I'm a big fan of TV. I've watched more than my healthy share of it, and most of my friends will probably agree that I should probably consider deleting the Netflix app from my phone. Behind those hours and hours of screen time, however, I've learned things about society that aren't always obvious to us in our everyday lives.
As someone born and raised in Troy, I've certainly had a different experience than a lot of other kids my age across the nation. Anyone you talk to in Troy can tell you that the racial composition of our city is drastically different than that of other cities. I"ve grown up around people who look like me, and I've taken that for granted over the years. Growing up, I never really thought of myself as a minority, and I'm sure that other people from Troy High who would be considered "minorities" elsewhere in the U.S. could tell you the same story.
Back to how TV plays into this:
TV really was my first exposure and my first wake up of just how different life outside of Troy is. Although TV has certainly changed over the years, the majority of shows I've watched feature the epitome of the "typical" American: white, abled, straight, Christian men from nuclear families. While discussion over the validity of this casting is a very, very controversial discussion for another day, the most obvious problem with casting is not the proportion of minorities displayed on screen, but rather how they are portrayed.
In her short essay "Disability," Nancy Mairs reflects on the representation of disabled people in mainstream media, which leads her to conclude that the only representation she has seen has been disabled people reduced to their disability. In other words, these people do not exist without being disabled. Mairs conclusion can be generalized to most minorities; media often simplifies minority characters and stereotypes them for comedic relief.
A little over a year ago, I remember watching the Golden Globes and seeing Sandra Oh's speech on being an Asian-American actress in today's age. Her indirect criticism of the film industry took me by surprise, and since then, I've been more consciously aware of how minorities are portrayed in media.
On a side note: if you ask people to describe Sandra Oh, chances are they'll respond with "oh, that one Asian lady on Grey's Anatomy."
Subtle — and not so subtle — stereotypes are intertwined with the lines these actors read, and I think I've watched TV for so long (not exactly my healthiest habit) that I've become accustomed to this style and portrayal of minorities. Looking closer at some of America's "favorite" minority characters, it's easy to see the validity in Mairs's argument.
The Angry Black Woman, the Promiscuous and Dumb Gay Best Friend, the Awkward School-Obsessed Asian, and the more general Random "Ethnic" Friend That Somehow Proves The Main Character Is Open-Minded And Isn't Racist But Might Also Be There To Ease The Creators' Dirty Consciences are simply token characters thrown into TV to include "diversity" in these shows, but little effort is made in character development. Instead, these characters reinforce stereotypes and discount the multidimensionality of such minorities in real life. These characters simply are what makes them minorities.
While some kids — like those in Troy — frequently have interactions with many of these minorities and can thus testify to the falsity of these stereotypes, other kids grow up with these cliché characters serving as their only contact with these minorities. It's easy to see how assumptions can be based off of characters that directors might use for comedic effect and not much else.
Sure, certain people in these minorities may fit parts of these stereotypes. I am someone who tries hard to get good grades and take hard classes, but I doubt this habit of mine is directly correlated to my "Asianness," and I certainly am not "school-obsessed." Above all, my academic involvement is not the only feature of my character; I love going out to eat with my friends, watch a little too much TV, laugh and talk a little obnoxiously, and keep my computer's desktop a lot cleaner than my physical one.
Minority characters are representation. But they are wrongful portrayals of the real-life minorities that they attempt to display. TV is evolving to include minorities as more complex characters that better resemble those in the real world. As more and more of these progressive TV shows appear, I'll be sure to add them to my list of TV shows to watch.
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Beautifully written. I agree that portraying minority characters as one-dimensional does not help positively represent them in the media.
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