For an entire generation of '90s kids, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air hit all the right
notes for aTV show.
It was funny, entertaining, and adult-themed enough to be edgy while still safe enough
for parents to allow, but the sitcom also took on complex issues in a way that hits
even deeper as adults.
The Fresh Prince made a habit of breaking the fourth wall, and while it doesn't take
an adult to spot these moments, only adults can truly grasp how monumental they were.
"Who's Omar Oware?"
"Some guy that Will wouldn't fight."
"The dude who be spinning me over his head in the opening credits."
In "Will's Misery," for example, Will turns the tables on one of Carlton's pranks and
makes Carlton think something tragic has occurred.
Carlton, played by Alfonso Ribeiro, runs out the door and keeps on going through all of
the sets, then runs through the live studio audience for good measure.
There's an even deeper one, too, that came after Janet Hubert was replaced in the role
of Aunt Vivian by Daphne Maxwell Reid, allegedly due to a dispute with Smith.
In Reid's first episode, Jazz remarks that there's something different about her, and
Will takes a moment to sheepishly look out at the audience.
While there's no age limit to appreciate breaking the fourth wall, few kids at the time could
have known how unusual, and memorable, these genre-shattering moments really were.
If you only remember a single episode from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, we're willing
to bet it's "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse."
Considered one of the most powerful and most-watched moments in the series, this touching 1994
episode left its mark on audiences, but it's possible that you missed something interesting
in the famously tear-jerking scene.
"How come he don't want me, man?"
Of all the urban legends about this scene — including the very false one that claims
the scene was inspired by Will Smith's real-life father abandoning him, which is not true — there
is also one theory that seems like it could be real.
As Will and Uncle Phil embrace, just after Uncle Phil tosses Will's hat aside, you can
hear the sound of a woman offscreen letting out a sob..
According to The Huffington Post, it's actress Karyn Parsons, who plays Hilary, genuinely
moved to tears while watching the scene being filmed.
In addition, actor Ben Vereen, who plays Will's father, reportedly started weeping himself
after walking offstage.
In his song "No Role Modelz," rapper J. Cole calls Uncle Phil, quote, "the only father
I ever knew."
That's a pretty incredible acknowledgement of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's all too rare
positive representations of a black father figure on kids' television in the '90s.
"I didn't run out on my family, I was there for them, because that's what a man does."
Philip Banks, played by actor James Avery, represents a caring and compassionate man
who deviates from the pervasive, stereotypical image of the absentee black father, which
you can still see showing up in media today.
Uncle Phil and the few others like him helped pave the way for the more nuanced representations
on television, and he left a remarkable legacy to the audience that grew up watching him.
When Avery died, co-star Karyn Parsons, who played Phil's daughter Hilary Banks, said
she was inundated with messages from people affected by her TV dad.
It may have taken some growing up to realize how important Uncle Phil was in the landscape
of television fathers, but there's a generation of kids (and adults) who may be better off
because they witnessed it.
In 2014 the slogan "Hands up, don't shoot" became a rallying cry for the Black Lives
Matter Movement, but sadly, the people who raised their hands in solidarity weren't dealing
with a new issue.
Way back in 1991, Fresh Prince aired an episode titled "Cased Up," with a joke that viewers
today understand in a very different way than they did as kids.
In the episode, Jazz and Will are in court after Will wrecks his new car.
When the bailiff tries to swear him in, Jazz refuses to lower his hands from the surrender
position.
"You can put your hands down, Jazz."
"No way, dude's got a gun.
Next thing you know, I got six warning shots in my back."
The line gets a big laugh, but the joke has a deeper meaning today — and it did back
then, too.
Months before "Cased Up" aired, the Rodney King incident had elevated tensions between
police and the black community, and that scene was likely intended to connect to the King
controversy.
While some kids may have picked up on that link at the time, few would miss the message
and its connection to police brutality as it still exists today.
From the very first episode, The Fresh Prince put a spotlight on the idea that even wealthy
black families faced their own kind of struggles.
The show dealt with subjects like Will and Carlton being arrested simply because they
were young black men driving a Mercedes, and Uncle Phil's past as a civil rights activist
was brought up frequently throughout the series.
"You talk as if I wasn't there with you in Birmingham facing dogs and firehoses.
This is me."
There was another deep cultural issue in play, though.
As kids, Will and Carlton might've just seemed like the classic Odd Couple setup of a streetwise
kid and his stuffy, wealthy cousin, but Carlton also found himself as an outsider on several
occasions.
It's in these moments that Fresh Prince takes on the topic of blackness within the black
community.
By the fourth season, this message evolves.
When Carlton is rejected by a black fraternity because he's considered a "sellout," he's
forced to defend his blackness once again, and this time, he refuses to change.
"Being black isn't what I'm trying to be, it's what I am.
I'm running the same race and the same hurdles you are, so why are you tripping me up?"
That scene showed young audiences the fluidity and nuance in blackness for perhaps the first
time on television.
As adults, we now possess the perspective to look back and pinpoint these formative
moments from the show.
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