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The Black Man's Burden

Jam Stunna

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Link to original post: [drupal=5152]The Black Man's Burden[/drupal]



So the rage du jour is centered around the new HBO show Girls. Marketed and heralded as "the voice of a generation," several writers have noted that, apparently, the millennial generation consists only of white people (there are several articles which address this). As some of you know, I enjoy writing. I haven't been doing much lately, but I'm trying to get back into it (hence all the blogs as of late), and one thing I've been considering is what kind of writer I want to be. Fiction or non-fiction? Genre or literary? Good or bad? The one question that has really stumped me though is who do I want to write about? Do I have a responsibility to write stories about people like me, or am I free to follow my creative urges?

Well, maybe I'm overreacting. This is only one show, after all. Surely there are critically acclaimed television shows in the media that feature, or at least contain black characters, right? I mean, look at Mad Men:



Okay, bad example. That's a 60's period piece. But let's stick with AMC. Breaking Bad?



All right! We got one! Hey, this is fun, like a racial Where's Waldo. Let's see how many we can find! Modern Family:



Sofia Vegaras is not white (and mega hot), so let's count her. We're up to two! Community:



Holy crap, we got two black people in the cast! And I think that guy with the shocked expression in the background is non-white; what the hell, let's count him. 30 Rock:



Good old NBC. They don't call you Nothing But Coloreds for no reason!

We've got 42 actors and actresses in the cast photos for five of the most popular and critically acclaimed television shows on the air, and a whopping six of them aren't white. Truly, we have arrived at a place of racial equality in America.

But wait! There's more to the media than just television of course. There are also movies. So let's play the same game with the top 10 grossing movies for this weekend.

#1 Think Like a Man


#2 The Lucky One


#3 The Hunger Games


#4 Chimpanzee


#5 The Three Stooges


I'm actually going to stop here, because it's pretty much the same for 6-10. Just to be clear, there are as many movies in the top 10 with predominately black casts as there are with predominately chimp casts. And of the other films, only The Hunger Games feature non-white actors in substantial roles (and here's some of the reaction to that).

Well what about the news? That's part of the media, right?
Brian Williams, host of NBC's Nightly News


Scott Pelley, host of CBS Evening News


Cynthia McFadden, Terry Moran and Bill Weir, the featured journalists of ABC's Nightline


David Gregory, the host of NBC's Meet the Press


Bob Schieffer, host of CBS's Face the Nation


George Stephanopolous, host of ABC's This Week With George Stephanopolous


Wolf Blitzer, host of CNN's The Situation Room


Bill O'Reilly, host of Fox News' the O'Reilly Factor


Gwen Ifill, host of PBS' Washington Week


Yes! I finally found Waldo!

The point is that Girls is not is not an exception, it's the rule. I think that there's such a sense of disappointment with the show because the show's creator, lead writer and star, Lena Dunham, is only 25, and there was hope that as a new and fresh talent she wouldn't fall into the same old narratives that have dominated media since forever. That doesn't seem to be the case, unfortunately.

I had a conversation with a friend about this a few months ago, specifically about how white and male the movie industry is. Her perspective was that the best way to change that was to get the content creators (writers, producers, directors, executives, etc.) to realize that there are other stories out there to be told, while I argued that the only way to get women and minorities on screen is for women and minorities to write and produce their own work. I think Girls has validated my point: Lena Dunham is a white woman who writes about white women. That's great, and I'm not trying to say that she needs to write in a black character for my sake. It's her story, and she can do whatever she wants with it. However, I can be disappointed that the story in her head is just as overwhelmingly white as just about every other story that gets presented in the media.

If there are going to be stories about minorities in the media, then those stories are going to need to be created by us, the minorities who seek representation, because it's exceedingly clear that no one else is going to tell our stories for us. So yeah, I might want to write a story about a WASP, but you know what? Everyone else is already doing that. If I want to see a show that actually has minority cast members that aren't fulfilling ridiculous stereotypes, then I'm going to have to make that happen. Once we actually can exercise some control over the creation of content, then we can see realistic and believable representations of ourselves in the media, and we can let Girls be as white as it wants to be.

...or not, since we still need the current power brokers to actually buy our pilots, produce our scripts and publish our books, and that's a really tall order. Sure, Eva Longoria is producing a show with four Hispanic females as the main characters, but they're maids. The Help featured several black actresses prominently, but they were maids too. I suppose the real secret to success in the media is to either be white, write about white people, or make damn sure white people feel good about themselves when it's over.
 

Jam Stunna

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That's actually the point: the only people making content that features black people are other black people. It's a shame that we have to settle for the nonsense that Perry peddles as entertainment.
 

Luigitoilet

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Tyler Perry has made shows and movies where the main characters are African American, just pointing that out.
Tyler Perry's entire career is based on pandering to suburban black families.

