By: Eisa Hashmi
Hollywood has a race problem. Luckily, we don’t see white actors in blackface to play “Woman-Kidnapping Savage #1” anymore, but the issue still remains that minorities are almost entirely kept out of films. Yes, you can find a bevy of examples of minority characters played by minority actors in both film and TV, but the roles they are playing have hardly any substance. Why do black actors have to be the black goofy sidekick to the white hero? Why do brown actors have to be anti-social computer nerds instead of revolutionary hacktivists that take down evil corporations? Why can’t Asian actors play normal everyday people instead of ancient mystical warriors from Feudal China?
There are two real types of discrimination in Hollywood. The first is the casting of minorities into roles that perpetuate stereotypes and the second is not casting minorities at all. You can see both of these issues throughout the Entertainment industry, but the stereotypical roles can best be found on TV.
At first sight, Television seems to have gotten racial representation right. Shows like Blackish and Fresh Off the Boat are both shows that focus on ethnic families and are extremely progressive in that they actually talk about race issues in America rather than ignoring them. However, the shows only ever talk about race; it’s rare to find episodes of either show that don’t. Blackish seems to have a lot of trouble with this. Every episode follows the same basic structure: Dre, the main character, notices his kids do something that leads him to believe they don’t understand the struggle he experienced as a kid. He talks to his ignorant white co-workers about it, then takes action to make sure his kids understand what it means to be black. That’s where Blackish has a problem. The show focuses lesson an American family and more on a Black-American family. The Johnson family can’t face problems that so called “Normal families” deal with. Their issues are very specific to them and their race and because of this, it only separates ethnic and white families more. They won’t focus on things like growing up and leaving your childhood behind, but they will focus on growing up black and leaving your black childhood behind.
Fresh Off the Boat doesn’t fall into this trap as much; it focuses more on the main character, Eddie, and how he doesn’t really fit in with his family, that just happens to be Asian. The show doesn’t rely on race for the plot-lines or jokes, it relies on Eddie’s struggle of growing up in a family where no one understands him. Race is brought up, occasionally, but it isn’t the focal point of the show. Fresh Off the Boat focuses less on being Asian and more on growing up and occasionally having to deal with race issues. It may seem ignorant to say that race isn’t something dealt with on a day-to-day basis, because for some people it is, but by only discussing race, the Film and TV industries make ethnic families seem different and special, when in reality, they are just another family. Fresh Off the Boat doesn’t portray its characters as an “exotic” Asian family; the Huang’s are a normal everyday American family that loves Stephen King, basketball, and cowboy themed Steakhouse. The other major issue Hollywood faces is not casting minorities in films. It’s very difficult to find movies that have minority characters whose arcs depend solely on them being minorities. It’s important to allow characters to develop as people independent of race or creed, not people defined by their race. There is a significant lack of characters of color that are written this way. Take, for example, the character Allison Ng, played by Emma Stone, in the film Aloha. Allison is supposed to be a Swiss-Chinese woman who lives in Hawaii. Rather than casting a half asian actress to play Allison, Stone, a white woman, was cast. If a woman of Asian descent were cast, it wouldn’t have take away from the film, which currently sits at an astounding nineteen percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
As said earlier, Hollywood is getting better at addressing its race problem. More movies are casting minorities in roles that are defined by race. This year’s The Martian, is not only an incredible film, it has an extremely diverse cast. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Michael Pena, and Chen Shu all play extremely smart and talented scientists and engineers that aren’t defined by race. The only mention of their race or origin was when Chiwetel Ejiofor’s character explained why his last name was Kapoor (his father was Indian and his mother was black). Even then, this is just small detail, he isn’t defined by being half black and half Indian.
In TV, look at Aziz Ansari’s character, Tom Haverford, in Parks and Recreation. A few jokes are made regarding his race but his character isn’t the silly Indian IT guy, he is the guy that loves to party and over-confidently hit on girls at bars. A character that isn’t defined by race. You can even look behind the camera to see talented, up and coming, directors that happen to be minorities. Ryan Coogler gained Oscar buzz for his work directing Fruitvale Station and is now directing the newest entry in the Rocky franchise, Creed, starring Michael B. Jordan. James Wan established himself as a talented horror director with his first film, Saw, and has since gone on to work on iconic horror films like Insidious and The Conjuring and has even directed action films like Furious 7, one of the highest grossing films of 2015.
But these few examples aren’t enough. It’s time we start to see minority characters in the mainstream playing lead roles. We need more talented minority directors to work on big projects so they can get their names out there. In the heavily studio-controlled filmmaking industry, the responsibility falls in the laps of studio executives. Studios need to promote and encourage talented minority filmmakers so we can get well written characters that aren’t just acted out stereotypes. Every second spent not including minorities in the film industry is a second spent discouraging an aspiring Black director with a unique vision, or a talented Brown actor who wants to play more than just the nerd, or an Asian actress who wants to kick butt, and not as an ancient Chinese warrior.
