io9 
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San Francisco, 7:01 PM
Sun Nov 8
12 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/11/09
I waited with high hopes for the debut of Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones on Doctor Who (with David Tennant as the 10th Doctor). Agyeman, the first person of color to play The Doctor's Companion in the show's four decades plus history, blazed onto our imaginations in the first episode of the Third Series, "Smith and Jones".
However, too often after that, the often insinuated relationship between Martha Jones' character and Doctor Who was neglected in the series' plots. This development was unfortunate in that the undeniable chemistry between the actors, their stunning physical attractiveness, and their charcters' exemplary competence spanning several episodes went unrealized ....
Going forward, Martha Jones and The Doctor have so much more to offer to us - and each other. Just as Star Trek blazed a trail in the 60's with Kirk & Uhura's first interracial screen kiss, Doctor Who & Martha should not shy away from this relationship. As Tennant's tenure as The Doctor comes to a close, my only hope is that the show's creative team permit Martha & The Doctor to express their Love openly and without reservation. What a wonderful legacy that would be ....
09/11/09
Another problem I had in terms of race, was it was very rare to see Black love presented on the show. Whites in love; Black/Whites in love. The last season or so the show has improved in showing black couples.
I have heard a rumor that Martha and Mickey are married. In Torchwood they mention she's on her honeymoon. I hope it's true. Both were bitches for love on that show and I think it would be awesome.
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09/10/09
In Vancouver / BC you will find a lot of variety in the population, but most of the "coloured" people you will find are asian or indian.
just did some research in the last Canadian census in 2006 there was 783,795 in ALL of Canada
09/10/09
I've had three friends - all based in L.A. - who were flown to B.C. for parts in Stargate. It's not unusual at all.
09/10/09
To be honest though, I *like* that there isn't the "token black guy" in Supernatural. Pretty much every other show I watch is forced to have one, because if they don't, someone will bitch about it.
I'm not trying to sound racist here... but by the same token, one could ask why there are no fat characters, gay characters, blonde characters with beards, or whatever that don't make it past more than an episode.
Its luck of the draw. If they put such a character in on purpose, then they'd actually be giving you special treatment: singling out your particular ethnicity. Doesn't that totally undermine the whole "equality" gig?
09/10/09
09/10/09
Oh, and also, your privilege is showing.
09/10/09
Dude, you're full of crap.
First, Tyler Perry's movies and TV shows are craptastic.
Second, did you bother to read her essay??
The fact that you readily dismiss her concerns shows your lack of understanding of the issue and what it's like to always be the other.
09/10/09
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09/11/09
For the last three years I worked as a full time youth director for an African American church in the middle of the inner city. I was the only white person at the church of about a thousand people total. I've been the "minority", I'd dealt with racism first hand in ways that I'm not going to begin to discuss here. Someone mentioned earlier that my "privilege was showing". Cute. The fact remains that we have all developed this mentality of privilege, which was the point I was trying to make.
I think the point about minorities being represented in television is a valid one, but I also think in the case of this particular show it's not as much of an issue- and certainly not intentional. That said, I do think there is a double standard to a degree at play as well, which is what I was trying to convey- BET and House of Payne were the first examples that popped into my head. :-p . That whole "understanding and seeing the issue from the other side" thing. Racism is going to thrive as long as we continue to focus on the differences and make them an issue.
It's one thing if there is an intentional and obvious bias at work- that should be addressed because it's wrong. I just don't think that's the case here, especially when you look at the nature of the show and how it's structured. They have featured African American characters, and not all of them have "gone evil" or been killed. Though admittedly most have, given the nature of the show just about every single character has at this point- including the main leads. To that end you could argue that they're equal opportunity evil/death dealers. :-p
09/10/09
Then, we should also think about the white male friends they make in the way: Dad: dead. Mullet-MIT-Redneck: dead. Are there any others? Castiel: asshole&de-angeled&turns out to be even more of an asshole when he gets de-angeled.
Now, on to black males:
Whoever-demolitions-expert-angel......: asshole&dead.
Vampire hunter: asshole&dead,
Vampire&dead
FBI Guy: turns out not to be such an asshole, has about ten seconds to enjoy it before he's dead
At least the black women in supernatural get to not be evil, because with those male counterparts it'd be understandable if the Winchesters joined the Ku Klux Klan.
So, my conclussions are:
Supernatural hates everybody, in this particular order:
black male Black Female ~ White female white male
Oh, I forgot: Supernatural hates Norwegians and Eastern-Europeans the most, they don't even get to be extras without being invoking something evil
09/10/09
09/10/09
I can see how this show really has those problems they mention, but it's just hard for me to expect it to take anything seriously, even with all its angst.
The show also hates the Winchesters, every Winchester in the show loses his mother, father, all of his friends except for one, sells his soul and dies at least an ocasion, one of them is actually in hell, the other is the usher of the apocalypse, and despite not having anyone except for each other and Bobby* hate each other's guts.
*If my memory doesn't fail, Bobby had to kill his family because they were posessed or something like that.
09/10/09
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09/10/09
The True Blood TV series made some changes to correct that (making Tara black). Then, right after they spared the gay guy from his standard off-killing... They put the only black male principal cast member (Eggs doesn't count) IN CHAINS for 3 episodes. WTF?
To be fair, this is a problem with all media. I mean, how many hospitals in America have any shortage of Asians or Indians on staff? Pretty much just the ones on TV.
09/10/09
09/10/09
How true. If we are going to accurately reflect today's society on television, then I hereby demand that half of the "pretty" actors on every television show be replaced by people with bad hair, bad teeth, bad breath, no fashion sense, and are at least 42 lbs overweight.
