In class this Friday, to add closure to Mr. Bolos' Am Stud Day presentation, we revisited the idea of tokenism in television. We watched clips of network dramas and thought critically about them. The overlying theme is that minorities rarely play central characters in these programs, and that oftentimes the minorities are treated more poorly by the other white actors on the program. This treatment results, according to Mr. Bolos, in an increased racist attitude in viewers. Clearly I am not a psychologist and wouldn't be able to prove anything for or against that. But among the series of questions we were challenged to answer, I was most drawn to one:
Is there a problem with TV Tokenism? Is it wrong?
My answer is yes, I think that it is wrong. I think that what we, and the networks should strive for is equality among races. When we label a character as a token, it is as if they are just space fillers that are there as a sort of affirmative action, which is not something I really want to be contemplating while watching Jack Bauer track down the IRK president. I think that television should just be in the market for making the best possible show, although we have learned that is is simply a money making operation. I think that if the quality of the show will be bettered with a predominantly black cast, then so be it, and the same goes for a white cast. I see a good connection with the Herstory project we did, where my group looked at the Equal Rights Amendment. The women behind the bill just wanted the same rights as men, for better or worse, and not random amendments for better pay or a shorter work day. Overall, I think its frustrating that race is still such a problem in the US that even television has to be political, not that I'm forgetting the past racial injustices this country has and still does see.
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