Issa Rae explores the history of black representation in television in the documentary: “That makes such a difference”
The producer and writer of award -winning actors Issa Rae opens on what inspired her new documentary, “Saw and Heard: The History of Black Television”. She is an executive producer of the two -part series which explores the history of black representation on television and how black artists and creators have revolutionized industry while facing major challenges.
The series, which Rae and his collaborators began to create in 2019, present media icons such as Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Traces Ellis Ross, Norman Lear and Shonda Rhimes.
“What inspired me to start is to see the people I love, the people I know, the people who raised me on television, and this representation was so essential for me to recognize that I could do it,” CBS Mornings “told Tuesday about his inspiration in the 90s.
In the early 2000s, Rae said there was a “sudden disappearance” of black characters and television shows, but they reappeared about a decade later.
In the 2010s, “there were so many new shows, new color shows,” she said. But now Rae said that television and the media are again at a time when black characters and emissions have disappeared.
“I think that the advent of the cable has made a huge difference where, you know, now these networks must have tried to capture the widest possible public because they lost the public against different niche cable networks and so they said to themselves:” How can we maximize the public that we have? “And they tend to go widely, and large sometimes means white, the most eye globes you can get,” she said.
Even if programs like “Family Matters” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” were universal and looked at by a large audience, there is sometimes a feeling that black shows can exclude an audience, she said.
The documentary also explores the importance of representation behind the camera.
“It makes such a difference when you think of something as small as design.
The details of a show can also apply to the way a character dresses or their hair.
“I do not want to be removed from a story. If I am immersed, like these little details really, and there is just – there is also a level of honestly different, the pride that goes, by creating something of which you know you are part and you understand at a different level,” said Rae.
She said that the evolution of the media is difficult, “but it is another time that I am convinced that we will pass. There are so many opportunities in the digital age and that is where I come from. I find the hope of knowing that I can create. If I want to tell a story, I will tell a story despite everything.”
HBO’s documentary film “Wawn and Heard: The History of Black Television” is making its debut on September 9 on HBO and HBO Max.
