Social Commentary in SBTB

[sbtbtgrpwr]

I know that the racism question has been on the boards before and apparently got out of hand. I don't ask this question trying to get further debate on racism in our favorite show, but rather to see what others think about what the show said besides what was in the dialogue. What does the location of the show say about culture/society? Each of the characters represents rather specific character traits with little, if any, depth. What does everyone think that the rigid characterizations represent in surrounding popular society? Did gender and race play a very important role in the show's development, or did the show's creaters' attitudes regarding race and gender come across in any of the episodes? Is/was SBTB a period-specific show, meaning that could the show as it was created succeed either before or after the time period that it occurred?

Pleas don't get disrespectful to each other or towards individuals/actors/people in responding to this post. I just want to see what others have to say about these questions and the show. I have my own ideas about the show, but I will add those opinions in another post.

[gokinsmen]

To get the ball rolling, I'll say that SBTB was one of the first popular shows that could be seen as "post-racial." By "post-racial," I mean that the show reflected some level of racial diversity (Slater and Lisa as cast regulars, interracial couples) without explicitly having to draw attention to it -- the idea being that we should be past those sorts of fears/concerns. For example, Screech/Eric had a crush on Lisa and no character ever brought up the racial differences.

On one hand, I find this well-meaning and very reflective of growing up in a liberal, wealthy environment. I went to nice private school that was 90% white and yet, even as a racial minority, I can't recall a single definite incident where I felt ostracized because of it (outside of school is another matter). I have to say, 99.9% of the time, my background never came up -- even when we were discussing racial issues in history/english class. The one instance on SBTB where race explicitly came into play was the Running Zack/family tree episode -- where Jesse expresses personal guilt to Lisa over her ancestors' slave-trading past. I'd say that sort of "white guilt" was more prevalent in the 80s/90s, and I think that sentiment has now increasingly given way to "white resentment," where white Americans feel offended by accusations of racism and wrongdoing -- after all, the sins of America's past were committed by past generations, not them (think Obama's speech on race).

On the other hand, I also think that a "post-racial" approach -- just a generation or two removed from Jim Crow -- was ultimately naive and incomplete. Admittedly, to address those issues would have taken a lot of guts and SBTB was ultimately a kid's show. Still, I thought they did a surprisingly decent job of it on the College Years when they finally dealt with Slater's Chicano heritage -- it was tactful, not pedantic and, yes, funny (Zack: "Why did you have to pick this weekend to be Chicano?!"). However, the fact that two principle characters (Zack and Lisa) were made a couple after an emotionally heavy episode...only to never be seen dating again is disconcerting. It's one thing for a romance with a guest-star not to be seen again, but a principle character? I'm fine with SBTB not being about racial issues, but an incident like that disturbed me even as a kid (though I couldn't even articulate why).

Nonetheless, given Hollywood's limitations at the time, I think Peter Engel and Co. pretty much did the best they could -- casting race-blind for AC and Lisa and having characters of different races be attracted to one another (an unspoken taboo in the Brady Bunch days). For that, the show deserves some real credit.

[Erika]

What I liked about SBTB is that you had a group of friends, not only different in races and gender, but also different in personalities, goals, etc. yet, they all related to eachother.

You had a group made up of a "rich fashionista", the "geek", the "jock", the "slacker", the "over achiever", and the "girl next door". I don't know about you, but when I went to high school, unfortunately, all the "geeks" and the "jocks", etc., stuck together. And I HATE using stereo types, but I will call it as I see it.

My point is, SBTB made light of the fact that, yes, they all had different personalities and goals, but still, they were the best of friends. So, I guess they tried to make it known that it could be possible. It seems like in high school, these "cliques" are taken very seriously and are very evident.

Quite honestly, I grew up in a very diverse community....where diversity is encouraged and respected. So, I didn't see all these things you are mentioning growing up watching SBTB.

And to me, I feel the writers did a very good job by touching on stories about their background, and in the good SBTB world ,everyone got along, learned from each other.....and just dealt on certain issues that most teenagers probably faced.

It was a fun show. I hardly think the writer's intentions were to try to make a pertinent impact in culture or society.

