Race and Class: Why There Are No Black Maids on Television
As I watched with dismay seemingly sane people complaining about the Oscar nominations being "so white," I was reminded once again why pop culture is important. While it's absurd to worry about a black British actor not receiving an Oscar nomination one year after an African actress won Best Supporting Actress, an African-American man won for Best Screenplay, and "12 Years a Slave" won Best Picture, we must never forget how influential the movies and especially television can be.
Until very recently, my favorite television shows were such so-called reality shows as "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," "Beverly Hills (and Atlanta) Housewives" and "Braxton Family Values." Of course, we all know that these shows are not completely real, but I noticed one very unreal detail. There were no maids or housekeepers cleaning these reality stars' multi-million dollar homes. The C and D-list celebrities showed their personal assistants, wedding and party planners, fitness, yoga, singing, and dancing coaches, even their cooks or chefs on their reality shows but never their maids or housekeepers. Finally, Clint Eastwood's now ex-wife (reality shows tend to kill marriages), who is Latina, showed her housewife. Then two of the Beverly Hills Housewives, Lisa and Yolanda, showed theirs. But I am still waiting to see the other Beverly Hills/Atlanta maids and Kardashian housekeepers.
Worse than hiding the maids/housekeepers is lying about who they are, which is what Joan and Melissa Rivers did in their last reality show. When a dark-skinned black woman was presented as Joan Rivers' personal assistant, I was impressed. Personal assistants are often friends (as in the case of one Kardashian sister and Jessica Simpson) or even family members (as in the case of Toni Braxton whose sister Towanda was once her personal assistant). For a white woman as old as Joan Rivers to have a black personal assistant made me like her even more (until shortly before she died, she was my favorite female comedian). I thought she had overcome being born during the Jim Crow years when black folks were second-class citizens. But then Joan and Melissa became reckless, introducing a second lighter skinned black woman as another personal assistant. At that point, my willingness to suspend disbelief ended, and I was irritated. I think I was mainly annoyed that I had been fooled by the first lie. Don't even fool me once if you don't want me to call you out in books and on social media. Of course, once I stopped believing the Rivers' lies, I recognized that these black women did not do what personal assistants usually do, like travel with Joan to her comedy gigs.
It's obvious why these reality stars, including the nonwhite ones, don't want to show their maids/housekeepers. Since most of them are not as old as Joan was and most don't have "real" jobs, they don't want to seem lazy by admitting that they don't clean their own homes. Also, most of them probably have nonwhite maids, and they are trying to be politically correct.
Before I read Lillian Robinson's late 1970's book SEX, CLASS, & CULTURE (it was one of those unread books that I have had on my shelves for decades), I thought the politically correct maid issue was a product of reality television. But Robinson pointed out that after the television show "Beulah" was canceled, the only black maids on television were Maude's maid Florida, played by Esther Rolle, who soon had her own show, where she was no longer a maid, and Marla Gibbs' sassy character on "The Jeffersons." Of course, the Jeffersons were black. Late sixties and seventies shows like "The Brady Bunch" and "McMillan and Wife" featured white maids (or as Robinson calls them "domestic servants"). Even more interesting was the use of Asian housekeepers or cooks on such shows as "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," "Bachelor Father," and "Bonanza." In the latter two shows, the Asian "domestic servants" were men.
I'm not sure why Asian men were portrayed as domestic servants in shows that began in the late fifties, but that practice might explain playwright David Hwang's suggestion in MBUTTERFLY that Asian men are seen as feminine. Although I was old enough to remember those shows, I focused more on movie images when I taught Hwang's play and argued that Asian action stars like Bruce Lee made me see Asian men as warriors, better fighters in hand-to-hand combat than men of other races.
Some people have given Bill Cosby's 1980's show the credit (or the blame) for President Obama's election, and they may be partly right. But we should also recognize that long before Obama was elected, there were black Presidents in movies and television shows. So maybe the reality television stars of today and the casting directors of the past were not being politically correct when they pretended that black women weren't the ones most likely to be maids. Maybe they were/are trying to help black (and brown) women find better jobs.
