Trending Topics: A Cultural Analysis of Being Mary Jane and Black Women's Engagement on Twitter

• Published in: The Black scholar 2018-01, Vol.48 (1), p.43-55
• Main Authors: Harris, Felicia L., Coleman, Loren Saxton
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African Americans; Analysis; Audiences; Black people; Careers; Culture; Decision making; Desire; Digital broadcasting; Families & family life; Females; Foot; Gender stereotypes; Hearing; Love; Mass media effects; Mass media images; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Semiotics; Social media; Social networks; Stereotypes; Television; Topic and comment; Trends; Women
• ISSN: 0006-4246; 2162-5387
• DOI: 10.1080/00064246.2018.1402255

On July 2, 201 3, 4 million viewers tuned in to the pilot premiere of Being Mary Jane, BET's first original drama starring Gabrielle Union as Mary Jane Paul—a fiercely independent woman forging her way in love, work, and family.' In the opening scenes, viewers watch as MJ's love interest, Andre, comes stumbling drunk to her front door with intentions Of what we hope is a booty call. The result is a lovemaking session that journeys through MI's lavish home and ends in her bed. The next morning, in an enduring display of vulnerability, MJ prays for a sign that Andre truly belongs to her, to which he wakes up and vomits on her chest. Shortly after cleaning up Andre's mess—and hearing those three coveted words—viewers see N'IJ grimace in pain after Andre's previously hidden wedding band finds its way under her foot. The rest, as they say, is made for TV. Mary Jane's drama-filled story line includes a string of undeniably attractive love interests, a family whose troubles seem never ending, and untethered career ambition that propels her into the realm of the famous and wealthy. However, for black audiences, the characterization of the protagonist as a black woman serves as a double-edged sword. While many viewers celebrate Mary Jane as one Of the few leading black women on television, others may lament how her role appears to oscillate between familiar and stereotypical depictions of black women as jezebels, sapphires, or matriarchs. 2 During the show's first season, Mary Jane emerges as a contentious, often prideful, mistress before finding her way back to a more agree- able partner in her ex-boyfriend, David—from whom she steaIs sperm. By the second season, MJ appears to get her head on a bit straighter —foregoing her troubled love life to focus on her career and family, a decision that catapults her career as a journalist into primetime television. Although there were casting changes that may have contributed to the shift between seasons, social media may have also played a role in MJ's betterment, as viewers flocked to the show's hashtag on Twitter to participate in public consumption, and criticism, Of the popular drama—converging with groundbreaking success that amplified the value in appealing to black audiences' desire for storylines depicting their complex lives. Such desire for adequate representation on television is warranted. As Stuart Hall indicates, representations via television media do not merely reflect society, but contribute to the way we