Thirty years ago, American television watchers learned the story of how a kid named Will’s life got flipped upside down, sending him to live with his auntie and his uncle in Bel-Air, Los Angeles. When “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” came out in 1990, it was one of the most iconic shows of its time, not only for its comedy, but most notably for its work with race, class and wealth disparity. In the climate we live in today, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” manages to hold up better than ever.
To celebrate its long-lived impact on film, the cast, minus James Avery who played Uncle Phil, got together to hold a reunion special which reflects on the actors’ own experiences filming and the relationships formed throughout the show. What made this reunion particularly notable was the reconciliation of Will Smith and Janet Hubert (who played the original Aunt Viv). Having not spoken since she left in season three — and after years of publicly lashing out at one another — the two had the opportunity to have a heart-to-heart and discuss the controversy of her leaving the show, something fans have speculated on for decades.
What stands out about this reunion are the moments like that: full of vulnerability and emotional conversations. In the celebrity culture that we have today full of Twitter wars and TMZ, it was surprising to not only see the two discuss the ways in which they have been terrible to each other in the years after the show, but also to see the entire cast act humbly about their role in the show.
Outside of these more personal moments, the cast spends quite a bit of time focused on the importance of a show about a Black family becoming the cultural icon that it is today. For many White viewers in America, the show provided the opportunity to better understand aspects of life that are far too real for Black Americans, such as racial profiling by police. On the other end, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” served to be less educational for its Black audience, and instead more relatable: a place for them to see themselves in the spotlight, when television often didn’t represent them.
In his article “How the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Helped Me Embrace My Own Blackness,” Jeffrey Bissoy writes that the show “presented blackness as a fluid identity. As a young African immigrant anxious to find his place in a foreign country, the show — and especially characters like Will, Carlton, and Ashley — served as a gateway into better understanding and embracing my own blackness.” While it’s true that the lavish lifestyle shown in the show isn’t relatable to the majority of people, the recognition of what it meant to be Black and rich in a primarily White setting in the 1990s is very real.
If you never had the opportunity to watch this show in its glory days, give it a go. It’s a heartwarming, hysterical, distinctly 90’s experience that has only grown better with time. In the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, there’s no better time than now to educate yourself on issues of race and class. And if comedy isn’t your thing, keep an eye out for the darker reboot, which is currently in pre-production and set to be produced by Will Smith.
