Giving the People What They Want

Whenever the media is called out for offensive content, lack of diversity, sexism, etc., they have a golden excuse that never seems to fail. They're just giving the people what they want. If you've got a problem with that, just stop watching. When enough people stop watching to actually affect our business plan, maybe we'll talk to you.

Yeah, right. The problem with this seemingly golden philosophy is
1) People who are offended (and rightfully so, at times) find it hard to rally thousands of other viewers to their cause. People don't want to seem like they're being unreasonable or obnoxiously politically correct, so they're not going to hold marches, and therefore won't attract very much attention.
2) Usually people aren't so offended as to want to stop watching one of their favorite shows (if they care enough to talk to the network, they obviously like the show). They might just have a question or a suggestion i.e. "Was it necessary to the plot of this episode to make the Hispanic guy have an accent?"
3)Not enough people notice any problems to begin with because they're fine with the way things are. I mean, if you sit the average little kid down in front of the TV screen, he's not going to say, "How come all the women on this show are blond and unnaturally thin? This is not an accurate representation of reality. Let's sue."

Desipte the fact that the media is supposedly so liberal, it's actually pretty slow to change, unless profits start to decline, of course. And because profits haven't declined, movies and tv shows are basically in the same place as they were 15 years ago.

The easiest way to describe what I mean is to go the race route (sorry if that makes you uncomfortable, because it really shouldn't).

For the most part, TV is not overtly racist anymore, which is great. However, it's still a Caucasian dominated industry, and it seems to be determined to stay that way, awkward racial overtones and all. Network television seems to think that if a part on a TV show does not have BLACK or ASIAN or HISPANIC stamped on it, then black, Asian, and Hispanic actors aren't an option.

This is particularly true for comedies such as Two and a Half Men and Samantha Who. Two and a Half Men doesn't have any minority cast members, despite the fact that it's set in California, one of the most diverse places on the planet, and Samantha Who has one black character--who is her doorman, who spouts "bluesy wisdom" (thank you Michael Scott) and sass. There aren't any minority bit players either. None of the many girlfriends of the Two and a Half Men are minorities, and neither are any of Samantha's former paragons. Now, is it really so difficult to offer a small 1-2 episode love-interest role to a minority? Or does interracial sex still raise too many eyebrows?

And don't even get me started on medical shows. My biggest beef with them is that 15% (as of 2000, so that's a pretty low estimate) of doctors in the United States are Asian American males and females. An estimated 12% of students entering medical school in 2006 were Indian (from India....duh). So how many Asian American actors are portraying doctors on television?

I can only think of one.

Now let's compare this to the representation of African Americans on medical shows. Every medical show has at least one black character, sometimes two, which is great. But African Americans only compose 4% of America's doctors.

I'm not saying that you should eliminate those roles for African American actors or downplaying the role of African Americans in the medical community, but it's obvious that the media is capable of casting minority actors on TV shows. Which is why it's so frustrating when Asian Americans don't get the roles, particularly Asian men.

A similar thing is going on for shows set in Hawaii (particularly reality shows), which invariably boast a glut of suntanned blondes, when Asians make up over 50% of the population.

Or how about (my favorite) the newest Barbie movie: Barbie Island Princess, in which pretty blond Barbie lives on a tropical island with elephants and red pandas. Well, pretty blond Barbie wouldn't last a day in the Caribbean without succumbing to severe sunburn, even with her magic wand or tiara or whatever it is she's weilding this time. Oh Mattel, when will you realize that blondes don't live on tropical islands. This could be your perfect chance to bring out black Barbie, or Pacific Islander Barbie, but NO. That would be too difficult for you.

Why is Hollywood so reluctant to show things the way they are? Do they really think that they'll lose that much viewership if they put a Hispanic girl on How I Met Your Mother, or an Indian man on Grey's Anatomy?

So Hollywood's giving the American public what they want.

Well, how are they supposed to know what it is they want if they're only given one choice? If you've been eating Cheerios since birth, and you never see anything else, you're not going to get up one day and buy some Honeycomb. How are we supposed to want something we've never seen? How can we miss what's never been there to begin with?

How can you be sure that what you're spooning out is what America wants? Do you know specifically that what I'm asking for is what America doesn't want?

Look, I really don't want to have to march to get what I want this time. I'd much rather you just wire it through my cables.