Interracial Relationships on TV, Why Aren't They Happening More Often?
Black Women and White Men in TV Relationships, Real-life Relationships
I almost wanted to remix Hurricane Chris' song "Halle Berry" and change it to "Andrew Keegan." After all these years, he's still "fine than a whoa!" and quietly kept his acting resume up to date. Unfortunately the TMZ reports about the $5,000 reality check seem to be how people are recognizing him these days. After the '90s, I'd all but forgotten about Keegan until a "Moesha" re-run from 1996 showed the child actor and Grammy-winning singer Brandy Norwood dealing with an interracial dating episode.
The summary of the show was Keegan, who played Matt Tarses, was a childhood friend of Moesha's. Although her father, Frank, teased her about Matt coming back into town, he had no idea that Moesha would find him attractive enough to date. When Frank was confronted about it, he said he had a problem with Matt being white. And her father wasn't the only one.
When they went out on a date, a white female associate of his made a slick comment about Moesha's hair. The waitress told him he was "mixed up" and purposely messed up their order. They went to The Den, a popular hangout for Moesha's friends, and a black guy repeatedly bumped into Matt and called him "Opie." By the end of the night, the two parted ways and Matt gave her a goodbye kiss.
In the '90s, interracial relationships were more taboo than they are today so the sitcom "Moesha" took a chance. Although some people still have very strong views about interracial relationships, there have been a few more movies and television shows showing black women with white guys on film.
Aisha Tyler's character Charlie Wheeler dated Joey and Ross from "Friends." Sanaa Lathan starred in "Something New" with co-host Simon Baker. The two ended up on a blind date, and their characters Kenya and Brian formed a relationship. On "Boy Meets World," Rider Strong's character Shawn Hunter-who never seemed to be able to settle down with one girl-ended up in a serious relationship with Trina McGee's character Angela Moore.
Outside of television, well-known celebrities like Roger Ebert, Robin Thicke and Robert De Niro are all married to black women-Charlie "Chaz" Hammel-Smith, actress Paula Patton, former flight attendant Grace Hightower. On "Let's Talk About Pep," Pepa was smitten with an Asian guy named Tom. On "What Chilli Wants," the pop star Chilli had a hard time deciding between two very handsome white guys who met her expectations-Farmer D and Bill.
While there are plenty of articles, reports and studies about black women not finding compatible men, I'd much prefer to see articles, reports and studies about black women who found love no matter the color. Moesha dated a lot of America's favorite child star sweethearts and a rapper, too (big-up to Fredro Starr), but I wish Keegan would've lasted longer on the show. I think that would've been an interesting relationship to explore and maybe made people think twice about interracial dating. Maybe.
Published by Shamontiel
Shamontiel is the author of Round Trip and Change for a Twenty, and in mid-October became the Chicago Tribune s Digital News Editor. She works on National Travel, Health and occasionally Breaking News, and w... View profile
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9 Comments
Post a Comment...visible, I don't think people just up and became gay at the drop of a hat. They may have just decided to come out about it. In the community, especially in the African-American community, homophobia is more apparent especially due to religion. I think exposing ourselves to other cultures and lifestyles makes us more open-minded and tolerant of people who are different than our own initial level of comfort. But even in Hollywood, it is still rare to see a black woman dating a white man although I do see the opposite. I actually think we should have even more diversity on television and in real life so people will realize how shameful it is to describe someone different from you as a "freak" or a "mutt." Hint, hint.
Loquisha, nothing about what you described is a "freak show." I don't consider lesbians "freaks" nor do I consider people in interracial relationships "freaks," so where does the freaky part come in? Also, I actually see interracial relationships on a regular basis in my own neighborhood and especially during my college years in Michigan. Maybe in your social circle they are rare, but in "real life," they happen. Checked out our president lately? As far as us being "mutts," you do realize that majority of African-Americans in America today have ancestors that are white due in large part to slavery. Pretty much all of us have another bloodline running through us. And just so we're clear, a mutt is a mixed breed dog or "a stupid or ignorant person," according to Merriam Webster dictionary. As for people deciding to be gay at the drop of a hat, considering I attended a high school with a heavy population of gay women and live on the north side of Chicago where homosexuality is more visibl
It's the exact opposite. Television has turned into a freak show.
Tonight I watched Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice. Between both shows, the patients were an old lesbian couple, 2 interracial couples, and a black parolee that didn't want to leave jail. One of the doctors on Greys was suddenly re-written into a lesbian and on Private Practice interracial relationships between doctors is rampant. Both shows have become ridiculous in their portrayal of these events.
Interracial relationships are still rare in real life, and women and men don't just up and decide to become gay at the drop of a hat. Hollywood uses race and sexually as tools to push a non-existent fantasy world that crumples in the face of real life.
Hollywoods efforts are having an opposite effect, because if interracial relationships happened in real life with 1/10 of the fake proportions being heaped on the public via the media of TV and movies - we'd all be mutts. People living in the real world see this and get
Thanks, Juniper, for the kind words. I appreciate it. As far as the other message, I agree. I do notice that whenever there's an interracial relationship that that's the main purpose of the show. At least it was on "Moesha" and "Something New." However, Chilli didn't make it a big deal on "What Chilli Wants" and if my memory serves me correctly, on "Boy Meets World," Shawn's girlfriend was just another girl he dated but he was head over heels for her. I like it when the relationship is not treated like a fishbowl. And I'm dead tired of people complaining about society. Stop worrying about society and do you. The more people who do them, the more society will be forced to change their attitudes.
It bugs the stew out of me that interracial relationships aren't completely normal on TV now; it's still always part of the plot or somehow remarkable when it does occur.
What I'd really like to see is a situation where our culture really is color-blind enough that interracial relationships aren't even remarkable when they occur on a TV show. Even now, it often seems like they occur because there's some sort of conflict or character development involved in the relationship. We ought to be over this by now.
People imitate the media more than they realize; we need positive relationship models in every color combination. As long as the media tells us that it's unusual, people are going to continue looking at mixed relationships as an exception rather than a norm.
Awesome article, as always, Shamontiel!
I remember when I was a preteen I had a bunch of non-black guys in posters on my walls. (Yes, I was internationally boy crazy.) I remember my brother walking into my room and saying, "Why are all the guys on your wall white?" It hadn't even occurred to me that they were. In my mind, they were just cute guys, but from that day forward I was thinking, "Man, maybe it's something wrong with that." Within a few days time, I'd replaced some posters. But what was weird about that to me was I'd never been a kid who cared what other people thought. However, the very FEW people's opinions who I did care about I took very seriously. But then I called my brother out for having a bunch of international women on his walls, too, and called him a hypocrite. We laughed about it, but imagine if I'd have been more easily influenced. What about the sistas who will never question the hypocrisy? What about the sistas who front like they don't like who they like because it's not popular?
Oscar, I had the opposite reaction. Realistically black women are least likely to date interracially, so I understand why it's rare. But what I do wonder if shows like "Moesha" that had strong, black, young female lead actresses would've taken the taboo out of it. People tend to emulate what's on television. I wonder if shows with interracial dating would be considered a threat. Notice you see more interracial relationships with black men and white women than you do the other way around. Hell, I don't even see two different minorities as lead couples (ex. Native American and black, or Latina and Asian, etc.) And from a very superficial level, I just wanted to see Keegar on the show. I enjoyed that episode and thought the two had good chemistry together.
I've the notion the image you raise question of represent too much of a shift in social power for tv to catch up with reality.