Rehistoricizing Black Masculinity in The Wonder Years Reboot

Black Masculinity and Intersectionality

Characteristics of Black masculinity have changed throughout U.S. history. bell hooks (2003) reconstructed the definition of Black masculinity. hooks explained that present stereotypes of Black masculinity, such as Black men as failures, dangerous, violent, criminals, hypersexual, rebel, cowards, emasculated, playboy, and unfaithful, can be traced back to historical narratives since slavery. She argued all negative stereotypes of Black masculinity are based in White patriarchal masculinity, how White people look at Black men. In her writings, hooks reconstructs Black masculinity through Black people’s point of view. hooks (2003) said Black men have a different idea about masculinity from White men. Dominance as a masculine trait was shown in White men’s mission to colonize others (hooks, 2003). From hooks’ writings, it can be said that there is both conventional Black masculinity and unconventional Black masculinity. Conventional Black masculinity is attributes typically associated with Black men set by White culture, which include mostly negative stereotypes of Black men and the most dangerous and feared forms of patriarchal masculinity. Unconventional Black masculinity is the attributes of Black men that hooks reconstructs through the historical perspective of Black people. For example, she references boxer Muhammad Ali’s unconventional Black masculinity because he dared to express his emotions and photographs captured him smiling, hugging Black males and showing love; everything a patriarchal man was not supposed to be and do. Although hooks (2003) argued that to “the unenlightened white world” reduced Ali to him to a racist stereotype of a brute without intelligence (p. 22). Thus, the impact of Black perspectives and visibility challenges the dominance of racist stereotypes and reframes the complexity of identity politics.

In her concept of intersectionality, Kimberle Crenshaw (1989, 1991) centered the experiences of Black women as the representative of a multi-axis framework for understanding oppression. Crenshaw (1991) referenced the Black male experience to argue for the emphasis on race, but pushed those who identify as both Black and male to the margins. Majors and Billson (1992) explicated the “cool pose” or tough-guy image of Black men to mask emotions like anger. In 2015, Mark Anthony Neal theorized a 21st-century “new” multi-leveled model of Black masculinity that moved beyond patriarchy to embrace feminism and combat homophobia which historically has been seen as in conflict with Black patriarchal masculinity. Jackson and Dangerfield’s (2002) Black Masculine Identity Model posited five factors affecting Black men’s positioning: struggle, community, achievement, independence, and recognition. This article re-centers the lived experience of Black men as it plays out in mass media research.

Media Representations of Black Males

The 2019 United States Census found the Black male population totaled 19.9 million. While Black people consist of large, marginalized group in the United States, the representation in the media has not equated to the population (Tukachinsky et al., 2015). In 1980s media trends, Gray (1989) argues the scripted Black male lead character in television shows strengthens White supremacy and highlights whitewashing to show how race via racism are not central to the character’s lives.

This anti-racist departure was pushed by mainstream understandings of civil rights and the Black middle class’ emergence. The token Black stereotypes of television Black characters have shifted in entertainment media (MacDonald, 1983). A content analysis of the 345 most viewed U.S. television shows from 1988 to 2008 found significant range of Black characters in terms of sexual objectification, social status, and professional status (Tukachinsky et al., 2015). According to a McKinsey & Company report (Dunn et al., 2021) Black talent is underrepresented in film and television. When individuals in leadership in the film or television show are Black, it is more likely that additional talent on the project will be Black. Currently 87% of television executives are White. Furthermore, in 2019, only 14% of leads on cable shows were Black, and on broadcast shows only 12% were Black. While creatives from underrepresented backgrounds can bypass traditional media gatekeepers via streaming, the total of streaming shows with Black leads was less than 5% (Dunn et al., 2021). When considering Netflix, 15.2% of lead or co-lead roles in film and scripted series in 2018 and 2019 were Black talent though they had low percentages of creators, producers, writers, and directors (White, 2023).

Positive media representations of Black male characters on scripted television depict Black men as career-driven and from different class statuses (Stamps, 2019). Research shows characters representing several features: including the queer performance of camp (Dexl & Horn, 2017), Black males being sexually fluid confronting homophobia (Smith-Frigerio, 2018), and shows focused on mental health and outreach support and social services (Luisi et al., 2020).

