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shadowkatBe seeing lots of posts on lj about racism and sexism in television casting and storytelling plots lately. So I got curious and wondered if anyone had done an objective analysis. Searched the net and found the following articles, sites and data regarding the topic. Demonstrating several things I more or less already knew - the world is made incredibly small by the internet, the US is not the only country who has difficulty with this issue (unfortunately), and we are actually doing much better than we did a few years ago - sort of two steps forward and two steps back then two steps forward again. I'm beginning to think that's life in general - an absurd version of the Texas Two-Step.
Case in point:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired in 1997. At that time, if you read some of the links below or just scan them like I did, you'll realize that the networks were under the misbegotten belief that placing minorities in lead roles was bad for business. The NAACP got pissed and took them to task over this around 1999-2000. There were of course a couple of exceptions - but they weren't young teen shows. The exceptions were ER, Homicide Life on the Streets, the situation comedies on UPN, and the cast of Star Trek Voyager. DS9 was also an exception, but I think almost off the air at that point. Star Trek unlike most genre television, was actually pretty good with minority casting. Gene Roddenberry sort of broke the barrier wall in that regard in the 1960s with the original Trek - airing tales about racism on his show. But most TV shows contained white casts - such as Friends and Sex in the City, which if you live in NYC, you'll realize how unrealistic these shows are. This did not really change until around 2000, when the NAACP and SAG screamed at the US TV networks over it. SAG began to tabulate the number of female and minority roles in TV , Film and Theater in 1993 - releasing reports on the status, every couple of years, their data backed up the NAACP's claims.
Veronica Mars started after Buffy finished its run, in the fall of 2003, hailed by many fans as the new, albeit more racially diverse, Buffy. At the time Veronica aired, another backlash had occurred - the number of female roles and how women were being depicted was brought into question - articles littered the NY Times - blasting shows such as Boston Legal, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, and several quickly cancelled procedurals, as well as Veronica Mars for their lacklustre treatment of women. David E. Kelly got the message and added Candace Bergen to his cast. Supernatural hiding on the CW, then WB, got little fanfair. BattleStar Galatica was raved about as was Desperate Housewives. Grey's Anatomy starting mid-season, surprised everyone by doing much better than Boston Legal. Women, networks discovered, were a key demographic they could not ignore. Just as minorities were.
If you compare the casts of Veronica Mars to Buffy, you'll notice a couple of interesting factors.
Veronica, which began on UPN, which was targeting African Americans, had more men and less women in its lead cast over the three years it aired. It also had more minorities. The male best-bud - was African American, the biker guy, Hispanic. The Cordelia chick - African-American.
Buffy, which began on WB and was targeting a teen white female and male audience - had less men, but few minorities. In fact, you rarely saw any until around 1998 - or Season 3 of the series. Trick - was introduced around that period as a recurring character.By Season 4 - 1998-1999, we had Riley's friend and Gunn introduced in 1999 on Angel. In 2000...before Buffy moved to UPN, there's barely a minority in sight. When Buffy eventually moves to UPN, she stands out a bit like a sore thumb. If you check out UPN's shows during that period - almost all of them with the possible exception of Buffy and one other tv series, had minority casts. The Jamie Fox Show preceeded Buffy. At the same time, the NAACP and SAG were telling the networks that they had to cast more minorities. 2002-2003 rolls along and we start to see the recurring roles filled by minority cast members - including Iyari as Kennedy, Rhona, Wood, Nikki Wood as the First, several of the slayers, and an African American Pop singer who plays a demon that takes an interest in Xander. Buffy premiered towards the end of the 1990s, a period that had few television series with minorities, and in which the networks and advertisers were ignoring the minority demographic. If you look at the young adult and teen shows during that period, which included Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, 90210, Melrose Place, Friends, Seinfeild, Will and Grace... you'll notice that there were few minorities in them. Prior to this period we had Doogie Howser, Square Pegs, and the Wonder Years - which were also minority free or close to it.
In the 21st Century - The higher rated series - are ones that have minorities and women in their casts now. House, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, even BSG which is getting higher ratings on cable. In demographic studies - more African Americans, Women, and Hispanics were found to watch television than Caucasions, and men. Interesting. This may or may not have an effect on the change.
I thought about doing a statistical analysis of genre tv shows, to see how many women and minorities each cast, but I don't the time or energy. Curious to know if anyone else has attempted it - just to see the numbers. The one's I'm most interested in seeing are:
Buffy
Angel
Supernatural
Star Trek the Next Generation
Battle Star Galatica
Firefly
Smallville
Doctor Who
In the non-genre series category -
The West Wing (which I know was too lily white when it began and got loads of criticism, it was one of the shows attacked in the 90s for not having a diverse cast)
Grey's Anatomy
ER
Chicago Hope
CSI
I'd also love to see a demographic analysis of those series. How many whites, blacks, hispanics, asians, women, and men watch and what age groups.
