Bel-Air has an Issue with Class

Television and black television in particular has always had a fascinating relationship with class. While there most certainly have been shows that seek to depict with a degree of nuance and warmth the lives of the working class, and or middle class (Good Times, ROC, and to some extent A Different World and Atlanta) far more shows have been devoted to the depiction of black uplift through the lens of upper middle class folk and the wealthy. Enter the latest crop of black television shows in this new black TV renaissance like “Empire”, all the “Powers”, “Our Kind of People”, “Sistas”, “Greenleaf”, “Black-ish”, and “Dear White People”, hell even shows like “Insecure” by the time they're finished moved from working class depictions to rigid definitions of success by way of aesthetics buried in wealth and luxury and now comes the latest ..“Bel Air". A re-imagined version of the beloved “Fresh Prince of Bel Air" the show seeks to take a more serious dramatic approach that delves into some of the issues that were present in the original but limited by the 30 min run time and its comedic lean. Of course one of those is class..the problem is in that regard Bel Air is a regression.

In the first episode we see Will (Jabari Banks) arrive at Bel-Air enamored as anyone would be by the Bank's wealth. He is taken on a small tour and then brought to the event Uncle Phil (Adrian Holmes) is holding in the backyard. Uncle Phil is put off by Will's gregarious usage of slang and lack of etiquette, (so far so true to the original where Phil also had some funny respectability politics) after being introduced to some of the other family members and announcing that he is hungry, he is told he can order anything that he wants from the master chef who is catering the event. Longing for anything resembling home he orders a philly cheesesteak sandwich. Initially wary of the chefs ability to reproduce the the famous cornerstone of Philadelphia's cultural cuisine, he takes a bite and is instantly pleased. Now, In the original the family stops by a fine dining favorite and seeking to give will a taste of home, brought him back a philly cheesesteak sandwich as envisioned by this fancy restaurant. Will took the sandwich out and immediately asked “what it is” noticing that in no way does it truly resemble a philly cheesesteak sandwich save the fact that it has sliced steak and cheese. He further goes on to elaborate the distinctive qualities and traits of a good philly cheese steak sandwich. This is a valuable truth about the culture around food that made Anthony Bourdain so beloved. Fine dining cuisine is not superior to the creative prowess of the working class, and we all know that Po' boys, Cheesesteaks, and Soul Food could hardly be recreated by fine dining because they would try and class up the food when the heart of it as Will says is in some of the culture around the unique palate from things the upper class deem as unsavory like flavor and grease. In this version its what makes Ashley’s arc around food work so well. The problem with this difference is not that it is different, it is in the dichotomy of the representation of these two worlds from one show to the other. This tiny event is a recreation from the original episode titled “homeboy sweet homeboy", but the entirety of the episode will be recreated later in “PA to LA". The plot goes like so, Will's best friend from back home “Ice Tray” (an uncanny resemblance in Stevonte Hart here as Don Cheadle in the original) comes to visit Will in order to ease away some of his home-sickness, in both episodes Will and Tray reminiscence, and then discover their newfound differences, but in the new version that discovery is violent and paints Tray in an unfavorable light because most of what troubles Tray seems rooted in jealousy. The original tray wasn't bothered at all by the fact that Will decided to stay in Bel-Air, it barely registered. Sure Cheadle lended a slight bit of sadness to show that Tray was indeed disappointed, but Tray almost immediately shrugs it off and wishes his friend well. As a matter of fact one line in the beginning of the old school version from Tray is “You've got a good thing going here Will don't mess it up”, but here in this version Tray becomes livid at the idea of Will staying here mostly because he is leaving him behind to poverty and lacking. This suggestion of a certain kind of jealousy from the have-nots is a continuing theme in this rendition of Bel-Air. We see it in word when after visiting some fairly tame and aesthetically middle class looking friends Ashley is warned by Geoffrey that there are “unsavories” who would like nothing more than to basically hold her for ransom. In light of where she was at it's a ludicrously extreme statement that is delivered as if it is a matter of fact. We then see it again in a much smaller context where Will, Tray, and Uncle Phil go to a concert and and being VIP walk straight through the line. The camera suddenly makes sure to capture several folks who don't have this access commenting and asking “who are these N!&&@$?” . I can tell you having lived in Los Angeles for 13 years I can't recall one single moment where anybody didn't understand the idea of VIP lines and back entrances that are made available for those who have more money than others. It would be quite a rarity to see this kind of carrying on because it is a widely accepted aspect of life in a place like LA that caters to the wealthy. The most it would garner is a “damn I wish” sort of response. The show's lack of desire to want to discuss the differences in class with any sort of nuance and it's lack of desire to want to do anything with the working class save to portray them as as inferior, small minded, and vulture-like (Rashad Denton for example) is troubling especially when compared to the way they were depicted in the original. Wills defense of Ice Tray to Aunt Viv in the original is poignant, and heart warming and when placed against Aunt Vivs fair criticisms of Ice Tray’s lack of ambition makes for a nuanced understanding of the value of their friendship and of people beyond what they produce.