Recent studies situated Black masculinity in different spaces. Daniels (2021) explored Black male characters in the female-centric show Being Mary Jane. In his study of Black male scripted shows, Stamps (2021) recognized the diverse, positive characterizations being represented, but noted many of these characters lack the social connection to Black communities because they are place in majority-White spaces. Furthermore, studies find that positive TV portrayals of Black male identity must be palatable, nonthreatening for White audiences’ acceptance (Matabane & Merritt, 2014; Thornton, 2011). The Wonder Years reboot resituates Black male characters within Black spaces challenging notions of whiteness and elevating Black history during the 1960s.

Reboot Culture

Nostalgia is a wistful, sentimental desire to return to a past period or condition (Merriam Webster, 2021). Historian Daniel Boorstin (1980) indicated nostalgia culture is inherently an American ideology because it focuses on exaggerating power to reimagine society. Therefore, the validation of well-known images denote the superiority of what has happened in the past to current issues (Graham, 1984). Graham (1984) noted American popular culture’s nostalgia results from the separation of important contemporary issues and acceptance of that detachment. Therefore, recycling past cultural components such as television shows is not new. Although it is not new, Reynolds (2011) argues that digital advances in the 2000s caused the excess of retro, nostalgic culture. Lavigne’s 2014 edited book Remake Television provides a definition that reboots are shows that re-envision a narrative from the beginning and shares its name and copyright with an older media property. In this case, the 2021 version of The Wonder Years is a textbook reboot. By analyzing remade television, including reboots, Lavigne notes that we can answer questions including those focused on changing political and social contexts, as well as questions about television and ourselves.

While nostalgia arguably indicates a collective desire to idealize American cultural roots, the makers of the nostalgic content are in two camps: those who are infatuated with it and those who are resentful of it (Graham, 1984). Those infatuated with it can leave society in a period of stasis due to over recycling the past (Reynolds, 2011). Those who are resentful, participate in nostalgia to call attention to larger issues of concern. Urban (2001) argues nostalgia can get us to move forward, making us to embrace on culture, remembering what the thing means to us, and what we can learn from it.

The original The Wonder Years focused on growing up in the late 1960s and 1970s from the perspective of a White 12-year-old boy. The 2021 reboot, producer and showrunner Saladin K. Patterson notes, chose to follow the same timeline as the original show. To Patterson, focusing on the 1968–1988 time frame felt like a retrospective look to the past to learn something in a way that focusing on the early 2000s would not (Lawler, 2021). The Wonder Years reboot aims to challenge viewers and our remembrances. According to Deggans (2021) changing the race of characters in a reboot (such as to a Black family from a White family) can help people of color reclaim cultural space and tell their stories in spaces previously denied.

In this way, The Wonder Years reboot aims to challenge viewers and our remembrances. As actor Dulé Hill notes, while he was a fan of the original show, he was not seeing himself reflected in it as much as he would have liked (Associated Press, 2021). While the reboot captures the nostalgia, and universality of the original, it explores the decades showing that the time was not all “water hoses and dogs” (Associated Press, 2021). According to Patterson, quoted in Acquilina (2021), Black people can look at the late 1960s with nostalgia because of resilience associated with the Black family because of fortitude Black people had to develop at the time.

Television portrayals of Black families followed an idea of negotiated authenticity that showed Blackness, but only the sort that was acceptable to White showrunners, executives, and viewers (Giorgis, 2021). As Gray (1995) points out in television’s early years Blackness was told from a White subject position. Even for current shows like Black-ish that discuss race issues, the constraints from ABC and Disney prevented them from covering topics like reactions to the 2016 election.

The Wonder Years reboot focuses on a middle-class Black family living in Montgomery, Alabama. The show is follows Dean, a 12-year-old Black boy and his family: his father, Bill, his mother, Lillian, and his older sister, Kim. Other family members like his older brother Bruce and grandfather, Clisby are featured in later episodes. While the family faces challenges of the time, they have strength in the family unit (Lawler, 2021). Lee Daniels, show producer, notes many Black families were lower-middle and middle class and not depicted in the era properly (Lawler, 2021).

