From The Root
Why is it that if an African American wants to humiliate him- or herself on national TV in search of a mate, the only options are I Love New York or For the Love of Ray J? Are we not suitable for major networks? Yes, you do occasionally allow one black contestant on the show at a time, only for that person to be eliminated by the second episode. But if we don’t have a shot at the ring, don’t bother inviting us. Really. It’s like starting a new NFL franchise and telling the team that it will never be eligible to play in the Super Bowl.
See I am not the only one who thinks that minorities are under represented in dating show genre.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
One theory I have on this is that editors are well known for trying to frame shows to have a narrative or tell the story of certain stereotypes, the "good girls," the "misunderstood slut," the "slutty slut," etc. because fundamentally these editorial minds are dirtbags who prey the rabid and prejudice mind of the lowest common denominator viewer. So, when they try to do "diversity" they often resort to race-baiting and racial stereotypes, which they know that many of the viewers will be uncomfortable with--because although we can be overtly sexist, overt racism is a tad less acceptable (so, of course people are the kinder, gentler racists of Fox News).
ReplyDeleteFor example, the latest installment of Charm School got real racist, real quick and pretty much all the narratives got lost because they edited themselves (and of course the racist behavior of the contestants didn't help).
I'm not saying that this is a valid excuse for the lack of diversity on dating shows--especially something like more to love in which as you've noticed, most of the casting calls consisted of women of color--I'm just saying that I think that this, plus the white dude inevitably at the center of the dating show, contributes to the lack of diversity in a big way.