What’s [Black] Love Got to Do with It? bell hooks and Black Love in Popular Culture

Abstract

When I became interested in Black love as a topic of research, I was going through my own romantic strife. I first struggled to articulate how researching Black love was significant beyond the scope of my own life. In observing representations of Black couples in television, film, and more recently via social media hashtags like #BlackLove and #CoupleGoals, it became clear that the representations I consume help construct my desires. When I read bell hooks’s (2001) Salvation: Black People and Love, it helped me come to terms with my own romantic needs in a critical way. I realized that wanting love as a Black woman is a cultural issue that is complicated by many political and historical factors. In Salvation, hooks urges scholars to be more attentive to the way love works as a form of social justice in the lives of Black folks. Through hooks, I was able to take a closer look at how gender roles function (and at times cause dysfunction) in my personal relationships, as well as in how I read media texts. hooks taught me not to be ashamed for wanting love, wanting to research love, or for enjoying watching Black love in media. Because the love we see in popular culture is a significant part of our lives, I turn here to one of my more complicated favorites. In June 2022, the hit television sitcom Martin (1992–1997) celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special on BETþ. In the special, cast members came together to discuss the legacy of the show, its impact on Black culture, and rumors about a potential reboot. One of the major impacts discussed in relation to the show is the representation of Black love between the main characters, Gina and Martin, played by Tisha Campbell and Martin Lawrence, respectively. As I reflect on the show, its legacy, and the way Martin and Gina have been held up as #couplegoals in the Black imagination, I can’t help but reflect on how bell hooks’s work on Black love and feminism have influenced how and why I watch couples like Martin and Gina on TV. In Salvation, bell hooks explores multiple expressions of Black love and romantic relationships as they relate to race, whiteness, and patriarchy. She details how slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination, and systemic racism influence how Black people have been able to express and experience love. hooks also considers the connection between representations of romantic love on screen and how love manifests in the lives of Black