Methods

Discourse analysis focuses on social behaviors, power, communication, culturally situated to uncover the complexity of layered meanings (Van Dijk, 2009). Mass media channels are one of the many ways discourse reproduces itself. Gitlin (1979, p. 426) argues “ideology is relayed through various features of American television, and how television programs register larger ideological structures and changes.” Television shows and their creators are aware the populations’ interests and present them through new styles as a means of opposition (Gitlin, 1979). Television production conventions create different perspectives, but frequently highlight White middle-class audiences as the ideal viewer and characters, even if the series is about non-White characters and stories (Gray, 2005).

For the analysis, the authors viewed all 22 episodes of Season 1. Particular scenes and storylines focusing on Black masculinity were viewed multiple times, and notes were taken to capture dialogue. When our transcribing reached saturation, or when we had several examples of character interactions, we grouped these descriptions. Based on our data, we found the following three discourses: Reimagining “Ordinary” Blackness, Recontextualizing Black Masculinity, and Revisiting Respectability Politics.

Reimagining “Ordinary” Blackness

Black history scholars have challenged mainstream notions of the modern Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s because it upholds the idea that civil rights and equality were only fought through this period. By emphasizing individual Black leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr., we memorialize the fight of a few, but minimize the collective action of every day Black people entrenched in the activism. The collective memory of the 1950s and 1960s idolizes the “Great Man” narratives, but Blackness was about bridging different local networks and mobilizing communities as unit (Grant & Markovich, 2021). Therefore, the boycotts, marches, and protests featured masses of ordinary Black individuals. Branch (1988) argued those who fought for civil rights reduced power to human scale because they believed ordinary people could create the bonds of citizenship. This rehistoricizing of Blackness within Black spaces exists throughout The Wonder Years reboot as we see Black consciousness and resistance in everyday interactions.

Compared with predominantly White-spaces, Black people are still required to fit the racialization of space. The series opposes this by centralizing Black space for storylines and character development. Thus, audiences see and hear Black characters express themselves racially without the censorship of White spaces. In the pilot episode, the audience quickly sees the world through Blackness via young Dean, who states, “I feel different everywhere I go, no matter who I’m around.” Here, history diverges from the Civil Rights Movement heroes and connects the everyday struggles to surviving racism. Black individuals are forced to operate within “the mask” that allowed them to be invisible and permitted them to fight underground battles (Kelley, 1996) The Black working class utilized this “mask” to push more radical and militant messages and activism. Therefore, the methods of resistance are connected to the social spaces in which Black individuals can discuss their experiences and grievances (Kelley, 1996). The audiences see this “mask” develop within Dean Williams as his adult self and younger self narrate the series. The pilot episode shows how America’s racist history has not changed much. Specifically, this is seen with Dean’s narrations explaining how his parents introduced him to racism at an early age. Adult Dean states, “Growing up, Mom and Dad, gave me ‘The Police Talk’ about how to handle yourself around cops.” This echoing between young Dean and adult Dean shapes how the audience situates the past with the contemporary struggles of Black men and police brutality. At age 12 Dean understood the inherent danger of police incidents and he articulates his experiences by his spatial surroundings.

By the end of the 1940s, it was nationally assumed Blacks could achieve full success by assimilating to White American values. In 1944, Gunner Myrdal, a Swedish scholar who conducted a research study on America, argued the racial problem was rooted in moral incompetence (Gellman, 2012). He affirmed White Americans’ idea of themselves was grounded in liberal traditions of private property and individual rights, but Blacks were excluded. The series tackles this historical notion by juxtaposing the innocence of Black children against the harsh realities of racism after King’s death.

Episode two, “Green Eyed Monster,” showcases the Williams family’s coping mechanisms after King’s assassination, made more poignant considering his connection to Montgomery. Each family member copes with King’s death differently. Audiences see how the event imbues Dean’s father, the often stoic, collected Bill Williams. Nuances of Bill’s character are revealed when Dean fishes with him, showing his softer side. Those facets make him quite personal and human. He tells Dean, “They don’t have to wonder why bad things happen to good people or why, for some people life may never be fair.” The episode dives into the juxtaposition of the community’s grief over Dr. King’s assassination and Dean’s grief about losing his dream girl to his best friend. The balance elevates the historical context, while also humanizing Dean and other Black characters as normal people dealing with ordinary problems. By highlighting “everyday” struggles next to racial oppression, audiences humanize Black people as beyond the lens of activists with an emotionally balanced perspective. Dean pretends be to more upset by King’s death, but his real sadness is over love. He shows how emotions can be complex and Black people’s reactions go deeper than just racial issues.