I'm not really sure how I feel about it, as his work is lowest common denominator, but it's not a surprise that it is so popular with that demographic subset. There literally isn't anything else for black people that is not about "urban" culture. If TV and movies in the US are to be believed, the entire culture of African Americans is represented by gangster rap and Friday movies.
 

Fuujin

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Tyler Perry has made shows and movies where the main characters are African American, just pointing that out.
30 minutes after the blog is posted and we already have our first moronic comment.

Anyways I doubt smash boards is the best place to get a proper discussion about this.
You're just going to get white people who are seemingly oblivious to their privilege arguing how there's nothing wrong with the current stage of racial diversity(or lack thereof).
Then you'll probably get the minorities who embrace fitting into the stereotype society has placed upon them, and these people won't see anything wrong with the current state of racial diversity either.

Heres hoping there aren't too many face palm inducing comments about the subject.



Just going to post something here Jam and the fellow readers.
I have a feeling you're going to have to talk about this several times in this post, so I may as well give you a head start.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_privilege
 

Jam Stunna

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I post this on SWF because I know that at least someone will read it here, as opposed to Facebook where it would be buried under newsfeed updates in a matter of minutes, or my other blog which literally no one reads. Even a bad response is better than no response.

Also, there are plenty of thoughtful people on SWF who have something to say, and I hope to draw those people into the thread.
 

Falconv1.0

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Good post, Jam.

This reminds me of George Lucas trying to claim the entire reason no one wanted Red Tails was because it had lots of black people in it, no main white characters, not the fact that it sucked or anything, and Oprah was like WELL DON'T WORRY WE'LL WATCH IT AND PROVE DEM WRONG.

Black people being a minority in movies isn't the worst **** ever it's just...they need to be a little bit bigger than what they are now. Supposedly the ratio of whites to blacks in murricuh is 6 to 1 or 5 to 1. I don't see that really going on in media, ****'s way more biased towards white people.

Also really, Tyler Perry got brought up by someone? ****ing really?
 

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I saw one gay couple! :D

. . .
 

Fuujin

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Black people being a minority in movies isn't the worst **** ever it's just...they need to be a little bit bigger than what they are now. Supposedly the ratio of whites to blacks in murricuh is 6 to 1 or 5 to 1. I don't see that really going on in media, ****'s way more biased towards white people.
One thing I want to point out is that this isn't just a black and white thing.
It applies to pretty much any minority group.
If you think the portrayal of black/hispanic people is lacking, you should try to find the amount of Asian actors in the mainstream media.
Hard mode: Try to find Asian characters being portrayed as something other than smart/nerdy.
 

Holder of the Heel

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Actually Fuujin, Asian characters aren't being portrayed as nerdy too much, half the time they are portrayed as the exact opposite and kick major ***.

Though it doesn't go beyond those two types often, so you're still right about each minority kind of falling into stereotypes.
 

Jam Stunna

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I'm glad you brought up Red Tails, Falcon, because I was incredibly conflicted about that movie. I have nothing but respect for George Lucas and his decision to finance the movie entirely himself, to the tune of about $100 million, because he couldn't find anyone to partner with him. It also dovetails with something Denzel Washington said earlier this year on the subject of black casts in films.

On the other hand...it really was a bad movie, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to go the theater and send the message that I'll take anything as long as there's a black face attached to it. Ultimately I didn't go, but in my dream world Lucas would continue to have the balls to put this movie on his back and call out the rest of Hollywood for it, but it would have actually been a movie worth seeing.

EDIT

One thing I want to point out is that this isn't just a black and white thing.
It applies to pretty much any minority group.
If you think the portrayal of black/hispanic people is lacking, you should try to find the amount of Asian actors in the mainstream media.
Hard mode: Try to find Asian characters being portrayed as something other than smart/nerdy.
This is an extremely important point, and one I regret leaving out of the OP.
 

Master Xanthan

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30 minutes after the blog is posted and we already have our first moronic comment.

Anyways I doubt smash boards is the best place to get a proper discussion about this.
You're just going to get white people who are seemingly oblivious to their privilege arguing how there's nothing wrong with the current stage of racial diversity(or lack thereof).
Then you'll probably get the minorities who embrace fitting into the stereotype society has placed upon them, and these people won't see anything wrong with the current state of racial diversity either.

Heres hoping there aren't too many face palm inducing comments about the subject.



Just going to post something here Jam and the fellow readers.
I have a feeling you're going to have to talk about this several times in this post, so I may as well give you a head start.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_privilege
Nevermind, I don't want to cause an argument.
 

