The Brooklyn Nine-Nine Mini-Toolkit
Brooklyn Nine-Nine has a lot going for it. It’s funny, smart, heartwarming, and always tackling important issues. The characters are nice people who care about each other and their jobs. Watching B99 feels like hanging out with a group of friends. So when Fox unexpectedly cancelled the show after 5 seasons, fans were hurt and upset.
Luckily, NBC swooped in and saved the day by renewing B99 for a sixth season. Thousands of fans, including celebrities like Lin-Manuel, Mark Hamill, and Guillermo Del Toro were vocal about their love and support for the show.
Here & Queer: LGBTQ Representation
Two of the main characters in Brooklyn Nine-Nine are queer. In the first episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine we learn that Raymond Holt, the new captain of Brooklyn’s 99th precinct, is gay. In season five, Detective Rosa Diaz comes out to her friends and coworkers as bisexual.
Stephanie Beatriz, the actor who portrays Rosa Diaz, said Rosa’s coming out story was inspired by her own coming out in 2016. The writers of B99 also spoke with Beatriz about her experiences as a bisexual person and what she thought was most important to include in Rosa’s coming out storyline. This is great because queer stories should be written from queer perspectives!
Seeing successful, confident, and proud queer characters is so important. There are too few queer characters on television and even fewer who are not white.
According to GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV Report, only 6.4% of regular characters on prime time scripted broadcast television (2017–2018 season) are LGBTQ. The report also states, “This year, racial diversity in queer characters counted on broadcast decreased from the previous year. Of the 86 LGBTQ regular and recurring characters counted on broadcast, 36 percent (31) are characters of color. This is a decrease of six percentage points.”
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of the few shows that has shown its commitment to showing queer characters of color and it’s great! Hopefully more shows continue to follow in it’s footsteps.
Not Everyone is White: Racial Representation
Four of the main characters on Brooklyn Nine-Nine are played by actors of color. Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumero are Latinx and Andre Braugher and Terry Crews are Black.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many shows that cast multiple people of color in leading roles. When Stephanie Beatriz heard Melissa Fumero had been cast she didn’t think she’d land a role on the show. “I was so excited for Melissa, but I thought I was screwed. Because growing up and watching shows, I would just never see Latina characters. Everyone was white. If there was Latinas, they were at the margins. Or playing stereotypes (x)”
This highlights a major issue with casting. According to UCLA Ralph Bunche Center for African American Studies report Hollywood Diversity Report: Setting the Record Straight, minority actors only made up 11.4% of leading roles in broadcast scripted programs during the 2014–2015 season.
Who Runs the World? Girls!: Female Representation
There’s no getting around it — the ladies of Brooklyn Nine-Nine are tough as hell. They’re also caring, hard working, no nonsense, ambitious, and so much more.
The three main ladies of B99 are Amy, Rosa, and Gina. Each of these women is incredibly different. Amy is a rule-following, overachieving nerd. Rosa is a super tough, motorcycle-riding badass. Gina is an extremely confident, multifaceted mogul and later working mother. Unlike many shows and films, all three women support each other. They don’t always get along, but they never fight or undermine each other.
The women of Brooklyn Nine-Nine don’t fall under stereotypical tropes like The Chick (where in a cast of men there is only one woman, and she serves as the “moral compass”) or Women Are Delicate (where women are depicted as delicate and men are depicted as strong). Amy, Rosa, and Gina aren’t flat characters who exist to further the plots of their male coworkers — they’re whole individuals who work (and play) hard.
Best Buds: Strong Male Friendships
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is full of strong, supportive friendships between men. It’s pretty rare that men are shown as having platonic friendships that are as important as their romantic relationships. They support each other’s hobbies, relationships, outfits, and (often silly) plans.
Jake and Charles check in on each other, listen to each other, and TALK about how much they care about each other. More often than not, when male characters talk about their feelings, it’s with their romantic partners or female family members. But Jake and Charles’ friendship flips that on its head. Their friendship is the foundation for the show and, to be honest, the source of some of the best laughs!
Terry Loves Yogurt: Tender Masculinity
Not only do the men of Brooklyn Nine-Nine care about each other, they care about themselves! Sergent Terry Jeffords, played by Terry Crews, is a muscular man who values his appearance, health, and family. He’s not afraid to miss out on drinks with his friends and coworkers to spend time with his twin daughters and wife.
Unlike many buff men on TV, he’s not the muscle of the B99 team— he’s the heart! He helps the team when they have both personal and professional problems. He consoled Rosa after her boyfriend Adrian Pimento left and helps Gina with the struggles of being a working parent. He also helps everyone in the precinct with their cases (even Hitchcock and Scully who are, generally, hopeless when it comes to police work).
In a world filled with toxic masculinity, it’s refreshing to see strong, caring men who aren’t afraid to be emotional and caring.
Toxic Masculinity: The socially-constructed attitudes that describe the masculine gender role as violent, unemotional, sexually aggressive, and so forth.
Thank you to Samantha Burton and the eNotes Team for sponsoring this mini toolkit through our Friends of the Apparating Library fundraiser!
Talk It Out
- Do you feel represented in Brooklyn Nine-Nine? Do your friends? Why or why not?
- What kind of representation is important to you?
- How often do you see main characters that look like you? How often do you see main characters that don’t look like you?
- Who are your favorite characters in B99? Why?
Take Action
- Talk about representation with your friends and family! Use Brooklyn Nine-Nine as a way to discuss issues like LGBTQ representation, racial representation, and female representation.
- Read GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV Report (2017–2018 Season) and see if your favorite shows are anywhere in the report. How are they doing in terms on LGBTQ representation? Tweet your support or critiques!
- Do your favorite shows have any non-white main characters? If not, let the showrunners or network know that you want to see some. Send a tweet, start a petition, or spread the word!
Resources & References
GLAAD’s Where We Are on TV Report (2017–2018 Season)
Hollywood Diversity Report: Setting the Record Straight
Toxic Masculinity via Geek Feminism Wiki
The Character Who Made Me Love Brooklyn Nine-Nine via The Atlantic
How Brooklyn Nine-Nine Was Saved from Cancellation (EXCLUSIVE) via Den of Geek
TV Tropes via tvtropes.org
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