffensive show. Those looking for representations of African Americans in a positive light on television found it in Julia Baker. Julia was a positive member of the community – a hardworking, loving mother who forced back to work by the death of her husband. But this show was not perfect in its representations.
ReplyDeleteJulia lived and worked in an all-white world, where her race was never really addressed. She was refused a second interview because of her race, but that was quickly overlooked by her new boss. It was made to seem as though only man saw her race, and to everyone else, she was completely “normal”. She was given treatment equal to what other women received, and worked and lived in communities where she was the only African American woman. Her neighbor never addressed it, and it is only briefly addressed with her son. There is no mention of the civil rights movement, politics, or of anything that was happening in the African American community at the time. Julia is apart from the African American culture, and there are no references to it in the show. Julia was basically a white woman, living in a white world. The color of her skin didn’t seem to matter, though it should have had a greater affect.
Julia held many different reviews and reactions to the show. This was because there was a wide variety of viewers that were from all different social, ethnic and economic backgrounds and it all depended on how these viewers related to the show with their own situations. Before the show was even out NBC did not think it would have much success but was pleasantly surprised. But I believe that it was so successful because this show did not represent the reality of what was going on in the present. Because this was so different I believe that this was the reason it pulled so many viewers to watch, and depending on the viewer they either loved it or hated it. I believe that the people who criticized it watched it because sometimes people like watching things that they don’t agree with and they can’t help but watch and complain. While the people who watched it simply enjoyed seeing a different perspective of African Americans.
ReplyDeleteThe show was offered as being “white” because Julia and her son Corey were living in a white world. The people they interacted with were white, they were middle class living very comfortably. This image was very different as to what many African Americans were being portrayed as on national television. Because of this, it lead many people to question what “whiteness” really was. It showed that black people were ‘just people’ who had conformed to a white norm of representation.
Julia was a fairly controversial show that brought about a wide variety of responses from its viewers, seemingly because of the numerous issues it dealt with, or ignored, as the case may be. It showcased a relatively successful single black mother who faced sexual harassment in the workplace and whose neighbors were a white a family. Because the premise of the show encompassed such a wide range of controversial topics, it follows that there would be an equally wide range of opinions about it. Julia featured an African American woman as the star but took a relatively neutral position in its representation of African American life. For example, the opening music didn’t include “any nod to the rich traditions of African-American musical forms” (149). This sense of neutrality seems to be a major point of contention for many of the viewers who tuned in to Julia in the 1960s. Black viewers felt that Julia lacked any sort of cultural specificity and, furthermore, “was a fantasy because it did not focus on the problems of black youth… and because it did not take place in a ghetto environment” (150). These features were viewed as harmful by portions of the audience because it simply ignored many of the issues faced by many African Americans on a daily basis. Additionally, white viewers had both negative and positive responses. Some Caucasian housewives felt that the show provided a positive representation of African Americans that could serve to facilitate a better understanding of the group. Others, in the less intelligent female, Mrs. Waggedorn, who was white, “saw a form of reverse discrimination” (153). Clearly, although it may not have been its intent, the show raised several important issues in the eyes of the viewers. The fact that the show sidestepped many of the racial issues that it could have addressed left the show open to interpretation for the viewers, which led to a multitude of opinions and reactions to what was shown on the screen.
ReplyDelete"Julia" became a program that to this day is still talked about and analyzed by critics. It opened the door for people to talk about race relations in the late 1960s and began the blurring of lines from whites and blacks. There was a wide range of responses from viewers some thought it wasnt an accurate depiction while others enjoyed what it was trying to portray. Some white females enjoyed watching "Julia" but still made the distinction that they were white and watching a black woman. This awareness allowed for "Julia" to display issues of racial tension and other problems blacks were facing in the time, something that was new to the white viewers and thus exiciting and fresh. Others felt that a black woman working as a nurse would not be able to live this lavish lifestyle that Julia lived and thus could not accurately depict the problems of the 1960s. And even others saw this show as reverse discrimination. However it was interpreted, the scene of television was changing. It was now apparent that a tv show that centered around a colored main character could gain success as long as that depiction was close to its white counterparts. The atmosphere of the 1960s was hostile and changing and some people were willing to accept that change while others were still not.
ReplyDeleteIn Bodrohkozy's article "Is That What You Mean By Color TV," he addresses the variety of opinions surrounding the TV show Julia (1968-1971). Bodrohkozy begins by saying that many married white women sent letters to the show's producers, and these women often stated "I am white, but I enjoy watching 'Julia'" (148). This portion of the viewing audience found the show relatable, and that they could appreciate what the show was trying to do for African Americans.
ReplyDeleteOther viewers took issue with Julia and Corey's location (a suburb rather than a ghetto). These viewers, who wanted the writers to "tell it like it is," suggested to hire actors and actresses who would act "unquestionably black" (151-152). Of course, this notion was extremely ridiculous, and revealed the uncertainty as to how the show's creators should portray black Americans. There were even some white viewers who felt that by showing Julia as an educated woman that this was somehow making her white neighbor appear sloppy (153).
I think the show was interpreted in so many different ways because the 1960s was a time where mentalities of people in America were changing. It would have been much easier if everyone had either rejected Julia for being too much or too little of something, but instead some audiences accepted it. Honestly, I'm not quite sure how well the writers and creators of Julia understood what they were creating. But it got people in America talking about race and race portrayals during the 1960s, and I feel that the creation of this dialogue was more important than defining whether Julia was or was not a good representation of African-Americans in the 60s.
