{"id":23815,"date":"2022-10-14T13:22:57","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T11:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1722212"},"modified":"2022-10-14T13:51:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T11:51:25","slug":"the-quiet-black-female-character-can-be-one-of-tvs-most-powerful","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/the-quiet-black-female-character-can-be-one-of-tvs-most-powerful\/","title":{"rendered":"The quiet Black female character can be one of TV\u2019s most powerful"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Edikan Umoh\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 14 October 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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From the sassy best-friend cameo in TV sitcoms to the controversy-touting regulars in reality TV franchises, the Black female character can have a very linear representation in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Hollywood\u2019s mainstream shows would have us believe that Black women\u2019s personalities range either from being confident to being career-focused. From Molly in Insecure to Mary Jane in Being Mary Jane, the media has consistently created the same character archetype for Black women.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s hardly ever any range and it\u2019s not surprising considering how hard the media works to minimise Black women and our multifacetedness.<\/p>\n

While common archetypes can be necessary for storytelling, it\u2019s a problem when these same few tropes rotate for a particular race or gender. As a Black woman, I\u2019ve struggled with the portrayal of Black female characters.<\/p>\n

I remember watching Jessica and Sherri on 13 Reasons Why and being happy because of the representation but later having mixed feelings because I could not relate to them on a personality and temperament level. I was happy with the representation but I couldn\u2019t connect as deeply as I would have liked.<\/p>\n

However, one character that has been doing it for me is Olivia from All American. CW\u2019s All American is a drama series inspired by the true story of American footballer Spencer Paysinger. It follows the life of Spencer and his friends. And Olivia, played by Samantha Logan, is the character I connected with.<\/p>\n

Olivia is soft-spoken, reserved, a careful thinker and a deep feeler. She\u2019s a keen observer of people and situations and we see her do this throughout the series. During the first episodes of the series, she observes Spencer acclimate to her school and provides help to make that process easier. The scene of them bonding over chromosomal DNA while sharing a tablet in a science class is a prime example.<\/p>\n