http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l017_Rox0XE&feature=related
This clip is from the tv series "Fresh Prince of Belair." Will lives with his aunt and uncle. Will's father comes through town and breaks the promise for them to go on a trip together. This creates tension between Will's Father and the real family he has with his aunt, uncle, and cousins.
Will vents about life without his father stating that he doesn't need him. All the while still wanting to be wanted.
This is a really good example of defining family through television. Not only was he the child of a single mother but the show takes it one step further to show that his mother doesn't want him living a hard life in Philadelphia. So he moves in with his aunt and uncle in Bell Air, California to live a better life and not get caught up with gang activity. Even though it is a comedy, it definitely broke down a social norm of the time.
ReplyDeleteThis was an excellent topic and the clip was great too. Will plays a character that is based on the lives of unfortunately (besides the moving to an upper middle class neighborhood) many urban youth. His life in West Philadelphia living with a single parent is where the story line ends for many young African American males who either end up dead or in jail based primarily on circumstance. What Fresh Prince was able to do was depict the idea of "it takes a village", when it comes to single parenting there usually is family other than the biological father that steps up to help rise the child. In this case the sister of Will's mom steps up and the mom who wants the best for her son is willing to let him move all the way to California in order to give him access to a better life. It isn't that rare for the father who is usually absent for most of their child's life to one day show up and want to build some sort of connection but as it was depicted in the clip, they must be very serious and committed to building a relationship and mending the past in order for the kid to forgive them and want them in their life.
ReplyDeleteThis show is a great example of how family is not always what we expect. When we think of family, we think of a nuclear family, but in many cases this is not true. This show demonstrates that just because a family is not nuclear, they are still one big happy family and that just because a family is different from our own, we should not look at them differently.
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