In the film and TV industry where is the diversity? Do networks have the obligation to cast
women
and minorities in major role? That is
the question this blog post will be examining.
Many people are completely blind to this issue, not because
they do not care, just simply due to the fact they never though about it. There are some things in life that you just
accept and do not question for me the constitution of movie and TV show cast
never sparked my attention, at least not there lack of minority
representation. What did spark my
attention was who is playing that super hero or to be shallow, dang that female
actor is hot. It was never where is the
black james bond or the Mexican whatever.
Now that this problem has been brought up during award
season, through many news outlets, I do see the constitution of a cast
differently. I now pay attention to,
purely out of curiosity, how little minority and females are represented in
major roles. To me it has not affected the quality of the
films, but who know maybe diversity would add quality to productions.
In an article published by NPR this problem is discussed not
just from a layman observation, but also with stats that illuminate the
disparity in the TV and movie industry between white males and everyone
else.
“If you want an accurate picture of
ethnic and gender diversity in the United States, don't look to Hollywood
(Ralph Bunche).” This statement is of the conclusion of Ralph Bunche from UCLA,
who conducted a study of minority representation in Hollywood. Some of the most telling statistics that came
out of the study where about lead roles and directors. Lead actors are 83% white, writers 88% white
and Show creators 94% white. There are
many other stats that compare ratio between minority groups but these three are
the most telling the problem. The US
population is about 50% white but the film industry in almost 90% white.
Let extricate gender from the problem
and solely talk about ethnicity or culture views, which is what these statistics
are doing. It is shocking. Even though I will admit I never was aware of
this disparity before doing research for this blog. It is almost a knock on my observation
abilities, since I was unable to notice this.
My favorite genres of movies are super
hero movies and when I think about who plays each lead I cannot think of one
non white lead. Superman (Henry Cavill)
white, Batman (Ben Affleck) White, Ironman (Robert Downey Jr.) white.... and
many more. The argument can be made
these actors have always been white, so it would be weird to have a black
superman. This is one of the greatest obstacle
in Hollywood their deep rooted tradition of this is how we do things.
Recently though, especially on TV
shows, diversity has been creeping in, mostly for comedic effect
unfortunately. On shows like modern
family the Gay couple, Cam and Mitchel are used to add a layer of comedy that
can only come from gays. While Gloria, a
Columbia female is used for the same purpose, to add diversity to the potential
jokes that can be played off of stereotypes.
While diversity is starting to creep
into popular TV shows like modern family, Blackish and others. The diversity is not true in my opinion; it
is simply being incorporated to be made fun of, to make the shows more
entertaining at the expense of people diverse culture. There is nothing wrong with making fun of
people background, it what drives comedy shows.
This unfortunately is one of the only outlets for group of non white
actors, Kevin Hart (Comedy), Ice Cube (Comedy)...etc. Of course there are exceptions to the rule like
Morgan Freeman but they are few and far between.
Studies have also shown that diversitymake movie and TV shows more money so I expect Hollywood to catch on soon
enough to this. It is a long hard
process though since Hollywood and the entertainment industry has such a deep-rooted
history in the exclusion of all but white men.
IT will take some time but it is taking positive step forward.
Two possible deliberation questions
are:
1.
How is TV affect by the lack of diversity?
2.
Why are minority actors missing from major roles?
Article