Bodrohkozy’s article highlights the public’s reception of “Julia”. It aired on NBC and wasn’t expected to last very long. But it actually became quite popular and the network was faced with a problem of how to depict black characters. Seeing as main characters on television were hardly black, the challenge of representing the culture was paramount for the studio. Their representation was not met with glowing response.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main critiques was how the show made Julia too similar to her white counterparts. This isn’t to say that they ignored the fact that she and her son were black. In the episode we watched in class, an attempt was made at trying to gloss over the race issue. When the two young boys have their play date, they didn’t even realize they were of different race. (While this was truly adorable) the fact that they simply tried to write off the race issue is where many other critiques decided to pick their bones. As we discussed in class, she would face problems at work in future episodes but those problems were not as serious as those faced by the actual black population. This was seen as a soft approach and it did not shed any light on the civil rights issues of the day. It merely skipped over any sort of values that Julia herself might have had and instead displayed the white way of life as the way of life.
Julia was, to a certain extent, placed in what was, at that time, a predominantly white living situation. She is shown living in an apartment building with white neighbors. This in and of itself could be a potential reason people see her as a “white” character. The general colorblindness on the show, present even in the pilot, would have likely been fairly surprising given the time period. Yet, the letters that the Bodrohkozy's article discusses kind of have the opposite presentation. Many of the letters commented on whether or not the show was a true to life representation, and also, whether or not the show “should” be a true to life representation. Something I found interesting was how people writing in, instead of just saying “I like the show,” felt the need to mention the fact that they were white themselves. This response, in a sense, proves that there was not a true representation of race within the show. Viewers obviously still needed to make a distinction, proving that they themselves were not colorblind. To be fair, this could be seen as an attempt to point out that everyone could enjoy the show regardless of race, so as to avoid assumptions that it was predominantly black people giving support, but still. If you need to make a distinction, then there is some sort of racial commentary present.
ReplyDeleteThe show Julia had mixed reviews in regards to its presentation of African American culture and racial equality in the United States. White viewers, particularly white, middle-class married women, often saw the show as a step forward in regards to the acceptance of racial equality. The view was mostly supported by the shows main characters being Julia and Corey, an African American family who were accepted into a society of predominately white middle class families with very little conflict. Julia works as a nurse, and despite initial suspense, her skin color is not a concern when she’s securing her position. However, others, although perceived as ideal by some, sited the lack of racial tension, as a flaw in the show, as it avoided the reality of the issue of race in America. Another problem that was there was a lack of traditional African American culture represented in the show – to the point that Julia was said to be acting white, and confirming to a white norm that coincided with white supremacy views. Also, the lack of a strong African American man in the family went in line with negative stereotypes of other cultures not abiding by the white nuclear family set up. Overall, I saw the show as a step in the right direction for racial equality in the entertainment industry, but I do agree that the lack of culture was a major drawback in the shows plight for fair representation of African Americans.
ReplyDelete"Julia" is a show that a wide variety of viewers were able to take and run with. Bodrohkozy points out that many housewives saw this as a sort of "reverse racism" in which white women were portrayed as a bit ditzier than the successful negro housewife (who is also a single mother). Some argued that the show was "making blacks forget their proper place." Because of the way Julia was written, it attracted a large amount of critical thinking to the show. One main aspect that stood out to me was the blunt dialogue of black v. white relations. When Corey "breaks" the TV in an attempt to have the black repair man fix it, the white repair man shows up to which Corey complains that he wants the other guy. When the white repair man acknowledges Corey's clever move, he smiles at Julia and says something along the lines of, "I know why you'll like the other guy better." I was even a bit uncomfortable at the forwardness of the statement, not so much for the explicitly implied racism, but the fact that Julia didn't seem to mind at all. She didn't reacted surprised at the white repair man's words, she was just flattered that Corey tried to hook her up with a man of her own race.
ReplyDeleteThe way Julia reacted to Corey's set-up implies how race was so obviously targeted in this show, but completely ignored. Critics may refer to the show or Julia as "white" because it seems as if she thinks she's white. Another example would be when the doctor calls Julia and asks her to come in for an interview and she explains that she's colored. After previously being denied a position for what she and the janitor thought was based on the color of her skin, her claim makes the doctor chuckle and he asks if she's doing it because it's "in-style." She says no, but again seems flattered and appears as if her race holds no boundaries against her in this era. "Julia" expresses race relations in the 60s in an interesting way by exemplifying Julia as a superior black woman living against (by practically ignoring) the oppression of her race during that time period.
Julia was received in such a large scape by both white and black viewers for the same reason that black shows today have the same receptions. When African Americans are shown in a light that isn't in a way committed to a stereotype it makes viewers uncomfortable because they don't want to perceive them in that light because it is unnatural to them. It just so happened that in the 60's people were much more open about how they felt about other ethnicities. For instance if a show was created with the exact same premise as Fraiser but instead had an all black cast it would more than likely not run for 11 years.
ReplyDeleteWhite viewers in the 60's would either say well these people are so relatable to us and enjoy it or be opposed to the idea that black people are being presented as their equals or in some cases living a life better than their own. For African Americans this idea of disconnect would be the same but in a different way. African Americans would be upset like they were with Julia that the characters are portraying sell outs or uncle Toms for living lives them nor any one else they know lives. While those that like it would most likely advocate that portrayals like this are what will move our race forward out of the negative stigmas we are always connected with.