posted
I found an article on the LA Times about a study conducted on the treatment of minority characters on primetime network television. It showed that minority characters are more likely to be show as flat or stereotypical characters. And while white characters are shown in both home and work environments, minority characters tended to be shown either at work, school, or home. About 3/4 of black characters were never shown at home. Then it goes on to say how some minorities appear more in sitcoms and other more in dramas, and very few shows depict interracial romantic relationships.
These are some of the shows that had the better examples of diversity: "ER", "For Your Love", "The Hughleys", "Judging Amy", "Law & Order", "Spin City", "Star Trek: Voyager", "The Practice", "Felicity", and "That '70s Show". This sample totaled 406 characters: 271 whites, 95 African Americans, 16 Latinos, 14 Asian Pacific Americans, one Native American (CHAKOTAY!), and nine "other" minorities.
Some shows are singled out here for:
-Having interracial couples--"City of Angels" and "Star Trek: Voyager"
-dealing explicitly with race and racial matters--"ER", "Star Trek: Voyager", "City of Angels"
I'm just happy when Star Trek gets a little attention once in a while.
Er, so, to make this a more productive thread, do you think there's enough diversity on television or no?
------------------ "One more day before the storm At the barricades of freedom! When our ranks begin to form Will you take your place with me?" --Enjolras, "One Day More," Les Miserables
posted
Actually, I'd imagine it's an umbrella-term for non-Caucasian/non-Afro Americans. Or think of it as Asian-Americans with all the Pacific people who we still can't really classify thrown in for completeness sake. Either way, it's sets a new high for PC-ness, that's for sure.
------------------ "Truth about Santa Claus debunks Santa God. God evolves from Santa." -Gene Ray, http://www.timecube.com
posted
Sounds like utter BS. Asian-whatever's. Kinda a huge generalisation. Asia stretches from far eastern Russia to Turkey. You can't exactly lump all those cultures into one block and call them 'asian'.
------------------ "More beer, more beer, more beer, more beer! ARSE!" - Ode to God.
posted
I dunno. Friends is about a bunch of white guys, but then that's realistic. If you find a bunch of people who are friends, they usually havne't got a token black man in just in case the PC police turn up in their local pub.
You know, the lead of red Dwarf is black? And since most seasons only have 4 characters (Rimmer, Cat, Kryten and Lister), half the cast is black. And he fancied a white woman. And no-one ever commented on it. Because no-one found anything weird about it. Hell, it wasn't until I had watched red Dwarf for 4 years and was 14 that I "noticed" that Lister was black.
It tel's very telling that in all instances of someone wanting to remake red Dwarf for the US audience, Lister gets cast as a white guy. Who fancies awhite guy. And has sex a lot too (whereas our Lister hasn't had sex in 4 million and some years. Ignoring Rimmer's mum.)
------------------ "I can't believe we're actually gonna meet Guru Lou. Everyone says he's the wisest man in the universe. He's sensitive, creative, has a great sense of humour, and he's a really smooth dancer. *giggles*" "You're confused Polly. We're not meeting Paul Newman." - Polly & Speedy; Samurai Pizza Cats
posted
You know, I love all this diversity awareness. "Let's try to treat everyone equally by pointing out everyone's differences." Is that twisted logic or what? But all of this is why I watch so little TV. It's almost all stereotypes that are rather boring.
------------------ It doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing as long as you look good doing it.
posted
Could you take a moment to define how not to point out "everyone's differences"? Aren't we just saying a few posts ago that not even all Asians are the same?
------------------ "One more day before the storm At the barricades of freedom! When our ranks begin to form Will you take your place with me?" --Enjolras, "One Day More," Les Miserables
posted
Which is what Red Dwarf did well. No-one watched the show back in 1987 and said "look! It's got a black man for the lead! How daring". No-one ever thought that Lister was typical of black people anyway. And no-one thought that the cat was a stereotypical "cool" black person. One was a scummy Liverpuddlian slob, and the other was a cat. Simple.
------------------ "I can't believe we're actually gonna meet Guru Lou. Everyone says he's the wisest man in the universe. He's sensitive, creative, has a great sense of humour, and he's a really smooth dancer. *giggles*" "You're confused Polly. We're not meeting Paul Newman." - Polly & Speedy; Samurai Pizza Cats
Printer-friendly view of this topic