Anywho, for those who are interested here's the links I found worth looking at regarding the representation of minorities and women in television roles from 1973-2007. I could not find any data for 2008. These also serve as my endnotes or references for the points I made above.
Stung by Criticism In 1999 Networks Start to Add Minorities to TV Shows - The West Wing is Singled Out"
The Numbers Game - 1994
Minorities and the Media- Little Ownership and Even Less Control
Anything But Racism: Media Make Excuses for White Washed Line-up - 2000
Census 2006 - Shows Changes in TV and Interactive Media Sectors (UK-2006, British Broadcasting employment stats)
Recognition & Respect: a Content Analysis of Primetime Characters across three decades
Gender and Television - how women are depicted on TV - goes up to 90s
Casting the American Scene - a Look at Characters on PrimeTime and Daytime Television From 1994-1997 - Fairness & Diversity in Television: Update and Trends since the 1993 Screen Actors Guild Report on Women and Minorities on TV
Canadian Law regarding Sex-Role Portrayal Code in Radio and Television Broadcasting"
Media Watch - Associations around the world dedicated to monitoring how women are portrayed on TV and how to correct it"
"Stastical Report on Women's Roles on TV"
Media Awareness Reports - Stats on Minorities on TV from 1993-1994
Representation of Women in TV Writing and Film Writing Sectors
Statistics of Women and Minority Representation on UK TV Shows"
Ethnic and Visible Minorities in Entertainment Media
SAG Reports Roles for Minorities and Women Increasing since 2005
SAG Casting Statistic Reports up to 2006
PDF of SCREEN ACTORS GUILD DIVERSITY CASTING REPORT, Including Stats for 2006
Case in point:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired in 1997. At that time, if you read some of the links below or just scan them like I did, you'll realize that the networks were under the misbegotten belief that placing minorities in lead roles was bad for business. The NAACP got pissed and took them to task over this around 1999-2000. There were of course a couple of exceptions - but they weren't young teen shows. The exceptions were ER, Homicide Life on the Streets, the situation comedies on UPN, and the cast of Star Trek Voyager. DS9 was also an exception, but I think almost off the air at that point. Star Trek unlike most genre television, was actually pretty good with minority casting. Gene Roddenberry sort of broke the barrier wall in that regard in the 1960s with the original Trek - airing tales about racism on his show. But most TV shows contained white casts - such as Friends and Sex in the City, which if you live in NYC, you'll realize how unrealistic these shows are. This did not really change until around 2000, when the NAACP and SAG screamed at the US TV networks over it. SAG began to tabulate the number of female and minority roles in TV , Film and Theater in 1993 - releasing reports on the status, every couple of years, their data backed up the NAACP's claims.
Veronica Mars started after Buffy finished its run, in the fall of 2003, hailed by many fans as the new, albeit more racially diverse, Buffy. At the time Veronica aired, another backlash had occurred - the number of female roles and how women were being depicted was brought into question - articles littered the NY Times - blasting shows such as Boston Legal, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, and several quickly cancelled procedurals, as well as Veronica Mars for their lacklustre treatment of women. David E. Kelly got the message and added Candace Bergen to his cast. Supernatural hiding on the CW, then WB, got little fanfair. BattleStar Galatica was raved about as was Desperate Housewives. Grey's Anatomy starting mid-season, surprised everyone by doing much better than Boston Legal. Women, networks discovered, were a key demographic they could not ignore. Just as minorities were.
If you compare the casts of Veronica Mars to Buffy, you'll notice a couple of interesting factors.
Veronica, which began on UPN, which was targeting African Americans, had more men and less women in its lead cast over the three years it aired. It also had more minorities. The male best-bud - was African American, the biker guy, Hispanic. The Cordelia chick - African-American.
Buffy, which began on WB and was targeting a teen white female and male audience - had less men, but few minorities. In fact, you rarely saw any until around 1998 - or Season 3 of the series. Trick - was introduced around that period as a recurring character.By Season 4 - 1998-1999, we had Riley's friend and Gunn introduced in 1999 on Angel. In 2000...before Buffy moved to UPN, there's barely a minority in sight. When Buffy eventually moves to UPN, she stands out a bit like a sore thumb. If you check out UPN's shows during that period - almost all of them with the possible exception of Buffy and one other tv series, had minority casts. The Jamie Fox Show preceeded Buffy. At the same time, the NAACP and SAG were telling the networks that they had to cast more minorities. 2002-2003 rolls along and we start to see the recurring roles filled by minority cast members - including Iyari as Kennedy, Rhona, Wood, Nikki Wood as the First, several of the slayers, and an African American Pop singer who plays a demon that takes an interest in Xander. Buffy premiered towards the end of the 1990s, a period that had few television series with minorities, and in which the networks and advertisers were ignoring the minority demographic. If you look at the young adult and teen shows during that period, which included Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls, 90210, Melrose Place, Friends, Seinfeild, Will and Grace... you'll notice that there were few minorities in them. Prior to this period we had Doogie Howser, Square Pegs, and the Wonder Years - which were also minority free or close to it.
