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 Posté le: Mar Sep 17, 2013 8:59 am Sujet du message: s the question that the producers of Dads |
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{Beyond Big Brother, TV grapples with racism}
Photos View gallery zoom Featured VideoClose More Video Arrested Development creator not done with Bluth family BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.—If W. Kamau Bell could have picked a jury for the George Zimmerman shooting trial,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Sale[/url], it would consist of the ghost of Malcolm X, comic Bill Cosby in extra-stern dad mode,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Toms Shoes Outlet[/url], perennially ticked-off rapper Ice Cube and an angry Samuel L. Jackson from the movie Pulp Fiction. “That would be the dream team,” the FX channel talk show host (Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell) and comic told the Star.Race and the debate on race has never been more acute in the United States than in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting. That is equally true in Hollywood,[url=http://www.toms-shoes-sale.com]Cheap Toms[/url], where television executives are not immune to the realities of the news cycle. Not to mention that this is a city still haunted by the beating of Rodney King by LAPD officers.As the summer convention of the Television Critics Association wrapped up, the intersection of race and TV was a prominent theme in the minds of nervous executives. How far do you push the boundaries when your product straddles the line between “edgy” and becoming a mass disseminator of hate speech?In July, Zimmerman was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter in the shooting of Martin. The judgment saw an outpouring of demonstrations globally, bringing attention once again to the thorny question of race.In the TV world, the producers of American Horror Story, while not directly referencing the Zimmerman case, have said their upcoming season will look at issues of race and oppression, of “a minority group that is oppressed by a majority group.” And critics skewered producers of the new FOX sitcom Dads for being racist.But perhaps the most prominent debate centres on the CBS reality show Big Brother, where contestants are stuck in a house for weeks while cameras record their every move.Big Brother is supposed to be a microcosm of society. But perhaps it is too real for reality.Race has dominated the conversation about the series since several of the contestants have made strongly anti-Semitic and racist remarks about other cast members. CBS chief Les Moonves said he was “appalled” at the behaviour of the contestants. And he said “America should take a good hard look at itself” if the instigators were voted into the finals. “They are really a reflection of what’s happening in society, but obviously they’re also saying some incredibly hurtful things,” said Julie Chen, Moonves’ wife and the host of Big Brother, in an interview. “You wonder how much becomes too far.”That’s the question that the producers of Dads, who include Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, are trying to answer.Critics ripped what they saw as racist and sexist jokes on the still-to-be-aired pilot of the highly anticipated sitcom, which is part of the Fox fall schedule.Some scenes deemed offensive included actress Brenda Song dressing up as a “sexy Asian schoolgirl” to entertain Asian clients. In another scene, one character joked about a TV boxing match, asking if it’s called “Punch the Puerto Rican.”Producers seemed to have gotten the message that it wasn’t just a question of being politically correct; the show was plainly offensive and perhaps even worse: not funny.“Well, I think that, yes, in the pilot we all noticed some things that we’d like to kind of change or tweak moving forward,” said a chastised producer Alec Sulkin.“We don’t want to be a racial insult comedy show,” underlined producer Mike Scully.However, cast members, including Song herself, defended the show. Song said she was frustrated with the political correctness that has permeated the TV world.“Just about everything has become offensive, hasn’t it?” she said in an interview.Song, whose roots are Thai and Vietnamese, said she found it more problematic when she played the Disney character Wendy Wu, an Asian who was supposed to know martial arts, and called it “more offensive” than her schoolgirl character.Other cast members said they didn’t think the show was racist at all.“The worse thing you can tell someone of colour is that what they’re perceiving to be racist isn’t racist,” says comedian Bell, who says he is reserving judgment on Dads since he hasn’t seen the pilot.Still, while racism can cause controversy, it doesn’t necessarily hurt ratings.So far Big Brother has warned viewers that examples of “prejudice” may occur in the show they are about to watch. This 15th edition is already up 9 per cent in viewership compared to last season.Moonves has called Big Brother a “social experiment,” where shades of grey exist in every society. “Television is there to entertain, but it also has a responsibility,” says Bell, whose Totally Biased talk show will air nightly when it premieres on FXX in September. “And sometimes I think we forget that we have a responsibility.”
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