[QueenKelly]

From the first time I saw this show, I never saw the different races. I saw six kids that became best friends. When it came to Screech being in love with Lisa, I was shocked because I thought he would be in love with Kelly because she was the most popular girl in school.
For me, race has never been an issue. I like that it was never really made an issue. I think that's the way things should be.

[sbtbtgrpwr]

No, no, please don't misread my posing this question by meaning that I thought that there was some intended sense of racial thought in the show. I personally think that the creator's meant to show that diversity was a good thing to the hordes of kids that watched the show. I am a Master's student in History looking at the way popular culture influenced and reflected the surrounding society. I ask these questions to get some critical analysis of the show, not to hate on the show cuz I loves me some SBTB.

I think that race played some role in the creation of the characters. Lisa was supposed to be a caucasian Jewish character, but when Lark Voorhies auditioned, she knocked the character out of the park and the producers changed Lisa to reflect the actress. Lisa had always been a "diverse" character and adding Lark Voorhies to the cast added more to that model. A wealthy black character, I feel, challenged the image of non-white characters in visual media, much in the same way that the Cosby Show did.

Slater's Hispanic heritage never became an issue until the College Years episode where Zack was planning the ski trip. I think that the show reflected attitudes regarding the non-existence of "race" in kid's friendship networks. How many of us had friends of different ethnicity that we never really considered "different" until we were older and the idea of difference had been planted in our heads? Slater, as the jock, crossed the bridge separating that All-American image of the blonde, white athletic star in high school from the limited exposure of Latinos in Hollywood up to that point.

Jessie represented the white, liberal leaning population that had challenged the status quo from the 1960s onward. Gender issues found venue in her character. Independent and intelligent, Jessie challenged the traditional gender roles that dominated the 1980s.

Kelly, on the other hand, reflected those roles surprising strongly. The girl next door beauty who was dedicated to her family, Kelly always wanted to be a teacher, at least in the high school years, a role that was traditionally acceptable for women. She was also not from a wealthy family, though a gaggle of siblings would obviously affect that, but became the most popular and sought after girl in school.

Screech, perhaps the least fleshed out character of the show, played the awkward and geeky friend that EVERYONE had. He never really had a developed romantic relationship with anyone apart from Violet. I thought that it was a nice nod when Lisa complimented him when he gave Jessie the valedictorian award but I wish that they would have let him mature up a little bit just like everyone else did.

Finally, Zack. I think that it is important to note that the attractive, blonde white kid was the focus of the show. Although, I do also think that it is important to realize that despite his centrality on the show, he never had a free pass to do as he pleases. All of his schemes went awry unless he was working with the group as opposed to selfish ends, trying to put across the idea that beauty did not grant automatic benefits. Unfortunately, I think that American society has failed to really move beyond the superficial since the early 90s.

There I think that this may be long enough for now.

[The Friar]

Well said STP!

I would also agree with my good friend QK. (By the way - I added you to both Myspace and Facebook!)

I really didn't see them as different races, but as different kids. They each had their own personalities, skills, quirks, and issues that they brought to the table - for better or worse. They were for me, being an 80s teen, a quasi G rated version of The Breakfast Club. They each represented, as Erika pointed out, the various and sundry groups of the typical high school hierarchy.

Was this unrealistic? You bet. Very rare would be the group that was put together by Mr. Engel in reality, although I did run with a group similar to this one. But that was the genius in the grouping of these diverse, socio-economically different kids - it gave everyone who watched a character with which to identify. It is this kind of understanding of diversity, this broad cross section that makes many sitcoms, novels, and movies so well received (e.g. Seinfeld, Friends, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and the aforementioned Breakfast Club, to name a few from each genre).

My two cents...

The ;D Friar

[gokinsmen]

Yeah, I always thought that was the "odd" (but great) thing about the SBTB gang. In a school where "nerds," "jocks," fashionistas, hip intellectuals, and other cliques clearly existed, Zack, Screech, Slater, Lisa, Kelly and Jesse were all best friends from different, social, economic, and racial backgrounds. Still, I think it's worth noting that only Screech would be considered "uncool" and an outsider.

Another interesting thing about SBTB social groups was the fact that nerds -- often depicted as harmless victims -- could be just as mean as the jocks, e.g. Nerdstrom; Herbert telling Kelly, "Go dust something!"