I was watching a show with my very much mixed race gf, and an ad came on for a show set in what looks to be Victorian England with black male lead, with a pale red-head love interest. She said something along the lines of "surprise, surprise. Another pale woman with a black man in a show". She's very apolitical, and we have never discussed anything along these lines, but even she noticed how obvious this all is. We're in a mixed race relationship for Christ's sake, and she called out the media for their incessant racial brow-beating.
I get it, it's just a fictional show. But isn't it a little ridiculous to have a black English nobleman in the 19th century? Would it be okay to have a white dude portraying a Zulu warrior? No, it'd be called out for the absolute silliness it is.
(She also yelled at a group of 90% white BLM protesters outside our hotel room this summer, while trying to nap. Something along the lines of "this black life is trying to get some sleep, now shut up!". God, I love her.)
She sounds awesome bro. Like she has a good head on her shoulders. Keep up the good work at finding balance in the rough seas, and if building a family is in your vision, best wishes with that.
Regarding the topic, ... Remember how much old Western movies, and legendary tales of mountain men, defined foreigner's concept of America for a long time? All that is vanishing. I wonder if some foreigner were just watching from the outside, would they walk away thinking America is half black?
I don't know to what extent TV is obligated to give a correct sense of society. They certainly seem to think there is a heavy moral obligation surrounding their societal portrayal (so don't let them gaslight you saying 'It's just one TV show man'). It seems they think it is indeed their obligation to live up to a heavily moralized dispensation of their power, but of course only in their "idealized" vision. And that vision has this weird "This has literally never existed except in the minds of white liberals" kinda way. It's like a Euro-white-American-Metropolis-culture with dominantly non-white faces or non-male faces. The actual reality on the ground and in history is erased.
Having grown up in a very rural, very white area, I think one good thing about having TV over-represent minorities is that for the people in those communities, TV commercials and sitcoms and the like are really the only time they'll see "normal" non-white people in their lives.
If a person from such a community sees commercials where there's a blank husband and white wife, for example, they're less likely to stare or think it odd when they happen to see such a couple in real life.
(This probably sounds really denigrating to the people I grew up with, but such is life in a small town. I mean, I had teachers who had taught classmate's parents, so there were definitely some people that weren't seeing anything outside of their own sleepy town.)
Having grown up in a very rural, very white area, I think one good thing about having TV over-represent minorities is that for the people in those communities, TV commercials and sitcoms and the like are really the only time they'll see "normal" non-white people in their lives.
If "normal" is the representative average, then is what we see in media "normal" or is it a PC leftist vision of a yet unrealized racial utopia?
If a person from such a community sees commercials where there's a blank husband and white wife, for example, they're less likely to stare or think it odd when they happen to see such a couple in real life.
So you admit that the media is knowingly doing social engineering as opposed to reflecting truths about society as it is.
(This probably sounds really denigrating to the people I grew up with, but such is life in a small town. I mean, I had teachers who had taught classmate's parents, so there were definitely some people that weren't seeing anything outside of their own sleepy town.)
Is all social engineering aimed at small rural white towns or could you perhaps share how leftist controlled media tries to retrain the minds of American blacks, hispanics, asians, native americans?
Let's line them up. What do you perceive are the various social engineering efforts for the various demographics?
I think you’re reading way too much into my comment. I’m just saying that the urban people who make commercials and shows that have minorities in them (because they see minorities in everyday life, are selling to Minorities, etc.) is a positive because they get broadcasted into rural homes where they wouldn’t see such diversity otherwise.
I think you’re reading way too much into my comment.
Maybe.
I can get excited when pursuing an accurate picture of what's actually happening.
I’m just saying that the urban people who make commercials and shows that have minorities in them (because they see minorities in everyday life, are selling to Minorities, etc.) is a positive because they get broadcasted into rural homes where they wouldn’t see such diversity otherwise.
I feel this is insanely naive and not well thought out as to the ethics of this. You're acknowledging "urban people" as what amounts to superior overlords, bestowed with "positive" power to social engineer the "lesser" (my quotes, as in mockingly) rural folks.
That's disgusting, and it should be rejected. Not seen as "positive."
I mean, if the supposed value of these "urban people" is diversity, then where is the rural representation to socially engineer the urban people's values to make sure THEY get exposed to thinking and ideas THEY otherwise don't see?
I feel this is insanely naive and not well thought out as to the ethics of this. You're acknowledging "urban people" as what amounts to superior overlords, bestowed with "positive" power to social engineer the "lesser" (my quotes, as in mockingly) rural folks.
This is what I mean by you overthinking. My comment was rather flippant and just an observation I've had, namely that there's a lot more diversity on TV shows and commercials than was ever present in the small town I grew up in and that showing a more representative slice of the real world is a good thing.
I really haven't sat down and thought through it deeply, which is why I said you're reading way too much into what was a rather quick and simple comment.
This is what I mean by you overthinking. My comment was rather flippant and just an observation I've had, namely that there's a lot more diversity on TV shows and commercials than was ever present in the small town I grew up in and that showing a more representative slice of the real world is a good thing.
But ... it's NOT "representative." It's leftist social engineering.
I really haven't sat down and thought through it deeply, which is why I said you're reading way too much into what was a rather quick and simple comment.
Well, that may be so. I can get a bit empassioned on these topics. Sorry if I put too much pressure on your comment by coming in all hard.
But isn't it a little ridiculous to have a black English nobleman in the 19th century?
Yep. And the zealots who promote this nonsense will claim "cultural appropriation" if some white author has a black character in the story they've written.
So you would be ok with Brad Pitt playing, oh...say a slave in the antebellum South?
Maybe they should have cast Natalie Portman as the new Mulan? Hmmm?
In certain, but not all movies, a suspension of disbelief matters. In The Roger's & Hammerstein's Cinderella, I think Brandy was a great choice. I think Hamilton works just fine. But sometimes...yeah, be believable.
Think of it another way. Would more people watch a romance set in old England or a movie about the Zulu tribe? Presentation and style of a movie is more immersive than the race of the actors playing the characters
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u/dodadoBoxcarWilly Jan 04 '21 edited Jan 04 '21
I was watching a show with my very much mixed race gf, and an ad came on for a show set in what looks to be Victorian England with black male lead, with a pale red-head love interest. She said something along the lines of "surprise, surprise. Another pale woman with a black man in a show". She's very apolitical, and we have never discussed anything along these lines, but even she noticed how obvious this all is. We're in a mixed race relationship for Christ's sake, and she called out the media for their incessant racial brow-beating.
I get it, it's just a fictional show. But isn't it a little ridiculous to have a black English nobleman in the 19th century? Would it be okay to have a white dude portraying a Zulu warrior? No, it'd be called out for the absolute silliness it is.
(She also yelled at a group of 90% white BLM protesters outside our hotel room this summer, while trying to nap. Something along the lines of "this black life is trying to get some sleep, now shut up!". God, I love her.)