MovieChat Forums > A Different World (1987) Discussion > Light Skinned Abundance in Season One

Light Skinned Abundance in Season One

posted 10 years ago by tooclosetothetv
20 replies | jump to latest

Anyone else notice the colorism in Season One? The only starring role darker than a paper bag was Jaleesa, who was portrayed as difficult to get along with from the very first episode. (Stevie, who was really a supporting character, had also been ditched by her man.)

Meanwhile Dwayne was falling all over himself for Denise, then transferred his obsession over to Whitley. It was such the "dark skinned brother comes up by getting light skinned woman" dynamic of yesteryear. Even Whitley's father dumped Dihann Carroll for a fair-skinned woman (Troy Beyer).

Between that and all the blonde, blue eyed extras in Season One (see my other post) they were really getting crazy with it.

Luckily Season 2 reflected the spectrum of colors in the Diaspora.

[–] SmokyBrownEyes 10 years ago

To me there was a mix of light and darker characters but a few more lighter ones. I can't see Dwayne fawning over Jaleesa after Denise left the show. Kimberly and Freddie were new and young at the time so Whitley was the only choice for Dwayne. Stevie left the show to get married so there was a happy ending for her as well.
I thought that Whitley's parents were already divorced by the time her dad began seeing Monica, if so he didn't necessarily dump the mother for her. She could've dumped him but I admit I haven't seen this show in some years.

There's nothing like you and I baby.

[–] tooclosetothetv 10 years ago

Look at the DVD cover on iMDB. I stand by my original statement! LOL

They rarely show the episode with Whitley's stepmother. It's a Christmas episode, I think.

Dwayne did briefly date Col. Taylor's daughter, who wasn't paper bag test, but I mean major characters week in and week out. Even the opening credits are Dwayne chasing a light skinned model. And Ron is in love with LaToya Jackson.

Spike Lee really nailed it in School Daze.

[–] SmokyBrownEyes 10 years ago

I was looking at the IMDB cover lol. Walter came along in Season 2? Anyway, I guess you can blame whoever casted the Season 1 characters yet half of them were gone by Season 2.

There's nothing like you and I baby.

[–] tooclosetothetv 10 years ago

I couldn't remember so I checked. Sinbad was in Season One, but they bumped up his part in Season Two.

P.S.: The rarely shown episode with Whitley's Stepmom was "Gift of the Magi" S1: E10, before Superfly started playing her Dad.

[–] Brian_and_the_Revolution 10 years ago

One of my friends from college always pointed it out how funny it was that the ones that came from money(Whitley, Ron) were light skin and the ones that didn't come from an upper or upper middle class family were darker.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2288050/board/thread/236193626?d=236193626#236193626

[–] tooclosetothetv 10 years ago

Wow. Now that you mention it that is totally true.

[–] Brian_and_the_Revolution 10 years ago

I never got it until much later(call me the clueless white man) when my friend pointed it out. It's quite odd because you have Denise who's parents are a doctor and a lawyer, Ron's dad owns a car dealership or two, Whitley's father is some big time judge and her mother was born into money(I believe she was just a socialite). I honestly didn't know what Freddie's parents did but on the other end of it, Dwayne's dad was a bus driver and Kim's father was a cop and I remember both her and Dwayne talking about being on financial aid.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2288050/board/thread/236193626?d=236193626#236193626

[–] musics_my_life 9 years ago

I could be making this up, but wasn't Fredie's mom a hippie? I remember her mom being white, and when she visited in one episode, we saw where Freddie got her "weirdness" from.

[–] EmilyTheDramaQueen 9 years ago

It could be a coincendence on that part but I'm not sure. I do remembering hearing a while back that Darryl Bell had auditioned for Dwayne but didn't get it and was cast as Ron who at the time was a recurring character.

"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"

Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"

[–] LOTRinger02 8 years ago

It could be a coincendence on that part but I'm not sure. I do remembering hearing a while back that Darryl Bell had auditioned for Dwayne but didn't get it and was cast as Ron who at the time was a recurring character.

You should know that dark skinned black men will get cast way faster that a dark skinned black woman. When "black women" are casted on TV shows/movies they are usually light skinned/mixed. Zoe Saldana is Hollywood's go to black actress and she doesn't even identify herself as black.

~~~~~
Vigorli~Harmony~Thorki~Stucky I SHIP IT!

[–] Shauni 10 years ago

And usually the girls the guys chased after were from the looser hair texture/lighter end of the spectrum. This is true of many 90s shows. Just sayin.

[–] SmokyBrownEyes 10 years ago

Can't get away with that now with all this social media around. They'll get called out for it. At the most, they'll just go after the big booty.

There's nothing like you and I baby.

[–] TrangPak2 10 years ago

All of the light skinned actresses were virginal too. Whitley and Denise were both pristine and chaste when it came to men, however Jaleesa was divorced and the Kim who was an aspiring doctor had a pregnancy scare her first season.

[–] Brian_and_the_Revolution 10 years ago

I still don't believe that free spirited Denise was virginal. A lot of free spirited chicks back in the 80's were anything but...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2288050/board/thread/236193626?d=236193626#236193626

[–] SmokyBrownEyes 10 years ago

I don't believe Denise was either.

[–] EmilyTheDramaQueen 9 years ago

It's possible yes but during the Cosby Show's time it was a bit of a no-no to have the kids on shows be sexual active or at least not mention it and you'll just have to draw conclusions or whatever. Which is why a lot of 70s and 80s shows did the "pregnant friend" storyline. By the time they did the birth control storyline with Pam, TV had changed in that regard.

"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"

Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"

[–] MovieGem 9 years ago

This is true, but Dwayne was also attracted to Peggie (I think that was her name) in season 1 who was brown skin and if you pay attention to some of extras he hit on some of them were brown-dark.

The woman Dwayne cheated on Whitley with was brown as well. Yes this show definitely preferred light skin/biracial women, but there were still other skin tones portrayed as desirable.

[–] kittykittymeowmeow19 9 years ago

You're looking at it too hard. Jasmine Guy said in an interview how hard it was being a mixed actor/actress to find a part in Hollywood. She thanked people like bill cosby for trying to incorporate mixed actors/actresses. That's more than likely why there are so many and have mixed children playing his kids as well. I'm sure Grandpa Huxtable is mixed too (Earl Hyman) and that had something to do with it too...

Hate to say it but thinking like yours is part of the reason it is so hard for them back then and maybe still today to get parts which will lead to an abundance of half black people in shows that are centered around black people

I wish I can go back in time and pinch those chubby little cheeks and tell you nothing will be ok.

[–] aprilkepner 9 years ago

Um...no. Jasmine meant that as a mixed actress it was hard to find parts in Hollywood that would go to fully WHITE actors. Not that she couldn't find a part on black tv shows. If you actually think that mixed race actors have a hard time finding black roles, or that they aren't favored over fully black or dark skinned actors, you're very ignorant to what's happening in Hollywood and what's been happening for the past 40 years.

As for the OP, I believe there was some colorism going on, maybe unintentionally, because there's colorism in everything, unless projects go out of their way to intentionally avoid it. Even if the casting directors weren't purposely looking to do this, think about everything that goes into even becoming an actor, getting a good agent, and actually getting an audition on a decent show.

[–] pioneergrrrl (2411) 7 years ago

it shows how backlash the 1980's was---only certain types of actors were 'attractive' to casting agents...despite many more people actually being enrolled in a really HBCU off screen