Last week, a freelance entertainment blogger contacted me with an offer to write a guest post about Bill Cosby (in honor of his 76th birthday). So, here it is:
Bill Cosby's Impact on Pop Culture by Spencer Blohm
Bill
Cosby is one of the most important comedians of all time, especially
when it comes to his impact on how African-American families were looked
at in America. With a career that spans over 50 years, it is amazing
how this man from humble beginnings was able to completely transform how
African-American families were viewed both on television and in pop
culture.
Two of Cosby’s most important works were the The Cosby Show and Fat Albert.
Let's take a closer look at how these two shows were able to impact pop
culture in America and also lead to the rise of a star who came from
nothing.
The Impact of The Cosby Show
Before The Cosby Show
existed, there was not really any kind of image of a strong
African-American family on television. Many young African-Americans did
not have a strong family to look up to at home, and the show had a huge
impact on how the black family was understood by much of the public in
the real world. With no strong black families on television, most people
would just assume that almost all African-American families were broken
up without a strong bond between everyone in the family. This idea of
how the black family operates was completely shattered for many viewers
of The Cosby Show.
Although
many people think that Cosby portraying a successful doctor was
actually the main aspect of the show that had the biggest impact on the
perception of African-American families in society, the fact of the
matter is that the strength of the unity between family members was
actually the most important part of the show. The fact that the mother
and father were not separated and the children were able to grow up in a
stable, wealthy home was really the game-changing aspect of the show.
This show was basically used to show that not all young black children
were forced to grow up in broken homes, even if that was the case in
Cosby's real life.
Cosby's Clean Humor
When
you take a look at the kinds of jokes that were used on the Cosby Show
and compare them to someone like Richard Pryor, it is amazing that Cosby
was able to attain so much success and recognition. Richard Pryor is
considered by many to be the best African-American comedian of all time,
but Bill Cosby was able to carve out his own success with his much
cleaner stand up comedy and television shows. Although Pryor was able to
gain success with his comedic performances that contained vulgar
language and content that was definitely not suitable for children,
Cosby was able to show that you can also become a successful comedian by
sticking to family-friendly themes.
Fat Albert's Impact on Children
There were many television shows for children in the 1960s, but Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
was the only show that targeted the inner-city demographic. The fact of
the matter was that many of the inner-city children could not relate to
the kinds of programming that was created mainly for white, suburban
kids. Cosby was able to teach life lessons to the children of the
ghettos in the United States in ways that they could actually understand
and relate to. The important aspect of the show was that Cosby actually
grew up in the inner-city, so he knew everything about the kinds of
things that could happen to children in those kinds of areas.
What Celebrities Have to Say About Bill Cosby
Dave
Chappelle is one of the most critically acclaimed comedians today, and
he grew up watching the shows created by Bill Cosby and his stand-up
specials. Chappelle actually backed up Cosby in his stand-up special,
"For What It's Worth", for not being politically correct with a lot of
his statements.
Author Bio: Spencer Blohm is a freelance entertainment blogger for DirectTV.
In his freetime he enjoys sunsets, reading by the fire, knitting, and
writing petition letters to Kraft Foods to get them to bring Jello
Pudding Pops back.
