{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Color Adjustment | image = | caption = | director = Marlon Riggs | producer = Vivian Kleiman<br />Marlon Riggs | writer = Marlon Riggs | starring = | music = Mary Watkins | cinematography = Michael Anderson Rick Butler<br /> | editing = Deborah Hoffmann | released = {{Film date|1992}} | runtime = 86 minutes | country = United States | studio = Signifyin' Works | distributor = California Newsreel | language = English | budget = }} '''''Color Adjustment''''' is a 1992 documentary film that traces 40 years of race relations and the representation of African Americans through the lens of prime-time television entertainment, scrutinizing television's racial myths.<ref>[https://www.criterionchannel.com/sundance-class-of-92-the-year-indie-exploded/season:1/videos/color-adjustment Color Adjustment - Sundance Class of '92: The Year Indie Exploded - The Criterion Channel]</ref> Narrated by Ruby Dee, it is a sequel to Riggs’s ''Ethnic Notions'', this time examining racial stereotypes in the broadcast age.
==Content== Examining American television's most popular stars and shows, including ''Amos 'n' Andy'', ''Beulah'', ''The Nat King Cole Show'', ''Julia'', ''The Jeffersons'', ''Good Times'', ''Roots'', ''The Cosby Show'', ''Frank's Place'', and others,<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-06-15-ca-374-story.html TV REVIEW: 'Color Adjustment': A Bittersweet Look at Black TV Roles - The Los Angeles Times]</ref> Riggs outlines a history of the race conflict as reflected in television.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/films/coloradjustment/ | title=POV - Color Adjustment | access-date=2012-03-25 | publisher=PBS}}</ref> It asserts that African Americans were allowed into America's prime-time family only insofar as their presence didn't challenge the mythology of the American Dream central to television's merchandising function. It demonstrates how the television networks managed to absorb divisive racial conflict into the familiar non-threatening formats of prime-time television.
However, the sitcoms surrounding African-American characters did not reflect the actual societal values of the time, retreating from the conflict surrounding the Civil Rights Movement and pretending that society was "colorless." Clips from the shows are interwoven with the parallel story of the Civil Rights Movement as presented on the evening news. Writers and producers—such as Hal Kanter, Norman Lear, Steven Bochco, David Wolper and others—take viewers behind the scenes of their creations. Esther Rolle, Diahann Carroll, Tim Reid, and other Black performers reflect on the roles they played in shaping prime-time race relations. Cultural critics Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Herman Gray, Alvin Poussaint, and Patricia Turner suggest that, while these television programs entertained, they reinforced and validated a particular notion of the "American Family."
==Reception== ''Color Adjustment'' was met with critical praise,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE6D7113BF93AA15752C0A964958260 | title=Review/Film; Under Scrutiny: TV Images Of Blacks | accessdate=2008-01-24 | author=Janet Maslin | date=1992-01-29 | work=The New York Times}}</ref> receiving a Peabody Award<ref>[https://peabodyawards.com/award-profile/color-adjustment/ The Peabody Awards]</ref> and being nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.<ref>[https://history.sundance.org/films/480/color_adjustment_blacks_in_prime_time Sundance Institute]</ref> It was also aired as part of the P.O.V. series on PBS. The film was awarded the Independent Documentary Association's Outstanding Achievement Award<ref>[https://www.kanopy.com/product/color-adjustment Kanopy]</ref> and the Organization of American Historians' Erik Barnouw Award. It also received a National Emmy Award Nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Research.
==See also== * ''Tongues Untied'' * ''Bamboozled'' - a 2000 narrative film by Spike Lee about the portrayal of Black people in the media
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb title|0103984}} * [https://www.pbs.org/pov/films/coloradjustment/ ''Color Adjustment''] at ''POV'' * [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/color_adjustment/ ''Color Adjustment'' on Rotten Tomatoes] * [https://archive.today/20130407224401/http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/2065_color_adjustment.html Jonathan Rosenbaum's review] * [https://newsreel.org/video/COLOR-ADJUSTMENT Color Adjustment] at California Newsreel * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJXtl6b2VJM Excerpt]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Color Adjustment}} Category:1992 films Category:POV (TV series) films Category:Documentary films about African-American people Category:Documentary films about racism in the cinema of the United States Category:Documentary films about television Category:Films directed by Marlon Riggs Category:1992 English-language films Category:1992 American films Category:English-language documentary films