Forget Beulah. I prefer having a law professor/defense attorney, however corrupt, a doctor, however dominated by her obnoxious husband and culturally clueless children, and a political troubleshooter, however sexually promiscuous, represent me than a wise maid. There's even a black female President on television this season. Who needs an Oscar?
Until very recently, my favorite television shows were such so-called reality shows as "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," "Beverly Hills (and Atlanta) Housewives" and "Braxton Family Values." Of course, we all know that these shows are not completely real, but I noticed one very unreal detail. There were no maids or housekeepers cleaning these reality stars' multi-million dollar homes. The C and D-list celebrities showed their personal assistants, wedding and party planners, fitness, yoga, singing, and dancing coaches, even their cooks or chefs on their reality shows but never their maids or housekeepers. Finally, Clint Eastwood's now ex-wife (reality shows tend to kill marriages), who is Latina, showed her housewife. Then two of the Beverly Hills Housewives, Lisa and Yolanda, showed theirs. But I am still waiting to see the other Beverly Hills/Atlanta maids and Kardashian housekeepers.
Worse than hiding the maids/housekeepers is lying about who they are, which is what Joan and Melissa Rivers did in their last reality show. When a dark-skinned black woman was presented as Joan Rivers' personal assistant, I was impressed. Personal assistants are often friends (as in the case of one Kardashian sister and Jessica Simpson) or even family members (as in the case of Toni Braxton whose sister Towanda was once her personal assistant). For a white woman as old as Joan Rivers to have a black personal assistant made me like her even more (until shortly before she died, she was my favorite female comedian). I thought she had overcome being born during the Jim Crow years when black folks were second-class citizens. But then Joan and Melissa became reckless, introducing a second lighter skinned black woman as another personal assistant. At that point, my willingness to suspend disbelief ended, and I was irritated. I think I was mainly annoyed that I had been fooled by the first lie. Don't even fool me once if you don't want me to call you out in books and on social media. Of course, once I stopped believing the Rivers' lies, I recognized that these black women did not do what personal assistants usually do, like travel with Joan to her comedy gigs.
It's obvious why these reality stars, including the nonwhite ones, don't want to show their maids/housekeepers. Since most of them are not as old as Joan was and most don't have "real" jobs, they don't want to seem lazy by admitting that they don't clean their own homes. Also, most of them probably have nonwhite maids, and they are trying to be politically correct.
Before I read Lillian Robinson's late 1970's book SEX, CLASS, & CULTURE (it was one of those unread books that I have had on my shelves for decades), I thought the politically correct maid issue was a product of reality television. But Robinson pointed out that after the television show "Beulah" was canceled, the only black maids on television were Maude's maid Florida, played by Esther Rolle, who soon had her own show, where she was no longer a maid, and Marla Gibbs' sassy character on "The Jeffersons." Of course, the Jeffersons were black. Late sixties and seventies shows like "The Brady Bunch" and "McMillan and Wife" featured white maids (or as Robinson calls them "domestic servants"). Even more interesting was the use of Asian housekeepers or cooks on such shows as "The Courtship of Eddie's Father," "Bachelor Father," and "Bonanza." In the latter two shows, the Asian "domestic servants" were men.
I'm not sure why Asian men were portrayed as domestic servants in shows that began in the late fifties, but that practice might explain playwright David Hwang's suggestion in MBUTTERFLY that Asian men are seen as feminine. Although I was old enough to remember those shows, I focused more on movie images when I taught Hwang's play and argued that Asian action stars like Bruce Lee made me see Asian men as warriors, better fighters in hand-to-hand combat than men of other races.
Some people have given Bill Cosby's 1980's show the credit (or the blame) for President Obama's election, and they may be partly right. But we should also recognize that long before Obama was elected, there were black Presidents in movies and television shows. So maybe the reality television stars of today and the casting directors of the past were not being politically correct when they pretended that black women weren't the ones most likely to be maids. Maybe they were/are trying to help black (and brown) women find better jobs.
Forget Beulah. I prefer having a law professor/defense attorney, however corrupt, a doctor, however dominated by her obnoxious husband and culturally clueless children, and a political troubleshooter, however sexually promiscuous, represent me than a wise maid. There's even a black female President on television this season. Who needs an Oscar?
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