Big-Cat

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One thing I want to point out is that this isn't just a black and white thing.
It applies to pretty much any minority group.
If you think the portrayal of black/hispanic people is lacking, you should try to find the amount of Asian actors in the mainstream media.
Hard mode: Try to find Asian characters being portrayed as something other than smart/nerdy.
And for the record, characters in Asian media don't count.

Unfortunately, unless it's a Black-centric movie, you'll be pressed to find a main protagonist that's a minority and isn't stuck in the same old roles. And then it gets worse that sometimes minority characters, namely Asians, are played by actors that only half Asian or whatever (see the Tekken "movie" and the Chun-Li "movie"). It's that old thought that White audiences won't watch a movie/show if it doesn't have a white character is the main protagonist that's been keeping media diversity down.

Kind of reminds me that it'd be even harder than it normally is to get a role in show business as a minority myself.
 

Spelt

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Omg, this thread. :dizzy:

No legitimate discussion is going to come from this thread, because anybody that says anything that doesn't correlate perfectly with what the OP said is immediately going to be pegged as a racist.
 

Jam Stunna

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I would honestly like to hear any opinion on this subject. I'm less concerned about people disagreeing with me and more concerned about the utter refusal of people to talk about this subject, or anything race-related at all.

I keep hearing how we're a "post-racial" society, but believe me, I'm consistently made aware that I'm black. It seems that the post-racial claim is actually just a way to deflect any unpleasant discussion about race away.
 

Spelt

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I don't really feel like there's a problem. Most people who talk about these types of issues act like there has been absolutely no progression over the years. Even just 10 years ago you'd be hard pressed to find any minorities in most TV shows. How many non-whites do you think would be in the cast photos for the top 5 popular/critically acclaimed shows in 2002? I guess none, maybe one. Maybe.

Things are changing, but obviously you can't expect something drastic to happen overnight.

I also don't see the problem with how much women are portrayed in mainstream media. I might even be able to argue that women are pretty much running broadcast television currently.
 

Spelt

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You're welcome. :054:

Also that first sentence was badly worded. Obviously there is a problem with how much minorities are being portrayed in the media, but I don't feel like it's exactly an issue we need to worry about right now.

Also I agree with your last sentiment in the OP about how people need to write/produce stories that they'd like to see on TV.
 

Arcansi

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What % of people in the USA are Black?

Because I know the amount of black people I see on TV is actually more then the amount I see in real life, here in BC, Canada.
 

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Spelt

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There was nothing wrong with that post, Fuujin.
Relax.
 

Fuujin

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Other than it giving off that "In my little white land of Canada, we don't have many black folks, so I don't see why we need more of them on my TV" vibe?

Maybe I'm just reading into it too much though.
 

Arcansi

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Other than it giving off that "In my little white land of Canada, we don't have many black folks, so I don't see why we need more of them on my TV" vibe?

Maybe I'm just reading into it too much though.
That wasn't at all what I was saying.

Obviously, asking for more black people on tv when they are near being represented as much as they are in real life (assuming there's nothing else dumb about it, like them ONLY getting supporting roles or something) isn't realistic.

Now, this is obviously about American television, and as such I can't know the statistic or have any anecdotal evidence for/against, so I asked.
 

Falconv1.0

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Arcansi is making a totally fair point, at least for Canada assuming the black population is that low.

Honestly I think there's more bias in terms of what role you can get based off race/gender than whether or not you can be a character period. I remember a cracked article mentioning how it seems like Will Smith is pretty much the only black man who gets to do roles normally done by white men, which wouldn't completely shock me although I don't exactly watch enough/follow movies enough to know how accurate that is.

Also Denzel Washington in Training Day is one of the greatest ****in' things I've ever seen. Just throwing that out there.
 

Neon Ness

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Also that first sentence was badly worded. Obviously there is a problem with how much minorities are being portrayed in the media, but I don't feel like it's exactly an issue we need to worry about right now.
If not now, then when?

I think that's kind of what Jam Stunna was getting at--this kind of discussion is often brushed aside when there are pressing questions that need to be answered. And I don't think Jam is trying to say no progression has been made--the point is he feels that more can be done, and I agree.

Also, one of the important things to gather from Arcansi's post is that we've all got varying perspectives about the situation. Obviously there are people like Jam, myself, and others who see a distinct lack of (positive) representation of minorities in entertainment media. And there are people who live in areas where they have not once in their life interacted with a minority in person, so what they see is an unrealistically high portrayal of minorities in entertainment.

In that sense it is true that we have to solve the problem ourselves and create the content we want to see. We can't force others to live the lives we've lived, or see what we see (although I am somewhat with Fuujin in that just because you can't, or won't, see a problem doesn't mean it's not there).

On a somewhat related note, going back to this line from the OP:

If there are going to be stories about minorities in the media, then those stories are going to need to be created by us, the minorities who seek representation, because it's exceedingly clear that no one else is going to tell our stories for us.
I might go so far as to say they're unable to tell our stories for us. It can be kind of hard to write a story about a black woman living in the USA if you're a white guy from Canada.

