For the purpose of this paper, we will apply Stuart Hall's Encoding and Decoding Model of Communication to analyze the popular television show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air starring Will Smith. In Hall's essay, he puts together a four stage model of communication that talks about the production, circulation, use and reproduction of media messages. Hall's model of communication is different than the traditional model because he argues that communication works in a cycle, rather than just going from point A to point B. We will take each of the four steps and tell how the show uses these steps.
The first step in the Encoding and Decoding Model of Communication is production. Production is when the encoding of a message is based off of society's beliefs and values. In terms of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air the encoding of the message occurs from the clothes the producers choose for the actors, the script the writers produce, the actors that the casting agency chooses, and the way the actors portray their character. The clothes that the producers choose to put the actors in is important because when Will goes to private school in Bel Air, he look different than everybody else. Not just because of his skin color, but because of the outfit that he wears. Everybody else in the school wears the traditional navy blue jacket, but Will wears a colorful red jacket, with other colors in it. He stands out from everybody else in the school because of this. His colorful jacket represents the hip hop era of this time because at this time, rappers and people involved in with rap music wore colorful clothes to stand out from the rest of the crowd. This is based off of society's beliefs because the stereotype of African Americans and the hip hop community was the way that Will dresses with his colorful and flamboyant outfits, trying to stand out above the rest of the crowd. The script that the writers produce is also part of this model because they put Will in certain situations that a typical, or stereotypical young African American man from the inner city might be in.
