Wednesday, April 15, 2015

"What if we limited the number of white men in film and TV?"

"Creatively, a bad idea—but so is peppering diversity onto default casts."


I should note my 31% cap would in no way limit the number of awesome projects in development; it would just change the breakdown of their casts. After all, as a woman who wants to have any kind of cultural literacy, I’m expected to engage with white-male-centric stories all the time. And even though they're low on ladies, I love Saving Private Ryan, Lord Of The Flies, True Detective, Toy Story, The History Boys, The Godfather and The West Wing. So why shouldn’t white men get equal enjoyment out of watching stories in which they aren’t represented?
Fantastic TV shows like Orange Is The New Black, Empire, Call The Midwife, Black-ish, Fresh Off The Boat, The Bletchley Circle, and Orphan Black prove that increased diversity can open up new storytelling avenues for everyone to enjoy.
Another example: While I feel fairly confident in saying the white male perspective on World War II has been thoroughly covered over the last 75 years of filmmaking, there are fewer films that explore women on the home front, all-black platoons, or Japanese-American internment camps. If we insist on revisiting that time period over and over again, why not do so from a fresh angle?
Sure it’s true that part of the demand for better representation is about social justice: We as a society have determined that equality makes the world a better place.
But demands for increased representation are also demands for new stories. In fact, we already ask for diversity from Hollywood all the time when it comes to genres, styles, tones, and characters (from comedies to dramas, blockbusters to arthouse films, heroes to antiheroes).
Adding more racial and gender diversity is just one more way to foster fresh storytelling. And that’s inarguably a good thing.

30 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

That old thing about "those who can't do" comes to mind and it just might be turtles all the way down.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

tweet from 'Raul Castro' says Fidel Castro died at his 'laguito' home today.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

could be a hoax.

Dad Bones said...

Nothing on it from Babalu Blog, Lem.

KCFleming said...

"Adding more racial and gender diversity is just one more way to foster fresh storytelling. And that’s inarguably a good thing."

The same argument was used in diversifying the workforce by mandate.
Hasn't turned out how they thought.

It was also tried in SciFi novels and video games.
Total bust (read about the "Sad Puppies" campaign and Gamergate).

virgil xenophon said...

My pet peeve on the quota bit is commercials that are meant to show us rubes how society is supposed to work in this "progressive" age. Now every other white guy is shown as having a wife/girlfriend "of color" of one shade or another in ratios to be found nowhere in real life (except perhaps in CA) Worse is the artificially forced social interaction of blacks with whites in situations one rarely actually sees, i.e., black couple depicted as going rock climbing with white couple, and then nite-clubbig with same couple that evening--obviously meant to be depicted as BFF. About as subtle as a train wreck..

virgil xenophon said...

** "we rubes" ?

KCFleming said...

@virgil
Exactly.

Children's books are the same way.
The assigned schoolbooks were so awful because they adhered to SJW agitprop rather than telling good stories.

I had to get my sons to read old comic books to figure out that not all reading was a horrible boring chore.

KCFleming said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KCFleming said...

My theory is that the more diverse the cast, the worse the story.

Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa made some of the best movies of all time with only Japanese actors.

Diversity in art is bullshit.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Well I have noticed many TV shows definitely over-represent gays. Just last night, NCIS-Bayou, had a story about a baby stolen from a gay couple. Why was that necessary or deemed appropriate?

I'm Full of Soup said...

Re Castro, if Obama had any balls, when he met Raul Castrom, he would have taken his hand and quietly told him we would drop a drone bomb on him if he and his dictator brother Fidel didn't abdicate within 30 days so Obama could then declare he had freed Cuba from dictators.

But, of course, Obama would never think to do that since he seems to feel a bond with the dictators of the world.

Trooper York said...

Everything is about the gays. That is because gays dominate in the entertainment industry. This weeks episode of "Call the Midwife" had a gay theme and was all about the gay lifestyle. Now this is a show set in the 1950's in the East End of London when gays would have been so deeply in the closet that they would not have seen the light of day.

What Hollywood needs is an affirmative action program for straight religious working class Americans. Those are the people not represented in the creation of entertainment.

Trooper York said...

Another problem is that there are so few actors with real life experience. Also so very few that are not nancy boys.

There used to be guys like Charles Bronsen and Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan and Ernie Borgnine. Not any more.

KCFleming said...

This sort of affirmative action is going to kill the networks and then cable TV.

People will move to on-demand streaming to avoid having to be preached to by the gay mafia, the race hustlers and the anti-Christians.

Hell, they even tried to destroy the H&G house rehab show because the guys in it were Christian.

Best avoid their poison altogether.

Christy said...

I'd rather limit the number of car chases.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Cut off cable, direct TV or Dish and get an indoor antenna. (you can buy one for 40-60 bucks thru Lems Amazon portal)

You'll only receive about 30 channels, but so what? You're not missing much.

I'm not an expert on on-line streaming or roku/netflix - but those options fill in the blanks nicely.

Mainstream DNC TV is predictably preachy, vapid and boring.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

War on whitey.

Trooper York said...

The answer is Netflicks. It has many interesting alternatives. Along with Amazon Prime.

I am just tired of the same crap all the time. Who needs another serial killer show where the perp is a clergyman or a white businessman.

I just change the channel and put on Gunfight at the OK Corral.

KCFleming said...

"Who needs another serial killer show where the perp is a clergyman or a white businessman."

Playing amateur TV detective is very easy these days.
All you have to do is find the rich white guy, the conservative, or a priest.

Trooper York said...

Plus every show has a gruesome corpse.

I watch Hawaii 5O for the scenery not to see autopsies every freaking week.

edutcher said...

How 'bout if we get rid of the token black in every TV show?

Lem said...

tweet from 'Raul Castro' says Fidel Castro died at his 'laguito' home today

Your lips to God's ears.

I'm sure the White (I'm sure Moochelle and her mother must HATE living there) House will be in black crepe by tee time.

edutcher said...

Trooper York said...

I am just tired of the same crap all the time. Who needs another serial killer show where the perp is a clergyman or a white businessman.

I just change the channel and put on Gunfight at the OK Corral.


You and me both. It's one reason my TV home is often Encore Westerns (where it's running this month).

Trooper York said...

You need to get Netflicks ed. Also Amazon Prime.

They have a bunch of great westerns.

Last night I had on the Wonderful World of Disney with the Davy Crockett at the Alamo episode. Sang the song and everything. Even wore the coonskin cap I got in Canada.

My wife wants to kill me.

Titus said...

Do you know the feds added gender idenity to their reg's this year?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I hope the feds added genital obsession.

edutcher said...

Trooper York said...

Last night I had on the Wonderful World of Disney with the Davy Crockett at the Alamo episode. Sang the song and everything. Even wore the coonskin cap I got in Canada.

The only way to do it.

chickelit said...

A while ago, I floated an idea for a TV script along the lines of "Upstairs, Downstairs" or "Downton Abbey" but set in the antebellum South on a planation. It could be a drama or a comedy depending on the writing talent.

Think of the black talent it could foster!

I concluded that it had already been done or that America wasn't ready for it.

Trooper York said...

Mandingo.

chickelit said...

"Mandingo" is tangenital to my proposal.