This guest post written by Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman appears as part of our theme week on Sisterhood.
Black sisterhood is an important staple in the lives of many Black women. From birthdays to breakups, it’s vital to have your girls with you in times of happiness and struggle. This relatable dynamic has been prevalent in pop culture for decades. From Living Single to Girlfriends, that deep, unshakable connection and trust between besties has been a common component in countless sitcoms. While many Black sitcoms revolve around a family, it’s rare that specific interactions between sisters are depicted. While “sisterhood” here often refers to the strong bond between friends, biological sisterhood is sometimes forgotten. Sisters with strong relationships on television display some of the deepest and truest kinds of family love out there.
Television shows that focus on a family can easily delve into the intricacies of how that family works; they may be at each other’s throats one episode and playing nice the next. The themes of family are made more complex when the relationship centers around siblings, and even more so between sisters. Between sharing secrets and stealing clothes, there’s just a special bond. Although they remain scarce, the examples of sisterhood in Black television are strong. Whether the sisters are distant or close-knit, the range in the relationships is broad.
In the pilot episode of Sister, Sister, when Tia (Tia Mowry) and Tamera (Tamera Mowry) first meet, both girls are dressed in the exact same clothes by happenstance; there was a sale at the mall and the twins unbeknownst to — and about — the other, grabs the same sweater and hat. When they first get to know each other, asking questions about the other, they discover they’re both in the 9th grade and that they both love The Twilight Zone, particularly the one with the monster on the airplane wing, and compare their situation to the show. Tamera asks if Tia also hates algebra too, but her twin says the opposite; she loves algebra and history.
Already we see the dichotomy of the twins here; although separated for 14 years, they still share distinct similarities, like the same taste in fashion and television series, but their differences are mainly academic, Tia being the “smart” twin while Tamera is the “fun” twin, a common TV trope regarding twins. They both love rollerblading and Beavis and Butthead (and have an affinity for saying the same thing at the same time). Tia has trouble talking to boys, while Tamera can’t seem to stop talking to them. They decide they’re probably not as alike as they first thought, then proceed to cross their legs at the same time and take a bite out of the lemon in their tea. The theme song says it clearly: they look alike, but they’re different.
While the first few seasons mainly focus on how two girls with the same face can be so different and so alike at the same time, the show always includes how much love they have for each other and their willingness to go to bat for the other. The season 1 episode, “The Pimple,” contains the classic twin switcharoo situation; Tia gets a pimple the day she has a date with a boy, so Tamera goes on the date instead, floundering through the entire thing since she and Tia don’t have many common interests. Earlier in the season, the girls make a pact not to go to the school dance if they both don’t have dates. When Tamera gets a date, she offers to make good on the pact since Tia will just be staying home.
If these examples seem juvenile, it’s because they are. Tia and Tamera were 14 years old at the beginning the series and their hijinks and adventures often include things typical of a young high school girl. Regardless of how silly their antics were, they showed each other a special kind of love that carried from their high school dating days to their more grown-up college days. TV shows that feature a family and don’t necessarily focus on sisters don’t often have many moments of strong sisterly bonding. The love is spread throughout the family, not centered around one particular relationship. However, when moments do spotlight the specific sisterly bond, it highlights a few key differences in how sisters interact with each other versus their other relatives.
In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, sisters Hilary (Karyn Parsons) and Ashley Banks (Tatyana Ali) couldn’t be less alike. They are each other’s antithesis; Hilary is the spoiled, selfish, materialistic, oldest sister while Ashley is the more responsible, slightly rebellious, younger sister. They don’t have very many scenes or plots that revolve around the two of them specifically, but their relationship is still shown to be positive. They’re not the closest of siblings, but they still care deeply for one another and look out for each other.
However, in season 6 episode 7, “Not with My Cousin You Don’t,” Ashley is in need of some womanly advice about her boyfriend Derek and with her mother gone on a trip, she looks to Hilary. These sisters rarely ever have serious moments, but Hilary jokes about her “big sister radar” and the two sit to chat. Ashley tells Hilary she thinks she’s in love. While Hilary is happy for her sister, she tells her that she doesn’t think long-distance relationships always work out. The conversation continues onto Ashley’s hesitations about having sex. She says that she’s scared, and Hilary says that it’s normal, everyone feels that way. Her most important piece of advice to her little sister is that “only you know when you’re ready or not.” Hilary tells Ashley that she’s independent, responsible, and smart, and while she doesn’t delve into the details of sex, she lets her sister know that regardless of her decision, she will always be there for her.
