ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 demonstrates an intersectional reading of television. The case study for this chapter include the pilots of three sitcoms which first aired in the same season on a major network. The three sitcoms, Cristela, Black-ish, and Fresh off the Boat, foreground racialized experiences within the U.S. We viewed the pilot episodes multiple times taking notes around the question, “What do the representations of Black, Latinx, and Asian family life teach the audience about racism, sexism, classism, and other systems of domination?” We then used first and second round coding techniques along with analytical memo writing to develop themes from the data. Our analysis of the pilot episode texts reveal that, though the shows examine family lives within traditionally marginalized groups, whiteness was still ultimately centered and was not fully interrogated in all of its problematics and complexities.
