Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 1, January 1993 | Page 67

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riot, who acted properly, and worked within the system ”
(MacDonald 117). 'ITie rewards for their "good behavior" in the 1960s
are bestowed upon Cliff in the 1980s in the form of a medical career, a
beautiful home, an attractive wife, and a happy, healthy, intact
family. Gates takes a second view, arguing that Cliff represents
what was supposed to result from the civil rights movement of the
1960s, but obviously didn't.
Is "The Cosby Show "another "Julia”, another "Amos 'n Andy",
refusing to recognize issues and conflicts of African-American identity
and experience, even though many African-Americans were involved
in the show's production, direction, and script writing? It may be that
contemporary audiences expect and will accept only programs whose
domestic discourse excludes socio-political issues. As an enormously
popular show, however (number one even in South Africa), "The
Cosby Show" was undoubtedly capable of dictating its own content
and themes. Given the educational potential of satire and humor,
and the cultural authority accorded to the persona of Bill Cosby,
viewers may rightfully question the show’s reluctance to attack
racism directly.
It's certainly true that the program deals with race indirectly,
but it does concern itself, however subtly, with issues of race and
ethnicity. In one episode a central concern is the ethnic background of
Theo's college professor (she is part African-American, part Nativ e
American, part European). A holiday episode features Olivia's
questions about Santa Claus—is he white, black, or Oriental, she
wonders. While the question itself is never answered, Olivia is
cautioned to use the terms Caucasian, African, and Asian. There is a
marked absence of stereotypical black characters on the show, and
many positive symbols of African-American culture are present. The
Huxtable residence contains works of art by African-American artists,
and black music is often featured, as are black guest stars. The
children's rooms have posters of black performers, athletes, and
historical figures, including Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther
King. When Sondra wants to spend a summer in Europe, she tells
Denise of her desire to explore the Paris of Baldwin and Wright, not
the Paris of Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Alvin F. Poussaint, a
Harvard professor who served as the show's script consultant, reports
that "The Cosby Show" does not "pretend to describe the full range of
black experience in America," but depicts instead "the values and