The scene includes several of Hilary’s typical humorous air-headed comments, but is ultimately played seriously; this is clearly a big deal to Ashley and her sister understands and gives sound advice. It’s a rare moment for Hilary, to have a serious scene. Other more serious tones are shown for sadder events: when she drops out of school or she reminisces about her deceased fiance. So it’s important that one of Hilary’s fleeting insightful moments is a tender one where she plays the wise older sister.
Ashley is consistently shown to have a strong bond with Will (Will Smith), so it’s telling that she comes to her sister instead of her cousin in this instance. Will even points this out after he accidentally overhears Ashley discussing it with her friends. It’s significant that even though Will is clearly Ashley’s confidante in the family, she felt more comfortable expressing her concerns about sex to her flighty sister Hillary, even though she doesn’t share that same kind of relationship with her. While they may not be as close, the topic of sex was easier to discuss with her sister and ultimately led to a healthy and positive discussion.
In the finale of the show, Ashley and Hilary are both moving to New York City for school and work respectively and the two decide to live together, and they’re both excited about the prospect. Although they were never shown to be incredibly close, it’s definitely an extension of the kind of relationship they’ve always had, and could be an insight into the possibility of them growing closer as they embark on this new stage in life together.
The Cosby Show is often heralded as one of the best Black sitcoms ever. (Although it now has a “tainted legacy”.) With four sisters in the Cosby household, there were many different representations of sisterhood. Since Sondra, Denise, Vanessa, and Rudy varied so much in age, it also presented a distinctive look into how sisters of different ages act with each other.
The personalities of the girls also tied into how they reacted to each other. Sondra (Sabrina Le Beauf), the eldest and most distinguished of the Cosby children; Denise (Lisa Bonet), the free-spirited and carefree teenager; Vanessa (Tempestt Bledsoe), the nosy and oft rebellious sister; and Rudy (Keshia Knight Pulliam), the precocious and adorable youngest sibling. From shoving shoulders over stolen sweaters to completely wrecking the kitchen ceiling, their fights varied as much as they did. The girls were all very different from each other and while their personalities sometimes clashed, at the end of the day, the Cosby siblings were all on the same side.
Despite their constant bickering and clear evidence that they were nothing alike, Denise and Vanessa always had each other’s back. In fact, they were even likened to child versions of Cosby matriarch Clair (Phylicia Rashad) and her younger sister. In the episode “Clair’s Sister,” Sara comes to visit, announcing to Clair that she’s engaged. Denise and Vanessa talk about how they want their weddings to be. Vanessa wants hers to be old-fashioned and incredibly fancy, dressed in lace from head to toe with 12 bridesmaids carrying her 20-foot-long train. Denise, ever the feminist, believes traditional weddings are a bit sexist, what with the father “giving” the bride away and the bride’s family having to pay. In stark opposition to Vanessa’s exuberant dream wedding, she says hers will be a small, intimate gathering in the living room where she’ll wear a regular dress and they’ll invite only their closest family and friends and serve sandwiches after the ceremony. Denise and Vanessa tease each other about their dreams a bit before Denise drives Vanessa to a friend’s house. Sara remarks how similar the girls are to her and Clair, and Clair says she remembers it well, not wanting to cart her little sister around town because she was too cool.
Both elder sisters are seen as the cooler ones with more laid-back ideas of the world while the younger sisters are more outgoing and energetic, excited about extravagant things like fancy weddings. It’s a cute comparison that alludes to that idea of sisters with completely divergent personalities being close and supportive of one another despite their differences.
Black sisters aren’t exactly a huge demographic in television. But the shows and episodes that explore that kind of sisterly bond are powerful and exhibits Black sisterhood in myriad ways. These relationships are hugely positive displays of the love within a family. They can be silly or serious, complicated or simple, and a million other things to describe the vast mosaic of different kinds of sisterly love that exist. Regardless of what adjective is attached to them, they’re always marvelous to see.
Cheyenne Matthews-Hoffman is a freelance entertainment writer and digital content manager who is obsessed with an absurd amount of television shows. She is an advocate for accessible entertainment and sometimes develops websites. You can find her at @heycheyennehey on Twitter or cheyennecheyenne.com.
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