At the same time, we see the pressure for Black people to share their pain with non-Black people. For example, the schoolteacher asks Dean and his Black classmates Cory and Keisa to present about Dr. King. This is reminiscent of Black people being asked to educate everyone regarding Black Lives Matter/systemic racism. It’s evidence that marginalized people should not be forced to teach others about their oppression who are capable of learning on their own.

This lesson of educating White people about racism is further examined in “The Workplace” episode, as it repositions Black women. The episode showcases the struggles of Black women to gain agency and equality in the workplace. Audiences see Dean’s mother, Lillian Williams, go above and beyond at her job from finding correct documents to making birthday cupcakes for the office. Despite being the only person with a Master’s degree, Lillian is not the boss. “The Workplace” shows audiences the ugliness of White supremacy— the pervasive microaggressions and blatant racism the Black community faces daily. As adult Dean narrates, “I guess for a Black woman in the position my mom was in the 1960s, ‘working mom’ meant you didn’t have a place at anybody’s lunch table.” This episode depicts the harsh realities Black women face in the office and honors their contributions. Simultaneously, it frames the relationship between a mother and her son.

While the series moves back and forth into White spaces, it challenges White ideologies. The episode “Be Prepared” touches on the idealized “American Dream,”— a goal that drastically veers from what we envision in the modern world. By redefining the “American Dream,” for Black people at the time, Dean reveals how Black excellence comes with multiple challenges. Dean learns a valuable lesson about perfection, regarding his father, Bill. The episode slightly shifts the focus from Dean to the adults as we see Bill and Coach Long, Dean’s baseball coach deal with camping. Using his professor intellect, Bill struggles to set up the tent and other camping activities. Excellence is positioned outside the academy, which reveals Bill’s weakness. The show captures these moments to challenge Black middle-class exceptionalism to address classism and respectability politics, where Black individuals must prove their worth to be accepted into to White society. In 1955, Black sociologist E. Franklin Frazier attacked the Black middle class with his book, Black Bourgeoisie. He argued the division between Black alliances and networks was a result of not criticizing the Black middle class. Yet, adult Dean states, “I wanted nothing more than to have my own big, fat slice of that American pie.” He quickly learns that isn’t what it looks like. This series continues to rehistoricize racial differences in the episode, “Brad Mitzvah.” Through Brad’s bar mitzvah, Dean discovers how we share more similarities than differences, putting Dean’s intersectional identities in conversation with Brad’s Jewish identity. The show challenges White ideologies as the characters enter unfamiliar spaces.

The show’s interactions of White society also point out the severity of racism. For example, in “The Valentine’s Day Dance,” Dean’s crush, Keisa gets caught stealing makeup. The White male shopkeeper calls their parents, but when Dean’s sister Kim shows up, the shopkeeper refuses to let them go despite Kim explaining their parents are at work and paying for the items. He insists on police involvement, but Kim begins to cry, and he eventually lets them leave without calling police. This racialized interaction depicts Black criminality from the historical perspective because, though Dean and Keisa are Black tweens, the White shopkeeper wants to charge and treat them as adults (Dixon, 2017; Dixon & Linz, 2000). His behavior reflects the lack of innocence Black youth have in different settings and resembles contemporary narratives and stereotypes. Therefore, this shows the lack of change overtime of Black stereotypes.

The series also addresses historical/contemporary racism in small encounters. In the pilot episode’s opening scene, the audience sees the White kids wanting to touch Dean’s afro. This scene resonates today, as we see people still trying to touch and police Black hair (Duster, 2023). In addition, in “Be Prepared,” Coach Long repeatedly mentions his 1/16 Cherokee heritage while camping as a nod to the culturally inappropriate nature of people discussing their racial genetics and recent popularity of ancestry tests (Roberts, 2011). These small moments resonate to the contemporary notions of history by showing the lack of racialized advancement and systemic issues that linger from the 1960s.

