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Grown-ish the modern day A Different World, Yes or No?

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at GSU chapter.

Recently there was a Black-ish spinoff that aired in the new year.The sequel is called “Grown-ish” which stars Yara Shahidi’s character, Zoey Johnson.

The show will focus on Zoey’s life at Cal U (California University of Liberal Arts) away from her family and will be a look into her journey into womanhood.

The show also will have “Black-ish” recurring character Aaron Jackson who is played by Disney Channel famous, Trevor Jackson.

Many people have said the “spin-off” is like another series from 1987 to 1993 called “A Different World” which is based on a young black girl’s journey in college.

There is even a little bit of a comparison to the classic 1980’s film “The Breakfast Club”. While there are similarities, there are also some differences and here are some.

 

 

Yes, both the shows are about a young black girl coming from a wholesome and loving black family. Yes, both of them come from upper middle-class families

but the main character in A Different World came from Brooklyn Heights, New York while Zoey came from Sherman Oaks, California.

Those are two different sides of the United States. Both shows do focus on them going to college and being on their own but they both did things differently in their college careers.
Zoey is more of a lost soul trying to find herself and Denise Huxtable from “A Different World” was more in tune with herself because of their different backgrounds in schools and neighborhoods.
Grown-ish” also shows the bad side of college life which includes taking pills, drunken nights, parties and staying up late after parties trying to finish homework.
 
There are love interests in both shows. There is the idea that college is about sleeping around and having relations.

There is the thought of boyfriends and girlfriends, also the confusion of dating your crush.

There is also plots of crushing on people hard and going boy crazy but that is more so in “Grown-ish” than A Different World.

On “Grown-ish” Zoey is head over heels for one boy at first, then she starts juggling two guys.The show also touches on the topic of someone

being afraid to come out to their family members about their sexuality and also shows the relationship between dating the same sex.

 

There is also activism, one of the major movements in modern society being Black Lives Matter. The BLM movement is said to be a modern

or continuing Civil Rights Movement. Black power was a big movement on the shows activism in “A Different World”. “A Different World” was

focused more on knowing yourself as a black person and being proud of your African American heritage. They also use new phrases that we

use in today’s society like being “woke”. The show also focuses more on today’s struggles and what people of younger generations go through.

 

From watching the show I honestly do not feel that the shows are similar. They do have similarities but “Grown-ish” is more for millennials.
Also one of the shows, “Grown-ish” is based on a PWI (Predominantly White Institution) experience but from a black girl point of view and
A Different World” is based on a HBCU (Historically Black College University). The show airs every Wednesday at 8pm on Freedom, this
is one show you should not miss especially if you are a college student because you might see some similarities between the show and your life.
 
The GSU chapter of Her Campus