A friends facebook post shared a meme which featured a picture of General Lee, the car from the famous late 70's show The Dukes Of Hazzard. Taken from a movie about a small family which relied on moonshine sales to make ends meet, the TV show was a silly fantasy land of two brothers who live in the South and are in constant conflict with Boss Hog, the corrupt mayor. Notably absent are black people.
The meme asserted that the General Lee was just a car. It should be noted that this car had the Stars and Bars, the Confederate Flag painted on its roof. The General Lee was just a car by no means if you consider the magic way it was able to jump over numerous objects and save the brothers. So was this show benign, just a harmless fun distraction, or did it reinforce apartheid American Culture? I think the later, that it was fun, sure, but like the pledge of allegiance it had a deeper impact.
So then, what about all the other shitty TV shows I watched instead of reading or playing chess or whittling on the porch? lets see
BJ and the bear: A trucker has adventures with a chimp. Message: Accept evolution, working man, the chimp is your friend!
The White Shadow: A white man coaches an inner city high school basketball team. Message :Hurrah for white men, we can fix it!
Grizzly Adams: Man escapes society to live in harmony with nature in the mountains.
Message: grow a beard and live in a cabin, you will love it! (was this all meme placement by REI?)
James at 15: White adolescent comes of age in New York. Message: If you are young and white you matter! His best friend was black, so at least no Apartheid message
Diffrent Strokes: Rich white industrialist adopts two young black boys. Message: Hurrah for white man, especially the rich ones!
The Cosby Show; A doctor and his perfect black family grow together. Message: Black Lives Matter! Especially if you are rich well spoken beautiful charming high status blacks.
My childhood was also shaped by Norman Lear shows like All in the Family and The Jeffersons. Also, I was in the first generation to be shaped by Sesame street so I wanted to live in an urban area with lots of Muppets and diversity and songs about letters and numbers. That did not happen, but I did enjoy the year I had a shop in Denver's Capital Hill neighborhood, the closest I ever got to the sunny days of Sesame Street.
We have all heard from Gill Scott Heron that the revolution will not be televised, but does a media exist that will be revolutionary, and if it does, does anybody want one?
Also, what about class? How many TV shows have been about class struggle? In the absence of African American people, the poor, struggling moon shine family become the defacto black people of Hazzard County, sticking it to the oppressive police state and flipping them the rebellious rebel flag as they jump their car to safety! YEEHAWW!
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