We have to get to a point where characters are believable and interesting despite race, sex, and a host of other factors that don't directly relate to the quality of the person or the story. But it's a really tall order, at least at present.

Anyway, great blog with excellent points.
 

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Name 5 prominent Asian characters in the mainstream media that aren't portrayed as nerdy.

I'm willing to bet you'd have a big struggle in this without the aid of the internet.
Asian people in Western media are either nerds, ridiculously smart, kung-fu masters, or chinese philosophy masters, or just plain stereotypical caricatures. They are almost always comic reliefs unless they are Jet Li or Jackie Chan.
 

Shorts

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Asian people in Western media are either nerds, ridiculously smart, kung-fu masters, or chinese philosophy masters, or just plain stereotypical caricatures. They are almost always comic reliefs unless they are Jet Li or Jackie Chan.
ChristinaYangcoughcoughcough

ANNNND, that cast was picked "blindly" or something? Like, no specific character in Grey's Anatomy had a set ethic background, or whatever you would call it. So, that's something positive right? And there is a lesbian couple on there. So... yay?
 

Holder of the Heel

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That is an excellent point. If black people are such a small percentage of society, and people are more comfortable with writing what they can actually connect with, it isn't really surprising that it is the way it is, let alone why black people are much more rare on the television.

Also, what Luigitoilet said. I think Nicki would have that reaction if you straight up told her Asians are only portrayed as nerdy genius types. @_@ That's actually something newer that they are portrayed as, I believe.
 

Spelt

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If not now, then when?
Well, never really... :/

Like I said the issue is already resolving itself, you just have to give it time. Something like this isn't gonna happen immediately.
 

#HBC | Joker

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Actually we haven't "made improvements", we're exactly where we were 40 years ago, and have been pretty consistent since then. Let's take a look, shall we?

Sanford and Son
Good Times
The Jeffersons
The Bill Cosby Show
Family Matters
The Fresh Prince of Bel-air
The Parkers
The Hughleys
Moesha
Sister Sister
My Wife and Kids
The Steve Harvey Show
The Bernie Mac Show
The George Lopez Show

The only difference between then and now, is current shows with all black casts have "Tyler Perry's" in front of them, and they don't count cuz Tyler Perry is black? I must say, I'm confused on that point. What should really be addressed is that only ONE of those shows is featuring primarily Hispanics, and NONE of them feature primarily asian, middle eastern or any other minority you can think of.
 

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Everybody hates Chris lol, although that was a pretty meh show.

As for Asians in the mainstream...I can't really think of any apart from Jackie Chan, Jet Li.

And John Cho of Harold and Kumar.

He pops in every now and then as comedic relief like American Pie, sitcoms like HIMYM, 30 Rock. But has had more significant roles: recent Star Trek,
That t.v show that called FlashForward, pretty sure that bombed :p

I remember a cracked article mentioning how it seems like Will Smith is pretty much the only black man who gets to do roles normally done by white men

Also Denzel Washington...
Hmm very true, hadn't thought of that.

I'd like to see the next James Bond should be black just to see how people react :troll:

Reminds me of the uproar when people found out a black girl was portraying Rue in the Hunger Games...even though the novel specifically says the characters was dark skinned.



http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m10jclI5zu1rqcceqo1_400.png
 

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So is this thread about black people, or minorities? Being a minority myself, i really don't find myself watching movies, TV, etc much (the last show i watched is outsourced).

But i will say this, Disney channel has a diverse cast of characters.
 

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A hypothetical we should probably consider is if blacks were the majority. The reality is, most movies would probably feature predominantly black casts.

I'm not sure if expecting equal representation when there are disproportionate groups and markets is entirely reasonable.
 

Big-Cat

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A hypothetical we should probably consider is if blacks were the majority. The reality is, most movies would probably feature predominantly black casts.

I'm not sure if expecting equal representation when there are disproportionate groups and markets is entirely reasonable.
Obviously, it'd be rather unrealistic for every ethnic group to have an equal slice of the movie pie. On the other hand, I don't think it's unrealistic for the diversity of roles available to be limited to only a handful if you're a minority. I shouldn't need to be dressed as a gang banger, a cholo, be fluent in Spanish, etc., to get a role in a movie if I'm just as capable of being the main character of an action movie which are mostly filled with White protagonists in the first place.
 

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Mota;14371513[IMG said:
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l25/puakev/RacistHungerGamesTweets-2.jpg[/IMG]
I don't think I could ever comprehend what was going through the minds of the people who said things like this. I remember the first time my brother told me people were *****ing about that... if it isn't racism, and the book says they're dark skinned, then... what?
 
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