"Heterosexuals have lives, the rest of us have lifestyles."

[gardendoor]

I don't know why this is suddenly bugging me, but it really irritates me when shows have only one character of a particular type: one woman, one non-white, etc. I feel like the fact that they're not a white male becomes their defining characteristic, whereas the various white males are allowed a whole range of histories and personalities. Alias

Comments

[ginalin]

It's a tiny bit better than it was, but mother or whore, good girl, bad girl is still the most recognizable female stereotype in TV or on film

[gardendoor]

Still, for those of us ready for that to happen now, disappointing.

Definitely. It's like we get these little tastes, just enough to remind us we're starving...

[ginalin]

Well, from a literary standpoint, it's kind of understandable. Writing has always had it's stereotypical roles that have that Instant Recognition factor that the public seems to want to some degree.

The Hero, the Damsel in Distress, the Villain, the Ingenue/Virgin, the Seductress/Villain, etc.

But, I do think that when you find something new and innovative to do with those roles, or invent a twist on them, or a new one, it's the sign of more thoughtful and intelligent writing.

One of things that is so great about(good) fanfiction is that hopefully, you're much freer to break the stereotypes and go outside the rules in a good way, to write things you CAN'T get on TV or in the movies much if at all.

But, still some people must still want their entertainment "comfort food" the same ol, same ol, or it wouldn't get watched and read so much.

[gardendoor]

But, I do think that when you find something new and innovative to do with those roles, or invent a twist on them, or a new one, it's the sign of more thoughtful and intelligent writing.

Absolutely. And it's one thing to draw on an archetype when you want to evoke that kind of power, it's another to grab a cliche because you can't put yourself in someone else's shoes.

And if you can't put yourself in someone else's shoes, why did you go into writing in the first place?

[ninasis]

That's one of the things I like best about CSI. Warrick isn't the "token black" character. Catherine and Sarah don't ever talk about PMS or their menstrual cycles. I don't know anyone these days who lives inside a cultural bubble. You work with, are friends with, shop with, live with people from all walks of life. And I don't know about anyone else, but when I see my best friend, I don't think to myself, "Here comes my Mexican friend!"

I think to a large degree, it is bad writing by white men. But they might also be writing based on what they've seen on TV themselves. So they might be, however unconsciously, following some type of TV formula?

[gardendoor]

I think to a large degree, it is bad writing by white men. But they might also be writing based on what they've seen on TV themselves. So they might be, however unconsciously, following some type of TV formula?

That's a very interesting point, I hadn't thought of that. It's true that there are groups that try and make sure each network has a certain 'quota' of minorities on their shows, so writers might be told by the studios, "Put some black characters in," which they might interpret as characters who aren't just cast as black actors, but who are written as 'black'.

I should check out CSI, though, you're making me curious.

[briarwood]

The word is "privilege". If you're a white, heterosexual male the media world revolves around you. You have the luxury of not noticing how everyone else is marginalised.

What is striking about the writers and producers of these shows: they are nearly always white, heterosexual males.

It's one of the reasons I love Sentinel: the ethnic mix of the characters without (usually) race being a big deal.

I think you're being a little unfair to Highlander - nearly all of the immortal-of-the-week characters were cliches, not just the non-whites. Just, you know, different cliches. Carl Robinson...well, given what he'd been through it makes sense he'd be hung up on the race thing: the way a survivor of domestic violence child abuse never fully moves on from it. And as for the women in HL, one word: Rebecca.

when you belong to a marginalized group, you're forced to display yourself through that lens all the time: you're a gay person defined by your sexuality*nods

[gardendoor]

Yeah, Rebecca really was the exception to the rule, and wow, did she ever blow me away. But Carl Robinson proves my point. Yes, he was a slave, and of course that's going to dominate his personality because everyone's first life seems to dominate in that way. But that show had a character who was a telepath, another who had spent the last eighty years as an assassain and master of disguise, a pretty girl rebelling against her parents, a magician unwilling to give up the first trick that really set him apart. Why couldn't any of them have been black? Or hispanic? There was nothing in their stories that was inherantly white.

But yeah, I think the fact that the writers are mostly white men means they don't know how to tell someone else's story from the inside, and maybe they're just afraid of getting it wrong, or maybe this is all they see.

FCA? What's that? Sorry you got flamed, though.