With the announcement of its eighth and final season just days prior, “Brooklyn 99” has found itself back in the spotlight. The sitcom, which focuses on a police precinct in New York, is set to continue its seven years run with ten more episodes. However, the show has experienced its fair share of controversy throughout its existence, especially since May of last year. This raises a number of troubling questions, including the future of the show and the future of traditional media at large.
To begin, it is worth mentioning all of the things that “Brooklyn 99” has achieved within the television landscape. Within the casting itself, it features two Black men and two Latina women in main roles. Furthermore, the show arguably does not lean into stereotypes when writing the character for comedy, but instead attempts to develop complex and multi-faceted characters, with race as a significant, but not overpowering, aspect of the characters’ overall personality and comedy. The show’s casting decisions are even more significant given its beginnings in 2013, in which the television landscape was even less diverse than the present day.
In terms of LGBTQ+ representation, “Brooklyn 99” is uncharacteristic of traditional television as well, with the Captain of the precinct, Captain Holt, being presented as openly gay, and a detective on the force, Rosa Diaz, as bisexual. More importantly, their sexuality isn’t a defining or sole feature of their character. Captain Holt is still the stoic, serious, and productivity-oriented boss that he was designed to be, with his sexuality simply being a normalized facet of his character. Rosa Diaz is very similar, as her tough and aggressive demeanor are unchanged after coming out in season five. However, the show also doesn’t stray away from discussing the difficulties associated with being LGBTQ+, including unsupportive family members, hostile work environments, and blatant homophobia.
The problems arise with the show’s depiction of cops and the NYPD at large. The word most commonly thrown around in regards to this issue is “copaganda”, which refers to the portrayal of the police in a positively-skewed manner. Proponents of this perspective argue that the show, which is comedic in nature, glamorizes police work while glossing over the harsher realities of the job. With all of the protagonists of the show being police officers, it is argued that the show perpetuates and makes humorous the stereotype of a “good cop”, thus influencing our understanding of the police. Even the show’s politically and socially liberal stance is not a deterrent from this argument, with one headline stating, “Liberal Propaganda is still Propaganda.”
Opponents of this perspective hold a more diverse set of opinions. Some argue that the show addresses issues within the police force in a respectable and comedically acceptable manner. For instance, an episode in season four presents an example of a Black police sergeant being racially profiled and arrested by a fellow white police officer, therefore allowing an argument that the show uses their platform to amplify the effects of racial profiling and other policing issues. Others state that the “copaganda” argument isn’t valid because comedies, as well as television at large, are allowed to exist outside the range of larger social issues. They hold that it isn’t the show’s responsibility to be an accurate depiction of the police, but rather to simply entertain us and make us laugh.
The position of traditional media within the context of larger social issues is a final consideration to make. With exceptions of weekly produced shows like “South Park ”, most TV shows and movies are often produced weeks or months in advance of their airing, leading to disconnects between the social issues of the time and the issues addressed in episodes. “Brooklyn 99” fell victim to this phenomena to a certain extent, as the final episode of the previous season aired on April 22 of 2020. Because this episode was aired before the murder of George Floyd on May 25, and the subsequent outcry regarding police brutality, the show was never able to address issues regarding police in a meaningful way.
In any case, “Brooklyn 99” continues on. With its final season set to finish in 2022, it seems as though the show will be a part of the conversation for quite a while longer. The pressure continues to mount on the show as well, as its reaction and representation of police brutality may set a precedent for police shows and traditional media moving forward. A distasteful representation is a real danger, especially given the show’s position as a comedy. Whatever happens, “Brooklyn 99” can still serve as an interesting case of traditional media coming in conflict with social issues, and the larger implication that media can have on the general public.