A Different World, A Different View
I treat TV like I treat my food. There is nothing like eating a delicious meal at a beautiful restaurant, where the food makes you dance and the views make you smile, while having a hand crafted drink. Every now and again a girl like me loves a good bowl of ramen noodles minus the packet of seasonings it comes with, (that packet has way too much sodium for me) I will enjoy that bowl of ramen with a ice cold glass of water and be just as happy. It’s called balance.
This is the exact same way I feel about my TV. I love a good marathon of Law & Order which seems to be all the time these days. A good crime documentary mixed in with a few ratchet reality tv, again it’s called balance. More than anything what I love most is a good classic show from my youth that I still watch in my adulthood. From The Cosby Show, Martin, Fresh Prince, Living Single and Different World. I am sure there are many other classics these are probably my favorites.
Initially as a young JeeJee watching this show was about the comical banter, a good life lesson occassionally with most of these interactions being a reference in conversations in adulthood. Over the course of years watching these shows each show resonated deeper within as an adult. What I now realize is as a younger me these shows gave me the opportunity to see a version of me on TV every time I watched. I was given the opportunity to dream and believe. I was given the ability as a young girl to dream a big dream for myself. I didn’t realize the seeds being planted in my heart and mind, it literally was just watching tv.
The more I watched the more I started to see what a family unit looked like outside of mine. I saw what friendship looked like through watch Rudy and Bud. I saw what it was to break rules hang out with your friends have your parents discipline you from Vanessa’s antics. I had a sneak peek into what I wanted my friendships to look like from watching Martin and Living Single. I wanted those types of friendships where you could disagree but always come back around to the foundation of your friendship. When I watched Different World when my dreams became so vivid in my mind. I remember watching Dwayne, Ron, Whitley, Freddie, Kim, Jalissa all move about the Hillman campus. Their conversations in the Pit, dorm life and the life they lived made me believe I could have that too. It was so wonderful to see such a positive reflection of me every single time I watched these shows. I thought Hillman was real I dreamed of going to an HBCU.
This year marks the 33rd anniversary of A Different World. Watching the reunion made me so happy gave me chills to see how the cast looked so amazing still. Going down memory lane with them brought back so many memories. It gave me the feeling I had as a little girl watching them. The show literally inspired me to dream the biggest dream for myself. To hear their stories of how they didn’t know they would be apart of something that was so much bigger than them again reminded me of how this show and these cast members were such an inspiration. What I didn’t realize watching the show in the moment was how rich of the conversations they had around issues that directly impacted the black community. From love, relationships, abuse, racial inequalities, economic and system racism. It was heavy then even heavier for me now realizing how not much has changed. There are still these inequalities over these subjects. Black folks still fighting against a system that was never had us in mind to succeed. Many of the emotions shown in throughout the show regarding these conversations are still here with us now. We are still attempting to navigate through this very rough terrain, facing situations that break our hearts, finding our way to continue to be light and love. One thing I will say that through it all black folks still rise, we still create, we still are the most emulated, we are culture.
All of these shows gave me what I needed without knowing. It gave me hope, the ability to dream to see a vision for myself. Watching this reunion inspired me to think about what I want to do when others see me. What is my inspiring action for those watching me? What are you doing on your own path to inspire someone else? Today think about it one small action can change the world!
Girl, Be You!