Recontextualizing Black Masculinity

While Dean’s journey in the series takes place in 1960s Alabama, the crux of his journey is framed through his transition into manhood. The series highlights the experiences of Dean becoming a teen, which impacts the study’s larger intersectional framework of Black masculinity by centering race and gender as key areas of analysis. The Black male characters in the series reshape Black Masculinity by positioning them in Black spaces, stripping away many common stereotypes (Jackson & Dangerfield, 2002). Throughout the series, Black men have moments in which the contextualization of their identities are confronted and given depth, specifically in the notions of gender, sexuality, and patriarchy (Neal, 2015).

The implications of recontextualizing Black Masculinity are a liberation process itself. In the episode, “The Club” the storyline dives into the discussion of Black male sexuality from a family setting. The episode centers on Dean and his friends finding racy magazines though they are not confident in the magazines’ meaning or feelings. This discourse reframes the Black male not as a sexual beast, but instead through the innocent adolescent understandings of sex. The White supremacy myth of the Black male rapist represented Black men as hypersexual (Davis, 1981). The stereotype of Black men’s sexuality is further challenged when the audience discovers the magazines belong to Lillian rather than Bill. Instead of Dean’s father giving him a sex talk, Lillian redefines toxic masculinity by telling Dean about women’s sexual desires and the art of compassion. The audience as a result, is allowed to reframe the sexual deviance of Black men.

Similar to his mother and son interactions, Dean spends moments recontextualizing Black masculinity with his Black male family members. The majority of these interactions happen with his father, Bill. For example, in the “The Workplace” episode, it’s “Take Your Son to Work Day” and Dean heads to band practice with Bill, as Bill is also a musician besides a music professor. While at band practice the conversations around “grown folks’ business” becomes too much for Dean as the band members don’t censor themselves well. This includes Dean mistaking condoms for balloons to Bill’s bandmates. By reimagining these incidents as “grown folks’ business,” audiences contextualize Black sexuality as not overtly sexual in Black spaces. Thus, it challenges the mainstream media discourse of Black hypersexualization in White spaces. Through the lens of whiteness, sexual deviant Black masculinity is positioned to be violent and negative, but in Black spaces as these cases illustrate, sexuality is positioned as body positive, empowering, and informative.

In another father–son moment, audiences see Bill’s vulnerability. As a music professor, Bill is represented as the “cool” dad. In “Be Prepared,” Dean quickly places his father on a pedestal but subsequently discovers that even cool dads are not perfect. As a scout leader, Bill fails at a lot, but the humanity of that weakness is quickly redeemed when Bill is invited to play at a club after the scout’s camping trip gets rained out. The episode “I’m With the Band” explores the trials and tribulations of competing in the school band and the pressures of impressing your parents. Dean’s overzealousness to impress his father in the school band takes a sharp turn. Throughout this season, we see Dean idolize Bill for being “cool,” always having the correct answer, and expertly playing the saxophone. In reality, Dean’s pressure comes from his father’s personal issues being shifted to him. We experience Bill’s dilemma regarding choosing between an opportunity that could propel his musical career to new heights versus staying on as a professor because he’s close to receiving tenure. This showcases both racial and social class disparities. This discourse challenged the perspective of Black masculinity being shaped by success (Entman & Rojecki, 2000). Both Dean and Bill trouble with the idea of success in White spaces. In the case of Bill, academia has continually been a space where Black success has been limited. As a professor at Tuskegee University, a historically Black college and university, his career advancement is a result of systemic racism and lack of access to predominantly White institutions. Wilder (2014) argues that “university faculties collected and processed information about human difference from which they forged theories of biological supremacy and inferiority” (p. 10). This elevated the prestige of the White academy, allowing scholars to assert a secular lens that furthered the legitimacy of existing social hierarchies. This storyline reflects contemporary debates of race and higher education as Black professors still struggle with career advancement and access. The episode also delves into the importance of carving an identity separate from your parents, as Dean comes to a crossroads regarding his musical path. He spends so much time modeling himself after his father, even playing the saxophone like him, but Dean realizes he doesn’t want to pursue music with Bill’s same vigor.

