By Nomalanga Mhlauli-Moses

Fox’s new prime time hit show Empire has everyone talking and it’s hard to dispute that even though it has left many people feeling outraged, it is a huge success.

At a closer look though, one has to wonder about the selection of the female characters and what they reveal about the way the creators of the show perceive Black women. Below are the main female characters of the show and the possible, underlying perception about Black women each one portrays.

Cookie Lyon

Played by the gorgeous and talented Taraji P. Henson, Cookie is undoubtedly the star of the show. Cookie is loud, opinionated and crass and some of her outfits look like she belongs on a street corner. Let’s not also forget that she is also an ex-convict who did time without revealing her husband’s part in the crime she was convicted of. Ride or die chick-right?

The sad part of this particular relationship is that even though Cookie sacrificed so much for Lucious, he still left her for another woman, opening the door for yet another layer to Cookie’s character – angry and bitter!

Becky

Becky, played by chocolate beauty Gabourey Sidibe, is Lucious Lyons’s executive assistant who also happens to be borderline rude, obese (corpulent, actually) and sassy. Even though she is supposed to be at “Mr. Lyon’s” service, she talks back and bosses him around and he seems to have resigned and accepted the behavior.

Even though Becky can be sassy, we also see her being sweet and nurturing when she discovers that Lucious has a secret illness.

Anika Gibbons

While I can only guess that Grace Gealey is a perfectly lovely woman, in her role as Anika she is far from it! Anika, a beautiful and light skinned woman is portrayed as the trophy-soon-to-be-wife of Lucious Lyon. She symbolizes the “upgrade” that Lucious Lyon has made from “ghetto” Cookie to a lighter, younger and more affluent “model”. She may love Lucious but, make no mistake, she has her sights on getting her piece of the Empire pie.

At close observation, you will see that Anika is cool, confident and “knows how to act” in public (unlike Cookie).

Rhonda Lyon

Kaitlin Doubleday plays the part of Rhonda Lyon who is of course White. Rhonda is the snake married to the oldest of the Lyon sons – the one who is also the seemingly more educated and refined of the three. The suggestion here is that it is only fitting that he too would upgrade to a White woman when selecting a wife. Rhonda has a mission and a motive and her husband is the puppet she uses to do most of her dirty work.

Other than her scheming ways, Rhonda is always elegantly dressed and behaves “like a lady” (unlike Becky and Cookie).

So there we have it; we have “ghetto” Cookie, sassy and obese Becky, affluent and light skinned Anika and anything-but-Black Rhonda!

The show is still new, maybe in time we will see a beautiful, talented self respecting Black woman walk through the doors and the hallways of Empire but I’m not holding my breath – are you?

Nomalanga is a Life Balance Expert. Her speaking and coaching programs help busy women who struggle to balance Marriage, Motherhood and Money-Making™. She is an avid blogger and a sought after instructor and speaker.