I find diversity in media to be overrated, and in some cases ruining what could be amazing shows / movies. please hear me out.
i love boys club type films, but it feels like there's rarely any boys clubs becuase they have to shoehorn in at least one woman. i LOVE black widow. but it would be really fun to see an avengers thats just dudes hanging out and kicking ass. and it just feels like i rarely ever see anything thats just a bunch of dudes hanging out.
there is something about pure masculinity that is really fun to watch.
but i feel the EXACT same way about girl power. PLL was ruined by boys (and the writers, sure, but also boys). a tale of 4 girls rediscovering their friendship and taking down an anonymous internet cyber stalker is amazing.but when they spend more time with thier boyfriends than with each other it makes me sad. the show was 90% scenes of them with their boyfriends and 8% with other people and 2% with each other at one point. there were entire episodes where the girls only saw each other in hannah's kitchen in the morning and spencers bedroom at the end of the episode... and that'd be it.
Pitch perfect is an amazing example of pure feminimity. It's all about girls struggling to beat the boys and learning and growing from each other. the romance exists but is underpalyed and by the time the sequel came out the main romance was entirely irrelevant.
as far as racial diversity goes, id appreciate a little more purity as well where its relevant. I honestly dont think I've ever seen a show that was all asians that wasn't produced in asia.
most TV shows starring almost exclusively black people tend to be family oriented when there is clear potential outside of that. OITNB for example. Taystee and her crew held down season 2 single handedly and left me begging for more. With piper rumored to be leaving i really wish they'd just make it the taystee show and just let everyone else orbit her and her posse's team
in a show like 'how to get away with murder' the diversity is organic, natural, beautiful. but when other shows create a predominantly white cast and then tack on a minority, or balance it out so its every single minority, it tends to fall flat. OITNB also comes to mind as a show that (while i think it wuold be more powerful focusing on taystee and her friends) manages to handle diversity really well.
organic diversity is a great thing and its lead to amazing dynamics like in 'new girl' and 'misfits' and 'how i met your mother'. but when its become necessary to make every single piece diverse, it gets in the way of some really great story telling.
the worst scenario is when they tack on an extra character just to add in a minority or female. if you isnist on diversity, than just cast an existing role as a minority or change him to a female, that way its real and organic.
i had a friend who had an amazing story, one that starred almost exclusively african americans, but she tacked on a skinny white female... as the main character. and it didn't need to be. it wasn't even desuburbanization.
TL;DR i love diverse programming, but dont think that every show should be forcing bad diversity into the programs individually.
i really hope i explained this right.
*when life gives you lemons*
Sara: are you a sour lemon?
*when life gives you lemons*
Sara: are you a sour lemon?
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White_Kingsley
8 years ago
I get what you're saying. Diversity in Hollywood really isn't diversity. It all seems disingenuous. I personally believe it's that way because the people who still write, produce, direct, and have the power and control are all or mostly straight white males and they only add a woman, or a black person or two in their productions to meet a quota so they won't be considered sexist or racist.
That's my own opinion. Until the people behind the scenes become more inclusive, then all the stuff they put out while seem fake.
Peace, Love, and Soul
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bobcat667
8 years ago
i dont disagree, but i know it snot entirely true.
definitely true on the white side i can gurantee that, and definitely on the male side, but there is a large large large large number of gays in producer/writer/director (though less in director) roles than you'd think. probably why gays are being shoe horned into everything these days as well.
but yeah, diversity is being used as a quota and it gets old fast.
How To Get Away with Murder is a great example of organic diversity as is OITNB.
but then you get shows like scrubs that reduces its characters to their race within the first five seconds of meeting them. Turk becoems a much more balanced character as the series progresses but in the pilot the literal first conversation hes shown having is him saying 'be whiter!' and then commenting on whether or not soemone can say *beep*
*when life gives you lemons*
Sara: are you a sour lemon?
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White_Kingsley
8 years ago
Oh I agree, I know there are a lot more gays in Hollywood now then there's ever been but they still are white and male. And they can only seem to write from that perspective when they do have characters of color on the show.
How To Get Away works so well with 'diversity' because they have Shonda Rimes as a major producer behind the scenes and other people of color. She knows how to write from people of color as human beings and not just reduced down to the color of their skin, with awful stereotypical gimmicks, for lack of a better word.
Ryan Murphy is a good example of a powerful gay man in Hollywood who can't write women well or people of color well...as evident by his many shows. He also has issues with continuity but that's a story for another time.
I have mixed feelings about OITNB so I will leave that alone.
I really don't like the word diversity anyway. It gets thrown around too much and what we're seeing in Hollywood is not really diverse at all. In front the camera or behind it. A prime example of this is Matt Damon, whom doesn't seem to understand that having diversity behind the camera is just as important, if not more important than having it in front the camera. But that also lends me to asking is having a majority white cast, with one black person and two asian people diverse? Is that really diversity or is that quota filling.
Peace, Love, and Soul
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bobcat667
8 years ago
my friend and I are working on a bit of an experiment where were writing a web series without any thought to race. just the typical people in their typical problems, majority male, female love interests.
then what we want to do is hold an open casting call with every race and gender ( especially trans ) are able to come in and audition for each role, and see how that goes. i like the idea of seeing characters deal with the kidn of regular problems a writer would come up with before thining of race or sexuality or anything like that. especially for Trans cuz i feel like all their limited plots have been about being trans.
and if two females or two dudes or trans people get cast into the roles that were coupling up in the show, then that would effect their orientations as they play out.
*when life gives you lemons*
Sara: are you a sour lemon?
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White_Kingsley
8 years ago
I hope you and your friend are successful. I think this is the type of process it should be. Staying true to the characters that are created and whoever auditions for them will be suited, no matter, race, sexuality, or gender.
I think that's a very organic and fluid way of creating.
Peace, Love, and Soul
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bobcat667
8 years ago
it'll be fun to say the elast, and its gotten into my mind that im considering it before casting in other mediums.
theres one show im working on about super heroes, and i had this established dynamic of two dudes and a chick and now im like 'maybe the chicks a dude and the other dudes a homo'. well see how it pans out.
i can understand why people have certain ideas in mind as far as gender go, but there is a LOT that could be flipped around. i mean just switching one of the liars to a dude wouldn't be so fun imo, or just taking a boys club kinda movie and adding a girl bums me out, but there are a LOT of instances where switching a gender would be great.
kinda like in the recent film arrival. the role was so neutral that a man or a woman could have handled the role and it makes me curious how it would look if it was switched around.
*when life gives you lemons*
Sara: are you a sour lemon?
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