The dynamics of Black men across generations is further examined in “Independence Day.” The storyline introduces Bill’s father, Clisby who is having trouble remembering things. In the episode Bill takes away Clisby’s car keys, so he must rely on Kim for transportation. Dean also made plans to use his sister’s transportation services to go to the mall. As a result, Kim takes Clisby and Dean to the mall, however, Kim left Clisby with Dean while she did some shopping. Dean thought he would be embarrassed if his friends saw him with his Granddad, but Clisby made Dean look cool by taking him and his friends to an R-rated movie. Later in the episode Clisby took the car by himself to the barbershop because Bill was busy and refused to take him. Dean went along with him enjoying his time there. While on their way back, Clisby lost control, resulting in a small accident. This made Clisby fear for his grandson’s life and realize it was time to give up driving. Dean’s grandfather had to deal with a loss of his manhood to accept the societal trope of protecting one’s family that come with it. Finally, at home, Dean realizes it was hard for his Dad as well to not give son or aging father freedom. He recognizes the social tensions of Black male freedom come with limitations and responsibility to community and family. The audiences see how Black manhood is cultural tied to multi-generational norms. Scholars have documented the collective past and present of Black community (Davis, 1981; Kelley, 2002). As Black men, both have experienced racism in their lifetimes, but the episode reveals how Black men’s conscious, and movement is restricted. Dean realizes a deeper understanding of independence. While not every viewer can connect with enduring discrimination due to skin color, everyone can relate to seeing eye-to-eye with their elders. “Independence Day” is the great unifier between generations and a reminder that generations have more in common than we realize.

Dean’s intelligence and aptitude for science positions his Black masculinity in a unique discourse. “Science Fair” begins with Dean showing off his chemistry experiment to his friends. Later, he gets into a fight with a bully named Michael. However, Dean’s mother, Lillian, arrived and scolded them both. When bringing Michael to his house, we are made aware he was home alone as his older brother works late. By introducing Michael as a bully with a deeper story, the series begins to explore an intersectional lens around class and mental health. Both topics are often missing from contemporary media discourses so this historical storyline reflects how Black communities, specifically Black males, cope with these aspects of identity politics. Therefore, young Black males’ interactions with each other become the focus of the episode as we learn that Michael’s home life affects his behavior and his performance in school. Lillian steps in to help Michael out with his situation, particularly by telling Dean to help Michael at school with his science project. Dean, already hating his bully was now asked to go through the torture of helping him. When Dean refused to help, Lillian invited Michael over to the house and helped him with the project. By having support, Michael begins to excel under Lillian’s supervision.

As a result, Dean experiences conflicting feelings of frustration and jealousy toward Michael since he has become Lillian’s focus. As Dean is experiencing these emotions, Lillian reveals Michael’s mother was sent to the mental hospital. Therefore, Michael’s trauma of his mother’s condition and the lack of support at home shift his behavior with others. Michael doesn’t bully Dean anymore. Instead, Dean becomes jealous of Michael’s renewed confidence and sabotages his own science experiment. In his own anger, he insulted Michael at the science fair by talking about his mother’s condition publicly. In the end, Dean realized that he was wrong to do so, and his mother was the real hero who tried to help Michael. Both young men learn the impact of giving and accepting help. Thus, it represents Black masculinity in mental and emotional vulnerability. This episode depicts Black masculinity from class perspectives. The audiences see how issues besides racism affect Black male struggles. Michael’s success is enabled by fellow members of the Black community instead of via the White savior trope, where a White person saves Black people. By situating him within Black spaces, Michael finds the support he needs to perform academically and find his confidence. Thus, the series challenges understandings of Black men by showing them as not mentally or morally defective.

Black men’s mental health also appears in the episode “Home For Christmas.” The Williams family welcome home oldest son Bruce, who spent two years fighting the war in Vietnam. Dean was excited to continue childhood traditions with him. Meanwhile, Bill suggested Bruce apply to colleges to continue his education and Bruce looks to apply for jobs as well. When Dean’s friends tell him about stories of soldiers that returned from the war but were never the same, Dean followed the brother he idolizes around to determine if anything changed. Through Bruce’s experiences the audience sees the challenges of Black veterans returning home and not receiving the honor and respect provided to their White counterparts. By highlighting racism in the armed forces, the discourse of citizenship and patriotism is elevated to discuss equality and justice for all. In his job search, Bruce was only offered a janitor’s position at a bank while a White counterpart was offered a teller position. Again, the series addresses classism through an intersectional lens. Bruce lacks the opportunities of other veterans due to his race. The pressures and power structures limit his ability to achieve success in civilian life (R. L. Jackson, 2006; R. L. Jackson & Balaji, 2015) so, he re-enlisted. Although it wasn’t what others wanted for him, the family came together to celebrate the holiday.