The show's problems with class continue in the decision to change the the core meaning in the episode titled “Yamacraw” which is a loose translation of the original episode titled “Not with My Pig You don't”. In this episode in the original Uncle Phil's mother Hattie visits him, and excitedly reminisces with Will about Phil's youth on a farm. It's a funny and sweet depiction of Uncle Phil's working class roots, but Uncle Phil in the midst of receiving an award for his help in the black community, takes exception to that part of his life being brought up, his mother hears this and tells him he has no resason to be ashamed of his roots and even though he denies he is, its clear some part of him is ashamed. The most consistent and persistent theme of that episode is that Uncle Phil has nothing to be ashamed of regarding his background, and that there was love and beauty in his upbringing, it was an important distinction because far too many of us do not make a distinction between hating poverty and hating the impoverished, between painting poverty as somehow noble and painting the people in it as having no value whatsoever. Bel Air's “Yamacraw” doesn't villainize anyone but it jettisons an important aspect of Uncle Phil's youth and changes it to a story about him losing ties with his community and and his brotherhood in the fraternity, which again is not in and of itself a problem.. Where it becomes a problem is in its resolution. Uncle Phil had had a serious problem in the way he was dealing not only with his brotherhood but with the community and the end of that episode the resolution of this very serious conflict is not to apologize and claim his connection to the community but to literally “Step" his way back into the brothers good graces. By the time Phil finally starts to take steps towards re-ingratiating himself to the community he has left behind in a later episode it feels like the damage is already been done.

To be clear Bel-Air is not at all a terrible show, it has plenty of elements to keep anyone just entertained enough to keep watching, some of the re-imagings are fairly creative ( Geoffrey -Jimmy Akingbola ) and others give far more character and depth to the characters like Hilary and Aunt Viv ( Coco Jones, Cassandra Freeman ) But both aesthetically and thematically the show can be far too uniform in it's depictions, and its continuance of the worst traditions around storytelling are too reminiscent of Cosbiness, wherein a “talented tenth”are our saviors and the rest of us just fodder for their fears and props for their PR. It's not like the original was particularly good at this either, but it makes no sense for it over 30 years later, with hindsight available to be worse than the original in this regard. It is not wrong to ask a show whose goal is to be more dramatically effective and socio politically charged to spend more time on and around those it claims to care about even while some of its main characters may not. It would behoove the show to give characters like Will's mother Viola Smith a hard working woman more of an inner life, beyond face time. To either make Tray's arguments more nuanced by showing the audience the way Will has maybe lost his way in all this in something more then wearing nice clothes, and having nice things (which no real friend would begrudge a friend) or by just allowing that one aspect of Tray being supportive to remain the same. There is nothing new about reducing the working class poor to the vulture class, when in fact that is the wealthy. We see enough of that in black and white television, what we are missing are the wonderful depictions of the working and middle class present in films like “Car Wash" (1976) and “Friday" and TV shows like “Sanford and Son” “Martin" and “The Jamie Foxx Show" and though black people have reason to want to see ourselves draped in luxury and comfort in film and television there is nothing fresh about that coming at the cost of the other classes, there is enough of that in real life.