They're Just Like Magic

In class this week, we have talked a lot about the idea of TV Tokenism, the inclusion of minorities in TV shows or movies which falsely depict real life.  In other words, it's when TV shows or movies are starting put in minority actors, often in high authority roles, just to give people the idea that they're not racist because in the past, as OC writes, minorities were often shown in less respected roles that only increase stereotypes.  Now, however, I fear that the ball has turned far in the opposite direction with unrealistic depictions of minorities so that filmmakers can avoid being labeled racist.

One small example of this is in shot of the show How I Met Your Mother, which airs on CBS, shown below.

This one shot from How I Met Your Mother is an example of a common TV show scene with minority characters shown in back to create the false illusion of diversity.

The characters in front are the main characters (this show is not normal because none of the major characters are minorities), but I want to talk about the idea of "token faces", so let's look at the people in the background.  Out of the limited people in the background, I can make out for sure a black man and a hispanic woman.  I know this is just one shot from one show, but this happens all the time.  If you ever stop and look at the faces in the background of a movie or TV show, you'll notice minorities appear--like magic--in what seems to be a utopia of racial relations, which is far from reality.

So if this isn't realistic, why is it done?

It's simply a reaction to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People's (NAACP) criticism of the system.  In the early 2000's, the NAACP complained that black people were always portrayed as criminals and thieves, which advances the stereotypes against them.  Since then, networks feared being labeled racist by viewers, so an easy way to trick viewers into thinking they are including minorities is by just putting them in the background, so that they are visible without playing an actual role.

Another way many TV shows and movies use tokenism to avoid being labeled racist is by creating the "authority minority" character.  This character usually plays a big role with a respected title (such as "Dr." or "boss") and is often the best dressed man to reverse stereotypes, but isn't very central to the plot and doesn't receive much screen time.

For example, in the movies Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty, black actor Morgan Freeman plays the role of God.  Could there be a more prominent role than God?  No, of course not.  Interestingly though, neither of those two casts (Bruce Almighty or Evan Almighty) feature another minority.  What Morgan Freeman allows the filmmakers to do in these movies is say, "Our cast is almost entirely white, but no, we're not racist because we have a black man playing God.  How could you possibly call us racist?"-And this is essentially what the "authority minority" character does: eliminate racist ideals by putting minorities in respect roles, even though they are not central to the plot.

I understand that how television portrays people can have a major effect, but why we have to do this,why we filmmakers have to even think about race when selecting a cast still puzzles me.  Americans are very sensitive on the issue of race.  In this scenario, if you don't feature privileged minorities in your film, you're racist, and this is ridiculous.  I'm not saying I think we should have all white casts, but simply that I believe race shouldn't matter (even though it clearly does) because this is all fake.

Have Americans become too sensitive on the issue of race?  How should casts be chosen?