Black and White TV
Television and popular culture have come a long way since the days of black and white news shows. It has become a form of entertainment. Through TV shows and films, screens turned into a medium of art. There is no doubt that in the early ages, the film industry was only open to the privileged, and in North America, that meant white people. To this day, TV is still dominated by white culture, and it continues to perpetuate white supremacy by skewing reality to suit its demographics.
Hollywood has the most influence in the film industry. As it is American and profit comes from appealing to the largest audience group, it 's no wonder TV is vastly targeted towards Caucasians. Nobody can blame them for making 87% Caucasian characters, …show more content…
In a like manner, Middle Eastern actors are typecast as terrorists, giving them the dilemma between perpetuating harmful stereotypes and stumping their career. Why must actors of colour be limited to dehumanizing roles while we call it "representation"? Viola Davis spoke out for the marginalized minority as she made history in 2015 by becoming the first African American to win Best Actress at the Emmy Awards. She said, "You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there." Frankly, no matter how skilled an actor is, they cannot receive recognition for supporting roles limited by racial profiles. For this reason, it 's strikingly more difficult for actors of colour to succeed in the film industry. Out of the 99 Emmy nominees this year, only 19 were PoC. As for Oscar nominees, all of this year 's nominees were Caucasian. In 2012, only 6% of their memberships were PoC. Take a look at the highest paid actors in 2015 according to Forbes: 10 of the top 35 are PoC, and that 's counting 5 of who has never starred in an English film. As for actresses, only 1 of the top 18 is a PoC, and she 's not a Hollywood star either. …show more content…
Many feel threatened by the increasing number of PoC characters. They see no reason for shows to throw them in other than for the sake of diversity. Now is a good time to point out that PoC exist in real life too. However, existing characters can be challenging for producers to deal with. For many people, book characters give off a certain image that they "see" them with as they read the series. Many The Hunger Games fans imagined Rue as Italian, or another ethnicity that has olive skin, because that 's what everyone assumed Collins meant when she wrote "dark skin". When the movie came out, people were outraged by her African American cast. They unleashed their fury onto Twitter with very particular word choices and expressed that "when I found out Rue was black her death wasn 't as sad". There are, however, fictional characters who are explicitly Caucasian in their origins and had a coloured cast for the big screen. Recently, in superhero movies, Spiderman received this treatment. The dedicated and angered fans probably forgot there 's an African American Spidey in the comics. As for Gamora, a Guardian of the Galaxy and a favourite for many, Twitter blew up from her inaccurate casting with a black actress. Unfortunately, it 's extremely difficult to find an accurate cast for an alien with green skin. These defenders of fictional origins did manage to prevent an African American Bond. Of course, their reasons weren 't anything racist. It was
Television and popular culture have come a long way since the days of black and white news shows. It has become a form of entertainment. Through TV shows and films, screens turned into a medium of art. There is no doubt that in the early ages, the film industry was only open to the privileged, and in North America, that meant white people. To this day, TV is still dominated by white culture, and it continues to perpetuate white supremacy by skewing reality to suit its demographics.
Hollywood has the most influence in the film industry. As it is American and profit comes from appealing to the largest audience group, it 's no wonder TV is vastly targeted towards Caucasians. Nobody can blame them for making 87% Caucasian characters, …show more content…
In a like manner, Middle Eastern actors are typecast as terrorists, giving them the dilemma between perpetuating harmful stereotypes and stumping their career. Why must actors of colour be limited to dehumanizing roles while we call it "representation"? Viola Davis spoke out for the marginalized minority as she made history in 2015 by becoming the first African American to win Best Actress at the Emmy Awards. She said, "You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there." Frankly, no matter how skilled an actor is, they cannot receive recognition for supporting roles limited by racial profiles. For this reason, it 's strikingly more difficult for actors of colour to succeed in the film industry. Out of the 99 Emmy nominees this year, only 19 were PoC. As for Oscar nominees, all of this year 's nominees were Caucasian. In 2012, only 6% of their memberships were PoC. Take a look at the highest paid actors in 2015 according to Forbes: 10 of the top 35 are PoC, and that 's counting 5 of who has never starred in an English film. As for actresses, only 1 of the top 18 is a PoC, and she 's not a Hollywood star either. …show more content…
Many feel threatened by the increasing number of PoC characters. They see no reason for shows to throw them in other than for the sake of diversity. Now is a good time to point out that PoC exist in real life too. However, existing characters can be challenging for producers to deal with. For many people, book characters give off a certain image that they "see" them with as they read the series. Many The Hunger Games fans imagined Rue as Italian, or another ethnicity that has olive skin, because that 's what everyone assumed Collins meant when she wrote "dark skin". When the movie came out, people were outraged by her African American cast. They unleashed their fury onto Twitter with very particular word choices and expressed that "when I found out Rue was black her death wasn 't as sad". There are, however, fictional characters who are explicitly Caucasian in their origins and had a coloured cast for the big screen. Recently, in superhero movies, Spiderman received this treatment. The dedicated and angered fans probably forgot there 's an African American Spidey in the comics. As for Gamora, a Guardian of the Galaxy and a favourite for many, Twitter blew up from her inaccurate casting with a black actress. Unfortunately, it 's extremely difficult to find an accurate cast for an alien with green skin. These defenders of fictional origins did manage to prevent an African American Bond. Of course, their reasons weren 't anything racist. It was