Through exploring Black masculinity via different characters, Dean’s journey is contextualized through others’ lived experiences. The series centers Black men as an intersectional identity captured in the struggles of oppression outside of their race and gender. While racism is a major issue in the 1960s, the Black male characters are depicted with complexity, depth, and agency. Moreover, the show delves into the continual re-evaluation of Black masculinity by addressing class and mental health.

Revisiting Respectability Politics

Inside The Wonder Years reboot, Black individuals interact in Black spaces, but within these spaces notions of respectability politics are maintained. Respectability politics influence marginalized individuals’ behavior to conform to hegemonic ideals of respectable behavior so they may gain social status. The conflicting notions of such politics operated on various levels within the Black community and shifted based on socioeconomic circumstances, personal politics and aspirations. Racial uplifters— those striving for Black liberation, the legislation and implementation of equal rights statutes, and the eradication of Jim Crow segregation—viewed outward displays of cultural refinement and sexual restraint as preconditions toward race and gender equality (Cooper, 2017). Scholars argue that respectability politics is a defense mechanism and does not promote respect but inflicts a deeper mental health burden because it polices Black behavior in everyday spaces (Cooper, 2017; Higginbotham, 1993). In the episode, “The Lock In,” Dean dives into navigating first kisses and first church lock-ins. Networks like the Black church affirmed notions of Black respectability within the discourse. As adult Dean narrates, “So much of what makes Black culture unique comes from its roots in the Black church.” Higginbotham (1993) noted that the Black church during this period was revitalized at as a location for “self-help” for Black individuals, specifically Black women used the church to enhance their respectability status within the community. The respectability politics of presenting Dean and Black people as “pure” and “respectable” are weaved throughout the episode. For example, Dean experiences his first kiss in the church and shoves the pastor’s daughter Charlene into the baptismal pool in a knee-jerk reaction to “sin.” While Dean and Charlene bring kissing into the “pure” church space, Lillian, acting as a chaperone is determined to keep the kids “pure.” She is embodying these politics by telling Dean, “The house of the Lord is not a place to be acting fast” after she hears about a planned make out session. Early on, Black women expanded the public role of their leadership by upholding respectability politics or a culture of refinement and nobility among the Black elites. The sexual and gender policing reflected the sanctity of Black women’s bodies as well as served as a guard to White male sexual objectification (Cooper, 2017).

The policing of Black women’s bodies becomes a theme throughout the series as Dean sees how members of the Black community treat his mother in different settings. Another aspect of respectability politics is “the shameful other,” as a hierarchal contrast to one’s respectable behavior. In the episode “The Club,” Lillian’s secret reading of racy magazines shocks Dean and we hear about the shame of her secret. At the same time, Lillian’s embracing of her sexuality challenges the time period, but is relevant in the age of taboo topics. She destigmatizes embracing one’s sexuality and normalizes having those “dirty” feelings. In the episode “Lads and Ladies and Us,” the Williams family applies for membership to a high-society club. Dean finds belonging among them; however, Lillian’s experience is quite different because other Black women shame her status and family. The episode delves into classism, sexism, and internalized racism, notably when Lillian’s friend talks about seeing plenty of “milk chocolate” among the club’s members but not “dark chocolate.” This is a discreet insult to the Williams family because of their darker skin. The audience also experiences the club’s leader’s discriminatory behavior against Lillian for being a “working mom.” Her status as a woman is questioned because she works outside the home. Restrained and orderly gatherings of Black citizens became the vision and influence for class-appropriate behavior. Black women were assigned distinct, domestic roles and “respectable” behaviors due to gender representations. As a result Black masculinity became a visible source of racial health and a popularized resource for protest (Feldstein, 2000).