I think 90210 would be a lot more realistic if half the cast was so fugly that nobody'd WANT to jump them.
The hot female pilots on the recently ended BSG should be retconned by angry lesbians who have more facial hair than the men.
And the good-looking, well muscled cops on every crime drama should be replaced with overweight, middle-aged, balding men with an affinity for donuts and pizza.
Because, after all, that's "reality", right?
09/10/09
Despite your rampant stereotyping, you do bring up a good point in that BSG lacked a LGBT presence. Gaeta was too little, too late. Still, they had a fairly diverse cast (Main and secondary characters included black, Asian, Latino, First Nations, and some racially ambiguous people), they directly addressed xenophobia, and their gender dynamics tended to be awesome, so I cut them a little slack.
09/14/09
09/10/09
With all the things wrong with prime-time television right now, we're supposed to lend credence to someone who feels bummed there aren't enough black guys on her favorite TV show?
Come on... we've got a lot of other things to complain about; start with the big stuff: like how TV and movies are pushing sex, bad language, bad morals, and violence. How about the fact that I can't watch prime time television with my 1st grade daughter because every single show is going to have stuff in it she's not ready to face? I can't even let her watch half of my favorite movies because I don't want her thinking that screaming "F*CK YOU @$$HOLE" is an acceptable method of conflict resolution.
I'm just frustrated that while there ARE huge problems in Hollywood, it comes down to something as trivial as skin color.
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It wasn't that long ago that all villains were white and men.
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09/10/09
But yes, it is possible to go for days without seeing a single black person around, except maybe as another driver on the highway.
Maybe it's a cultural thing, I don't know, but if you stay out of the bigger towns, like Wichita or Kansas City, you're less likely to see black people. Most of the farmers and small-town people I've met have been white.
It may be different elsewhere, and, hell, the show might not actually take place in Kansas (wiki only said the license plates were from Kansas and the boys were supposed to be from Lawrence, and as I don't watch the show, I wouldn't really know), but, yeah, a lack of black people isn't exactly uncommon, and shouldn't be a source of outrage.
Generally, from what I've seen, the black community here is fairly insular; I remember my law professor expressing his frustration with his family for viewing him as some kind of race traitor, taking a job as a professor at a school where there had been no black professors previously (plenty of adjuncts and staff, but no full-time professors). He said his problem with it was that he was the only one in his family who had even tried to graduate school, and indicated that there's a general desire among the black community to remain apart from all the white people, because they (some of them, at least) insist that white people are all racist (for instance, my school was supposedly racist because he was the first black guy hired; they were deliberately ignorant of the fact that he was one of the first blacks to apply for professorship there).
That's just one guy, so, I don't know. I certainly hope that it's different elsewhere.
Now, as for making every black man on the show an evil character, that's just wrong.
09/10/09
For reals? How can you stand being around only white people. That would drive me batty in less than a week.
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09/10/09
"Lisa, Suresh, and Tameka all work for Widget Corp..." and there's a glossy picture of a blonde lady, a white-collar Indian man, and a well-dressed black woman standing together smiling.
09/10/09
09/10/09
Are minorities under-represented in Supernatural? Probably. But let's avoid absolutes. "No good black men"? What about FBI Agent Victor Henricksen? There's a good, recurring character (albeit a foil for our heroes) who is black. Travis, a hunter, is black. True, he turned bad -- but who doesn't on this show? Face it, other than Sam and Dean, there aren't a lot of "good" people on this show.
The author states that the few black women on the show have not lasted more than one episode. So? The fact is, only Sam and Dean are irreplaceable. Anyone else -- white or black, man or woman -- is likely to die before the episode is over.
As for why this happens, I doubt it's in the script that the characters must be white. Sam and Dean travel a lot, and it's odd that they aren't visiting a more diverse cast of people.
Who's fault is that, though? Are casting directors actively recruiting only white casts? Are black actors failing to audition? Don't blame the show's creators unless you know for certain it's their fault.
09/10/09
You'd also know that the author singles out FBI Special Agent Victor Henriksen, and even laments his quick demise at the hands of Lilith (episode 03x12 Jus in Bello), bringing an end to any possible recurrence of the character in future episodes of the series. Like every other black character (good or bad) in the Supernatural universe, FBI Special Agent Victor Henriksen only lasted a minute handful of episodes (in this case only three), before being snuffed out for good.
Maybe instead of just reading the short excerpt that IO9 was so kind enough to re-post above, you (and many others commenting on this thread), should take out the time to read the entire, original post, and then base your snap judgments on that. That way, even if you disagree with the writer, then at least you won't make yourself look foolish in the process.
Here is a link, just in case you did not get the original link provided in the article above: [ow.ly]
09/10/09
You are correct, I only read the excerpt. And my comment about FBI Agent Henricksen was actually aimed at poster GayRobotsRUS below (and I should have replied to him rather than starting a new thread).
I would also like to thank you for getting so upset over my breach of etiquette that you failed in any way to address the point of my post. Namely, that we who don't work for the show don't know why these casting choices (if they are choices at all) are made.
Perhaps instead of being such a pompous jerk, you should take a moment to reconsider your "snap judgments" about the poster.
09/10/09
09/10/09
Also, for the show to have so few women of color in the last three seasons is extreme. It's not a matter of specifically casting diverse actors - this show has white-washed the midwest and the south. I know they film in Vancouver, but to say that there are no extras of color in Canada? I call bullshit.
I'm a fan of the show, a huge fan, but the way the show portrays race in general and black men in particular is shameful.
09/10/09