The sign in the media piece was on season 4, episode 24, of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, when Will’s dad shows up after 14 years out of the picture. The two have a great time together, all while Uncle Phil thinks this will just end in disappointment again for Will. In the end, Will’s father does end up disappointing his son again causing the most emotional moment within the entire season. The sign of that episode was to expose how many young people hurt internally on the inside when don’t receive love from a parental figure. The meaning was to show society how important it is for a parent to have a healthy relationship with their children.
The signifier that viewed the episode relates to Will Smith’s character Will because Black fathers are more likely to be absent in a household. In this episode, the signifier relates more to Will if they have a similar situation to a parent that birth them, most of them would understand the desire of wanting the love and affection of an absent parent. This results in most signifiers finding a parental figure elsewhere. For example, Will Smith character Will have a strained relationship with his birth father making him desire the love and affection from actor James Avery character Phillip Banks as a father figure. This resulted in many black and brown minorities viewers to find a way to look at Phillip Banks as a father figure that filled that void of a missing parent figure in the household.
The Signified of media piece represents how psychologically damaging it is for many young people in society who do not have a healthy relationship with their parents. The emotional trauma of an absent parent can cause life long issue that not only affects them but also can affect their future children.
Sharif James 