Podcast: McKenzie and Andrade on Black Culture in Media

Part 1 On programs like The Neighborhood blackishamp160and Atlanta first impressions are powerful cultural authenticity in contentPart 2 On the Super Bowl amp8211 quotto be in or not to be inquot Black Panther accessibility of audioHow any culture is portrayed in media is of great importance whether it39s Mrs Maisel or Fresh Off the Boat since impressions are lasting and imprint on societyamp160 The unique backgrounds of Andrade and McKenzie made for an interesting combination of POVs on the impressions being made now by portrayals of black culture in mediaamp160 As a former actor and musician Andrade has a wonderful eye for what jumps out in a show and in mediaamp160 He39s covered content from Lifetime39s Surviving R Kelly Did its Job The Rest is Up to Us to Chris Rock Takes on the Challenges Facing Men Today in quotTambourinequot and most recently wrote about inclusion in theamp160Super Bowl adsamp160 McKenzie went from a very traditional Wall Street background working as a trader at Goldman Sachs to creating a multicultural agency an influencer conference and magazine and the podcast Two Dope Boys and a Podcastamp160 We actually met years ago at an environmental workshop and he39s kept up that passion as a speaker at Sustainable Brandsamp160 He39s covered stories on the multicultural employee pipeline of Publicis Media to interviews with AspireTV39s Melissa Ingram and the NBA39s Pam ElEB Moss amp160Ainsley in your October review of The Neighborhood you comment that quotThe Neighborhood39s goal is to start conversations about race equality prejudice and society in its current state but let39s have a real conversation about how things are portrayedquotamp160 Ainsley Andradeamp160 The Neighborhood has the makings of a good show with a legendary comedianactor Cedric the Entertainer as a lead and Max Greenfield from New Girl as a comic foilamp160 My issue was that Cedric is supposed to be the patriarchal lead of this show like a current day Archie Bunkerish scenarioamp160 But if you flipped all these roles he39s just racistamp160 So in trying to start this conversation are you in fact pushing a stereotype that could be more damaging and have longer lasting negative effects for people who are not seeing what you39re really trying to doamp160 Because on face value the show39s about a racist black guy who doesn39t want these white people to live in his neighborhood because he wants theamp160neighborhood to stay blackPhil McKenzieamp160 There39s not enough representation that really tells authentic stories in a way that39s nuancedlike what are the reasons why a predominantly black neighborhood might not want white people in thereamp160 Like historical reasons of being priced out of your neighborhood gentrification real social issues beyond just oh Cedric is racistAndradeamp160 They actually do touch those things but I feel the show has an agendaamp160amp160Community one of my favorite shows has an ethos instead which is more or less quotWe39re all terrible people we39re all going to do crappy stuffamp160 But we all want the same thing togetherness and friends and relationships but where we still have to deal with ourselvesquotamp160amp160The Neighborhood39s feels like their agenda is quotWe39re not so different you and Iquot That only works if you can flip it backwards so it wouldn39t matter why this white neighborhood didn39t want the black guy in the neighborhood because at the end of the day you39re just judging him on the color of his skinamp160 I39m just saying that being priced out of your neighborhood and the fear of gentrification could become justifications for what I perceived to be racismMossamp160 I definitely laughed at the plot line I think it39s well written and I do want to give it respect for trying to move the needle or am I taking it at too light a levelamp160 I know that Kenya Barris the showrunner of blackish said he wants people to laugh that quotthe specific speaks to the universalquotamp160 In other words it doesn39t just speak to the African American community It39s okay for me to laugh at the antics because I see common ground between whatever the white neighbor is doing and the surprise twist of the black neighbor being perceived as the racistamp160 So where do we not laughamp160 What programs are doing a knockout job in terms of blacks in being portrayed well amp8211 or not McKenzieamp160 I think there are many different realities to portrayamp160 And that39s one of the critical issues that blackish is a very different show from Atlantaamp160 They39re primarily allblack casts but the lives that they39re showing are really really differentamp160 I think both of them succeed but in very different waysamp160 You know I try to come back to the institutional things as to how these shows get made in the first placeamp160 Donald Glover talks about very frankly in a New York magazine article before the second season that he basically had to lie to FX as to what the show wasamp160 Black imagination and black surrealism can39t be fully embraced as what it isamp160 It has to be masked in order to get the resources to do the showMossamp160 Clearly there are destinations for specific cultures on TVamp160 I wonder about the potential for crossover and how we draw more viewers to authentic spaces of blacks in mediaAndradeamp160 I think it comes down to what people consider to be an authentic space for the black consumer blackish for instance in that it was a positive look at an uppermiddleclass black family which there39s not a whole lot of elsewhere on TVamp160amp160 I wasn39t poor so to speak but I certainly didn39t have what they haveamp160 So I think it39s a combination of what we want where we want to see black people but at the same time a level of trueness to usamp160 The character of the head lawyer in The Good Fightamp160is a good example An upperclass man of color running this predominantly black super influential law firmamp160 I never got a sense that his character was made to panderamp160 He feels like a real black manamp160 He reacts the way I would think a black man in his situation would really act as opposed to something that feels manufacturedMossamp160 Ainsley you39re a big 30minute comedy fan and there39s a big difference between how we have to portray people in comedy versus dramaamp160 You wrote that blackish quotaddresses feelings that someone like me a person of color in modern day America might actually have even if the issue being dealt with is one that affects everyonequotamp160 That39s theamp160universality that Kenya was talking aboutamp160 The buffoonery of the lead character39samp160white coworkers is over the top to illustrate a point so it feels like the black characters experiences provide my quotahhaquot moment amp160McKenzieamp160 I think they39re overthetop in a comedy TV wayamp160 Definitely not overthetop in a reality way from my experiencesamp160 I39m very accustomed to walking into rooms professionally and sometimes personally where I39m the only black personamp160 So when Andre the lead character reflects on those things in his workspace even though they39re playing for obvious jokes I39ve encountered many of those types of comments in situations plenty of times to know that it39s really not that far from realityamp160 That39s why I think we have these moments of conflict that we see in these showsamp160 Because we have white showrunners and white writers writing oftentimes for black charactersamp160 So there39ll be lines of dialogue in a show sometimes and I39m like quotThere39s no way a black person would say thatquotMossamp160 That speaks to the fact that it39s harder for a black creator to get in the door to create more authenticityamp160 So it39s a vicious cycleMcKenzieamp160 Definitelyamp160 Iamp160think this media environment has made it such that we have these topline creators like Ava DuVernay Kenya Isa Rae Donald Glover it becomes this star system where they get the checks and the money and all of thatamp160 But Chris Rock makes a really good joke about this and the neighborhood he lives in quotI live in New Jersey and Eddie Murphy lives there Mary J Blige and me and my white nextdoor neighbor is a dentistquotamp160 So just some average dudeamp160 Whereas it39s the creme de la creme of black celebrity life that lives in the same neighborhoodAnd I feel like media is getting like that where Netflix is going to give Shonda Rhimes the hundredmilliondollar deal or whatever it is but for the runofthemill folks that are just kind of cracking through it39s harder for them to get those opportunitiesRead Part 2 or listen to the entire podcast for more insights on diversity and inclusion in the media and television worldClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Podcast: McKenzie and Andrade on Black Culture in Media

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