Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a comedic sitcom that displays its plot through a police station as a primary setting. The diverse nature of B99’s cast in respect to representing various ethnic and racial backgrounds, sexual identities as well as body types, and lastly, gender. A most fascinating aspect of B99 is that women aren’t reflected as physically or criminally experienced at an inferior level in comparison to their male counterparts.
Amy and Rosa are strong-headed detectives with Rosa being displayed as stronger and smarter than majority male characters. The series has an essence of feminism in it since women are appointed to major cases and not treated as second-class officers to the men.
Secondly, the representation of queer people especially a black male, Raymond Holt, as the captain of the 99th precinct. To place an apparently marginalized community at an appointment of authority shifts the general stereotypes and instills acceptability in the audiences. The two female Latina police are portrayed to be extremely helpful and useful to the precincts success instead of approaching them in a gendered manner since majority of important cases were appointed to them.
Moreover, b99 addresses societal issues like sexual harassment and racism or racial profiling as pertaining issues in today’s world as well. Terry’s confession of his traumatic experiences of being racially profiled are a moment of awareness for the consuming audiences for the dire issues that still prevail in today’s societies for minorities.
Lastly, the protagonist Jake Peralta himself appears to be a feminist who recognizes his male privileges in his profession specifically and generally wishes to establish a more equal environment for his peers. A male lead character reflecting such idealistic notions greatly affect the audiences to be more inclined towards change within themselves.
I personally love the show and it is for the exact same reasons. What stands out the most for me is gender equality. Since we live in a world where positions of power are mostly held by men or where there are gendered wage gaps, it is always refreshing to see that all officers in this show, whether male or female, are considered to be equally capable hence given equal opportunities. In fact, there have been times when Amy's score was higher than Jake's as she was able to solve mire cases. This also very inspiring for young females.
This show was one of the first comedy sitcoms that included diversity, not just for the sake of it. Usually, shows follow the trend of including “one from each group,” i.e., having one black character, one Hispanic, and so on, and labeled it as “diversity.” Such characters then end up having very stereotypical personalities and can be seen to be added just for the sake of diversity. Such was not the case in B99. Multiple characters which belonged to minority groups were added to the drama line. This was not previously seen, as it was unexpected even for the cast members. Stephanie (Roza) stated in an interview: “I thought: ‘That’s it. The network will not allow there to be two…
I love Brooklyn 99 because it handled tough issues like gender discrimination, specifically related to sexual harassment and assault. For instance, in the episode inspired by the Me Too movement, it was important how Amy spoke up about her own experiences of being harassed and how many victims, like the one in the show continue to stay silent or anonymous of their identities/experiences because of the amount of backlash they face. I also like Amy and Jake's dynamic because they showcase healthy couples who respect each others boundaries and professions, there are never instances where Jake gets jealous or spiteful of Amy for obtaining higher positions that he does. Infact, the show ends with Jake resigning so that he can…
While I agree with this post in its entirety, I've always worried about Brooklyn 99 as a source of "copaganda". During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, I remember seeing memes stating that "ACAB - except the ones like Jake Peralta". This directly went against the revolutionary concept of ACAB, as it perpetuated the idea that the idea that nice cops aren't complicit in police brutality. However, ideologically speaking, all cops are b*stards, because they're cops, even Jake Peralta.
When being complicit in the police force is being complicit in reinforcing racism via upholding a foundationally racist institution, Brooklyn 99 taught audiences that cops can be good, and against racism. It taught audiences to side with the cops. It hardly…
Loved the show in every aspect and especially they used humor as a tool to convey these important messages about racial profiling and gender discrimination in various professions. Even in Pakistan, you'll notice police force is that kind of a profession which is seen as not suitable for women or 'women are not physically capable enough of being in the police force' that is highly problematic. This show breaks through all those barriers. Agreeing to your point that they showed two very strong characters as Amy and Rosa who were practically adding so much to the success of the precinct and all their colleagues at every point did acknowledge that these two intelligent women have been an integral part of…