Visible Black masculinity as protest happens in the episode “Black Teacher” when Dean’s class meets their long-term substitute teacher, Mr. Brady, a Black man from Chicago. Brady was recruited by the school’s White leadership as he has “something special we all can learn from.” The episode includes real and imagined Black radicalism interactions in within White spaces that turn the classroom dynamics on their head. After the passing of King, Black Power radicalism began to challenge respectability politics because many thought Black people having to prove themselves to White people was a never-ending cycle. For example, we see Dean imagining Keisa and Cory standing with the Black Power fists raised. In real time, a White classmate ironically is concerned that the Black students will get special treatment. Also, Dean is getting recognized in ways he is not used to, being called Dean immediately instead of being mistaken for Cory, and being named captain of the knowledge bowl team. As adult Dean narrates, “A team that was 100% White is now 60% Black. That’s what we call reparations math.” Even with the opportunities, Dean struggles with having a Black teacher, who is “too Black” and trying to ensure both his White and Black classmates like him. While he takes his role as captain seriously to help make sure everyone on the team feels included, the team does poorly in competition.

Respectability politics forced Black people to alter their identities to uplift the race. Conforming to middle-class ideals, Black individuals created oppositional knowledge by redefining stereotypes, but this conversion reinforced the status quo (Feldstein, 2000). Currently Black scholars reject respectability politics because it downplays issues of oppression and refocuses on those worthy of equality (Cooper, 2017). The series hints at this contemporary shift throughout as moments of comedic relief. For example, Kim tells Dean, “I only play the cello because dad wouldn’t let me play the saxophone when I was your age. He said that’s how girls get pregnant.” Here, Bill is depicted as protector, policing his daughter’s sexuality, to keep her pure by thinking a musical instrument leads to sexual activity. In maintaining respectability, the policing of other Black people is discussed in the “Science Fair” episode after Lillian takes in Michael. Adult Dean narrates, “Back then, there was an unspoken agreement that Black parents were allowed to parent not just their own kids, but all the kids in the community.” Notions of respectability are inserted into the series as cultural markers of historical values within the Black community. The reboot revisits them as a space for change.

Conclusion

A current examination of mass media representation is essential to social and political environment where social inequities have become more visible (Moody-Ramirez et al., 2023). The Wonder Years reboot exists alongside other realistic portrayals of Black life in shows such as When They See Us, Ava DuVernay’s Netflix depiction of the Exonerated Five (Hamilton & Roy, 2020). Unlike portrayals like DuVernay’s series, The Wonder Years reboot shows the Black experience from a White-acceptable perspective. Carter (1988) introduced the concept of comfort zone, which articulates that comedic, Black-centered television shows are successful because White audiences are comfortable with comedy and are uncomfortable facing serious Black issues portrayed realistically in dramatic shows. The Wonder Years reboot leans into the comfort zone centering White audiences in the portrayal of Black life and Black masculinity. Hughes (2014) found Black-centeredness did not negatively influence program ratings and shares from 1964 to 1994. Ellithorpe and colleagues (2019) found Black adolescents consume/are exposed to more Black-oriented films when they perceive them as targeting Black audiences. However, White adolescents found it difficult to identify Black-oriented films. If audiences perceive The Wonder Years as targeting Black or White audiences, this will affect the impact of the show’s portrayals of Black masculinity. Inniss and Feagin (1995) interviewed Black upper-middle- and middle-class individuals to understand their reactions to The Cosby Show. Their research found responses to the show were positive and negative centering on two themes: (a) fear that Black problems will be considered irrelevant and (b) hope and optimism that the Black condition can improve. In its 100 years analysis of media representations and diversity, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, scholars noted that stereotypical media portrayals connect Black people with crimes, sports, and entertainment (Moody-Ramirez et al., 2023). Also, despite the improvements of positive Black media representation, there’s still a deficit surrounding issues and stereotypes.

While The Wonder Years reboot does show real-life experiences of Black families for the time period, it is possible the show’s comedic nature can impact the reboot’s aim of growth and change in understanding Black lives. In the present study, reboot culture situated Black masculinity within a historical storyline of Black spaces. The show’s debut drew 3.07 million viewers and a rating of 0.6 in the key demographic of viewers aged 18 to 49 (Deggans, 2021). The Season 2 premiere brought in a total of 2.094 million viewers with a rating of 0.6. After two seasons, the series was canceled in 2023. We argue that Black history can be rehistoricized to articulate contemporary racial issues in an entertainment format. The Wonder Years challenges Black male stereotypes by presenting an intersectional framework that positions multi-level forms of oppression, such as race, gender, class, and disability. The audience’s exposure to complex Black masculine identities is created from the main character Dean’s perspective. He makes centering Black men in media studies as intersectional examples of struggles contemporary and relevant to society.