Growing up I did not have access to many sources of entertainment. There were two dominant ones: the radio and television. Of course the television was the most entertaining and was considered one of the main “hobbies” for me and my siblings. Since my mother could not afford the finer things in life, our only options were to play outside or watch TV, and oh boy was TV great! Especially on the weekends with no school and nothing else to do, we would watch TV all night. There was one show in particular that I could relate to and found most influential on my life, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I would watch rerun after rerun. Even though the show first came on TV when I was just a baby and was over by the time I was six, its episodes have lived on till this very day as one of the most popular shows of all time.
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a show about this street smart kid named Will that came from a low income family who lived in West Philadelphia. His mother wanted Will to stay out of trouble, so she sent him to go live with his Uncle Philip Banks at his mansion in Bel-Air, California. Phil’s wife, Vivian, and their three kids Hilary, Carlton, and Ashley live in the mansion as well along with their butler Geoffrey. The Banks are seen as an uppity upper class family and have little street smarts or an understanding of a world other than their own. This set some of the stereotypes media was forming at the time along with others. The Banks were a minority family and a majority of their friends were Caucasian, meaning that Caucasians are usually the rich and successful, who played the role of being stuck up and dry humored. In minority family shows the families are known for being more entertaining such as the Banks family who are portrayed as being comical and lively. With such stereotypes, media has had a major role in shaping society and what many people think.
Despite Will’s background and the stereotypes assigned to it, he is the main character of the show and is easily liked by everyone. He makes up for his lack of money with his humor and his big heart. I feel like Will and I grew up in similar situations. My family and I did not have a lot coming up but Will proved that money is not important and does not determine who you are or who you will become. When it came to my peer groups I would always be the one who did not have the money to go do things but I never had a hard time making friends and was the goofy person of the group.
Despite Will’s background and the stereotypes assigned to it, he is the main character of the show and is easily liked by everyone. He makes up for his lack of money with his humor and his big heart. I feel like Will and I grew up in similar situations. My family and I did not have a lot coming up but Will proved that money is not important and does not determine who you are or who you will become. When it came to my peer groups I would always be the one who did not have the money to go do things but I never had a hard time making friends and was the goofy person of the group. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and many other TV shows have become iconic, especially many of their theme songs and opening images. Iconic images are photographs, reproductions, or digitally altered images that can be recognized by a majority of the viewing public. The final image of the opening song is usually the image that represents the show and that of which many recognize. TV shows use different combinations of media making the show more memorable to the viewer. For instance, if the song to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were to be playing many people would be able to recognize what show it is from. Will Smith (the main character of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) himself has also become an icon along with many of other icons that media has created.