In the 21st Century - The higher rated series - are ones that have minorities and women in their casts now. House, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, even BSG which is getting higher ratings on cable. In demographic studies - more African Americans, Women, and Hispanics were found to watch television than Caucasions, and men. Interesting. This may or may not have an effect on the change.
I thought about doing a statistical analysis of genre tv shows, to see how many women and minorities each cast, but I don't the time or energy. Curious to know if anyone else has attempted it - just to see the numbers. The one's I'm most interested in seeing are:
Buffy
Angel
Supernatural
Star Trek the Next Generation
Battle Star Galatica
Firefly
Smallville
Doctor Who
In the non-genre series category -
The West Wing (which I know was too lily white when it began and got loads of criticism, it was one of the shows attacked in the 90s for not having a diverse cast)
Grey's Anatomy
ER
Chicago Hope
CSI
I'd also love to see a demographic analysis of those series. How many whites, blacks, hispanics, asians, women, and men watch and what age groups.
Anywho, for those who are interested here's the links I found worth looking at regarding the representation of minorities and women in television roles from 1973-2007. I could not find any data for 2008. These also serve as my endnotes or references for the points I made above.
Stung by Criticism In 1999 Networks Start to Add Minorities to TV Shows - The West Wing is Singled Out"
The Numbers Game - 1994
Minorities and the Media- Little Ownership and Even Less Control
Anything But Racism: Media Make Excuses for White Washed Line-up - 2000
Census 2006 - Shows Changes in TV and Interactive Media Sectors (UK-2006, British Broadcasting employment stats)
Recognition & Respect: a Content Analysis of Primetime Characters across three decades
Gender and Television - how women are depicted on TV - goes up to 90s
Casting the American Scene - a Look at Characters on PrimeTime and Daytime Television From 1994-1997 - Fairness & Diversity in Television: Update and Trends since the 1993 Screen Actors Guild Report on Women and Minorities on TV
Canadian Law regarding Sex-Role Portrayal Code in Radio and Television Broadcasting"
Media Watch - Associations around the world dedicated to monitoring how women are portrayed on TV and how to correct it"
"Stastical Report on Women's Roles on TV"
Media Awareness Reports - Stats on Minorities on TV from 1993-1994
Representation of Women in TV Writing and Film Writing Sectors
Statistics of Women and Minority Representation on UK TV Shows"
Ethnic and Visible Minorities in Entertainment Media
SAG Reports Roles for Minorities and Women Increasing since 2005
SAG Casting Statistic Reports up to 2006
PDF of SCREEN ACTORS GUILD DIVERSITY CASTING REPORT, Including Stats for 2006
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-25 05:53 am (UTC)on an off shoot topic (I hope you'll forgive me for branching off topic into something that has bothered me), I've always been very much disturbed by the 'magical Black man': the character who has no life of his own but is only there to be provide aide to the white star of the show:
Driving Miss Daisy
The Green Mile
http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/inventory_13_movies_featuring/2
http://www.blackcommentator.com/49/49_magic.html
The Legend of Bagger Vance
Matrix
I was kind of put-off that one of my favorite new TV shows "Samantha Who" had seemingly decided to go that route (they could have just as easily made one of her best friends Black).
On Firefly we might have thought Book was in that role, except that we were definitely given to understand that he has a mysterious past, and of course Zoe had a rich full life of her own!
The LA Times did an article suggesting that many white voters see Obama as The Magic Negro:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-ehrenstein19mar19,0,5335087.story?coll=la-opinion-center
no subject
Date: 2008-05-25 02:17 pm (UTC)What Cosby had that a lot of films you listed above did not - was minority writers and producers. One of the major problems in Hollywood is who is in control. Most TV shows and films are written and produced and directed by white men. There's only a handful that have minorities at the helm. Grey's Anatomy is one of the few with a black woman writer. Buffy had female writers, but male head writers and producers - it was a show controlled by white men. Same deal with Lost,
BSG, Desperate Housewives, etc.
The current Presidential Election is fascinating in how it is depicting our prejudices in action. Sexism, Racism, and some might even say Agism (although I have difficulty buying that and think it's silly, I wouldn't vote for McCain if he were 35).
