Hood Lyfe

One recurring topic we have focused on in this class is the power mass media has over our society thoughts and values.  One of the most powerful mediums is television.  An example of a television show like this is Sanford and Son.  Sanford and Son is about an African American father and his son who live and own a junk shop together in South Central Los Angeles; a historically rough area with a predominantly black population.  Sanford and Son depicts African Americans as poor, goofy, and foreign individuals.  Shows like these not only reinforce our stereotypes regarding African Americans, but they also solidify our stereotypes.  The author argues that “these sitcoms cast ghetto life in a happy light where opportunity was simply a question of initiative” (340).  The ghetto life as portrayed in Sanford and Son is extremely unrealistic and bases its entire story line of the image of the poor, “ghetto life” of the stereotypical African American.  This glorification and humor-ization of the “ghetto life” leads to African Americans feeling that the ghetto life is all they can amount to in life, leading to the perpetuation of these stereotypes.  This glorification also extends to more contemporary mass media like rap artist’s repping the “hood life” in many of their songs.  They glorify this life and make it seem as if it is this amazing life style, when in reality it is a modern-day tragedy.