In AS the past couple of days, the discussion has been primarily about TV Tokenism (mostly in Dramas on TV). We talked about how the main character of a series is usually a white person, while the supporting "buddy" character is usually played by an African-American. During the discussion, a student brought up a good point: What's worse? Having a "token" black person or no black characters at all? I knew that this would be a good blog post because since there is not one good answer, it would make a good discussion. In my opinion, I think that both options are both racist. Having an all white cast would discriminate against all other ethnicity, but having the "token" black character isn't much better. Having a token on a drama means it relates to more audiences, which means higher ratings, which leads to more money for the company airing the show. I really can't decide which is worse, but what do others think? In class we also talked about how shows advertise. Mostly, the white main character is front and center, most visible, and most important. The "token" is usually standing behind another character or is next to, but not as large, as the main character. I have included a picture of the TV show Scrubs, which shows Turk, the black surgeon, and his Latino wife, Carla, standing way off to the side of the mostly white cast. Also, look at what they are all wearing. White. Does that mean something? Why didn't they wear black? Networks use tactics like these everyday, but usually we, the audience, don't notice them. Does that make them OK?? Well, that's for you to decide.
2 comments:
As a die hard scrubs fan I was imediately intrigued when I saw this post. I watch about two episodes a day, so the moment we learned about tokenism I applied it to the show. Because it is a comedy, it doens't necessarily corrolate to Mr. Bolos' thesis. I think that the show almost makes fun of racists. In episodes it is not uncommon for Zach Braff to make a joke by asking Turk if he is alowd to listen to rap. I honestly think Scrubs is a show that celebrates diferences in race.Turk and Carla are both very complex characters, they both can poke fun at their races, while celebrating in at the same time. As far as them being on the far right goes, I think that may be somewhat attributed to the themes we talked about in class.
Madeline: first of all -- great music on this blog!!
Nice example from Scrubs. Adam is right, however, when he says it doesn't exactly qualify as a network drama, and the writers often skewer stereotypes.
However, I would agree with you more than Adam that this show may blur the lines between comedy and drama. Every show I recall does seem to have a rather "serious" moment plunked in the middle of it: not your typical sitcom. So imagine if Turk was the center of the show, and not JD?
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