And if you look at our recent presidential history - the last two African Americans who ran for President where preachers. The Reverend AL Sharpton, and the Reverend Jesse Jackson. (I personally think it's the fact they were preachers and rabble rousers that turned most people off, not that they were black.) Obama is a normal politician. He reminds me a lot of Lincoln - based on his background. Down-to-earth, well educated, savvy, and smart. I'd have voted for him if her were white, purple, or female. And I think that's true for most people or at least the one's I've spoken to. I honestly don't think people see Obama the way the media seems to think we do.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-25 03:01 pm (UTC)Yes, I really agree! In fact I feel like all the cable news channels are actually spinning the facts in order to convince us that we think things that we don't! The LA Times article struck me as a very interesting POV, which arrested my attention last night at the time I was posting my reply (googling and looking at different results).
But, like you, I was looking for a candidate who would talk to the public as though we were adults, and who would inspire young voters to get involved (that is what I'm always looking for, it is what I admired in JFK and Bobby Kennedy... they had inspired me to memorize their speeches and get into politics when I was young). I had hoped that Hillary would be that candidate, but back in during the Iowa Primary it was clear who that candidate was:
http://embers-log.livejournal.com/180999.html
I could never support a Black candidate just because he is black (and I would never vote for any religious leader for any political office ever), and I wouldn't vote for a woman just because she is a woman (well, that isn't true: I've voted for unknown female names for judges just because I think we need more women on the bench!).
I think, getting back to your point about the Cosby Show, that most of the people in the US do look beyond race. On TV they want good stories, interesting characters, and jokes that are actually funny (and people recognized that Bill Cosby could deliver!), but we don't usually get even one or two of those things in most TV shows.
This election is giving us an opportunity to look at a lot of issues (ageism is something that feels trumped up to me, particularly now that the huge Baby Boomer group I'm in is now accepting that we ARE old), and I'm not sure any of them are what they appear to be:
no subject
Date: 2008-05-25 08:34 pm (UTC)I think the Cosby Show's popularity and success along with comics such as Richard Pryor, Chris Rock, not to mention movie stars like Will Smith, Denzel Washington, Sidney Poiter, and Samuel L. Jackson in colorblind roles, not to mention Oprah, and others are proof that most people don't care. The ones that do usually have an agenda or a chip on their shoulder. Most of us? Are colorblind.
We don't care what someone looks like, where they come from, or who they are as long as we can relate to them, learn from them, get something from them, and they don't hurt us.
Cosby appealed to so many people - because they could relate to him. They had kids with similar issues. They liked his brand of humor.
Obama appeals to so many people for much the same reasons - we can relate to him, we like what he says, and we think he can lead us in a more postive direction. We don't care what his name his, what his gender is, what his religion is, or for that matter what color his skin happens to be. Sure there's a few idiots out there who do care, but they are a vocal but rather diminishing minority.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-25 08:59 pm (UTC)Like I found 'The Namesake' to be full of universal meanings that spoke to me directly....
The Cosby show was an interesting family dynamic with two working parents and kids who were far from perfect, and seemed more real than Donna Reed or Leave it to Beaver....
But of course then Roseanne Barr came along with two parents trapped in jobs they hated and their kids were constantly in trouble.... and all of a sudden Cosby seemed too bland! LOL
There are people who really are prejudiced, but I don't believe they are enough to sway an election (I hope not).
no subject
Date: 2008-05-25 09:34 pm (UTC)Malcolm in the Middle and Everybody Hates Chris have one big thing in common - they are both about young boys struggling in low income working families, except Malcolm was fairly brilliant, and Chris struggles with academics. The expression however is different, in some ways I find myself identifying more with Everybody Hates Chris - but that's partly because like Chris, I struggled in school and struggled making friends, and was made fun of, I wasn't the smart-ass like Malcolm.
Buffy worked for me better than Dawsons or Popular, for much the same reasons - it featured a character and more importantly a storyline that resonated for me.
Cookie-cutter tv shows rarely do that. It's why copying a format that works doesn't always guarantee success. The copycats of Desperate Housewives and Lost this past year did not survive. Any more than the two copy-cats of Angel did - Moonlight (which I sort of liked) and New Amsterdam (also liked) but did not resonate in the same way as Angel.
Unlike Angel - they focused too much on immortality and the romance, and not enough on the mysteries and struggle to relate to others, the feeling of being an outsider. People could not relate to the romance/immortality as well as they could to being an outsider, so as a result Amsterdam and Moonlight got much smaller audiences.
Regarding the election...hee. "There are people who really are prejudiced but I don't believe they are enough to sway an election."
Well, if we believe the news media's poll interviews - they are all located in Kentucky and West Virgina, two states well know for their brilliant populations. (grins evilly).