https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0744-614X
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ABSTRACT
Television networks, in partnership and collaboration with streaming platforms, are now increasingly using nostalgia themed programming to captivate diverse audiences. To meet the growing calls for diverse representation, many of these shows retell the history and events of Black America during the Reagan period, drawing on post-soul aesthetics and culture. Further, streaming services have made a conscious effort to acquire rights to older Black sitcoms, enabling Black audiences to relive the memories attached to post-soul media. Using textual analysis of FX dramas Snowfall and Pose, this paper analyses how television programmes invoke post-soul aesthetics to produce a distinct and consumable form of Black nostalgia. This results in a competing nostalgia where viewers are unable to disassociate the feel-good moments of a past era from the racial trauma, oppression and discrimination that shaped this same period. While discourse around Blackness and nostalgia should fervently occupy space outisde of topics related to structural racism and economic marignalization, this essay argues that television networks and streaming platforms are choosing to produce Black nostalgic programmes that highlight this tension. Therefore, this has led to a resurgence of post-soul-themed programming.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2023.2277603)
Notes
1 The company also pledged to donate 5 million dollars to the NAACP and other nonprofit organizations (Ali 2020).
2 Sitcoms like Living Single (1993–1998), Hangin' with Mr. Cooper (1992–1997), and Family Matters (1989–1998) were all once available on Hulu (Andrews-Dyer 2020). Of the three programs, Living Single and Family Matters are available with a general subscription as of October 2023. Hanging' With Mr. Cooper is now available on Amazon Prime and HBO Max. This is an example of how the evolving nature of relationships between streaming platforms and television networks regarding licensing and ownership have contributed to some Black nostalgic series' being available on multiple streaming platforms simultaneously. For example, Sister, Sister (1994–1999) was on Netflix and Hulu until September 2023. This also illustrates how different streaming platforms often acquire licenses for reproduction of the same shows at different times.
3 The work of Stuart Hall explains that television messages are encoded with certain signs and meanings, but viewers can accept, reject, and/or negotiate those meanings. Therefore, Snowfall is written in a way that the complexity of Franklin's character makes it up to the viewer to decide whether he's the protagonist, antagonist, or somewhere in between, which aligns with post-soul interpretations of Black identity.
4 This scene takes place in the pilot episode during the (23:32-23:47) time markers.
5 Yuppie is a term that stands for ‘Young Urban Professional' and was a popular stereotype applied to White professionals in the 80's and particularly white-collar workers in 80s New York (Ex. Wall Street Bankers). According to Dylan Gottlieb (2021), yuppies were characterized as those who, ‘earned high salaries, coveted loft apartments, and trained for marathons’ (962). They were thought to indulge in wealth, and more importantly, they were thought of as not being afraid to show and display that wealth despite the ever-growing income gap.
6 This scene take place in episode five of season one, titled ‘seven-four’ during the time markers of (24:40-27:05).
7 This scene takes place in the episode ‘The Fever' during the (1:48-3:39) time markers. What’s important about this scene is that even within this marginalized subculture, hegemonic norms around what women should look like (e.g., full-figured, curvy, voluptuous) are upheld.
8 The scene take place during episode four of season one, titled ‘The Fever’ during the time markers (3:50-4:47).
9 It is important to mention that colorism impacts men too and Snowfall's Franklin Saint is a dark-skinned Black man, which carries its own connotations. However, because he is presented as a heterosexual man, these discourses are not as readily presented within the show, and therefore do little to interrupt Ashe's initial meaning of the post-soul cultural mulatto.
10 This is the term that Indya Moore has used to refer to herself and MJ Rodriguez across various mediums.
11 It's important to mention here, that many of the characters were disowned by their families after coming out as members of the trans and gay community. My assumption is that previous histories of the characters were not shown to convey that these characters were on their own until they met each other. I'm also assuming that it's out of respect of not wanting to engage in the practice of deadnaming. Deadnaming is the practice of referring to a trans person or non-binary person by their birth name in a way that doesn't respect their gender identity. In the episode where we are shown Blanca's family, this exact thing happens. Blanca is consistently disrespected by her birth family members as they continuously misgender her and refer to her using her birth name.
12 The scene take place during episode five of season one, titled ‘Mother's Day’, during the time markers (25:00-28:41).
13 By heteronormative relationships I'm referring to both the characters Angel Evangelista and Elektra Abundance who are depicted as maintaining heterosexual relationships, where they can live in materialistic luxury as a result.
14 This conditional relationship between Elektra Abundance and her boyfriend Dick Ford spans and/or is referenced throughout season one, particularly in the episodes ‘The Fever' and ‘Pink Slip’.
15 The scene in which Pray Tell passes out from an allergic reaction to AZT appears in episode six of season two during the (0:00-2:22) time markers. Pray Tell was in the middle of announcing his fundraiser for the study of the AIDS virus, which illustrates just how detrimental this illness was to the community. However, the ballroom setting also shows viewers how hard this community worked to not let it dictate and shape their lives.
16 Some of this music includes rap, which was not considered ‘popular music’ at the time, especially since Hip-Hop was initially ostracized by the music industry. However, with it now being the number one genre in America (Ahmed 2022), it has become popular in the American consciousness, even if the industry still refuses to label it as popular music.
17 The song plays during the time markers of (2:57-3:10) during the episode Make Them Birds Fly, episode two of season one.
18 Emily Lordi (2020) explains that much of the soul music in the 1960's packaged elements of gospel music and the Black church into music that was largely designed for a secular audience. Lordi also mentions that Nina Simone started singing in the church. Therefore, while Nina Simone's song is considered soul music and very much spiritual in a sense, use of the song perfectly explicates the tendency of post-soul culture to take elements from previous eras in Black History and make them their own. In Franklin's eyes he wasn't looking for spiritual redemption but was looking to be redeemed by becoming a recognized and legitimate member of society. For him, this could only be achieved through financial wealth.
19 Stallone is arguably one of the most successful movie stars of the period as he also starred in other successful films including the Rocky franchise.
20 The mask could be literal or figurative.
21 Singleton's debut feature film, Boyz N the Hood wasn't released until 1991, but the story begins in 1984 and that film visibly has 80's aesthetics.
22 While the term “hood” has come to possess many signifiers, often negative, in relation to Blackness, it is important to mention that these spaces are filled with communities of people who have built community, despite being severely impacted by economic marginalization and redlining. The hood, therefore, is a result of decades of American policy that have weakened and underserved Black communities.
23 Pose was initially excluded from this deal because of the previous deal between Murphy and Netflix. Therefore, Pose was one of the few FX shows that was not available on Hulu initially. As of October 2023, Pose is currently streaming on Hulu and unavailable on Netflix.
24 The show is created by ABC and originally airs on the network weekly. Hulu has licensing rights to the program and viewers can therefore access the program after it airs. It's also important to note that both ABC and Hulu are owned by Disney.
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Notes on contributors
Ta’Les Love
Ta’les Love is an Assistant Professor in the Brooks School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Grand Valley State University. Her research interests are situated at the intersections of race, digital media studies and television studies. Dr Love’s work also interrogates mediated representations of Black womanhood and how Black women use social media technologies for community building, entrepreneurship and activism.