I realize this question may result in a lot of angry responses because, sadly, many people are so sensitive that we cant talk much of anything these days. In any case, I dont have a problem with most black people. And they deserve a fair shot at jobs, etc. They make up about thirteen percent of the population so I figure they should get about the same percentage of acting jobs. But, I would prefer that movies & TV reflect real life rather than have them used as social engineering tools. I dont watch movies with all black casts because those movies dont reflect the world I live in. Where I live, I might see a few black people in a week. And, if Im going to give up two hours on a movie, I want to see characters and settings I can relate to. Same with commercials and TV programing. Ive always muted most TV commercials. And, these days, I might watch a rare commercial if theres a beatiful blond or asian in it, but otherwise, the commercial is history. Sadly, it seems as though advertisers feel they have to shoe-horn one or, sometimes many, blacks into every single commercial setting. Same with TV programs. Most game shows, these days, seem to have black hosts, too. Ive never watched game shows, so I dont care about that change. It just seem like the racial percentages on TV are way out of balance, and now they bear no relationship to reality. By the way, are we allowed to have preferences in what we watch, or will we be called racists for this, too?
That is why you have so many channels to watch, so Spanish speaking people can watch stuff in Spanish or other languages..... different strokes etc etc......
` ` I know a black dude who has the supreme cable TV set up....just about everything one can want. However, every time I drop by, he's always watching re-runs of Bonanza and the Rifleman. Go figure.
I knew an elderly Black lady like that too, Mother Jenkins, I used to fix things in her home every now and then, she was always watching re-runs of Bonanza, the Rifleman, Walker Texas Ranger, and similar shows.....
There's no problem finding things to watch. And movies are not a problem, investors fund them, so they can use any actors they want. What will determine the actors they use in the future is whether the movies make a box-office profit with the actors they have chosen in their latest films. But it would be nice if television would present a more honest and accurate view of the U.S. population. For instance, I'd like to see more asian actors in the shows, and in commercials. That's slowly beginning to happen. It's also phony when commercials show a table at a restaurant and you see all these blacks and whites hanging out, eating, laughing, as if they all love each other, etc. I don't say that never happens, but in my experience, most people usually hang out with others like themselves. Groups seem to self-segregate by race, automatically. It happens in prisons as well as in school cafeterias and nightclubs. There are always a few people who hang out with people of other races, but that doesn't seem to be the norm. Yet, that is what TV shows and commercials are trying to feed us. Lies.
Well, I am Hispanic, and Latinos do that, hang with other Latinos, it is comfortable, you crack dumb jokes in Spanish, tell hokey stories only Latinos will understand, stuff that loses too much in the translation or ceases to be funny if translated, it is like old whiskey..... comfortable....
If that were true, you’d have a massively restricted range of things to watch. It’s not as if skin colour is the only factor in fictional characters to make them different to you. For example, you’d have to dismiss anything sci-fi, fantasy or historical (outside your lifetime), anything set in another country, even a different part of the same country and characters/actors who are significantly older, younger or a different gender. In general terms this attitude doesn’t make any sense to me. Watching movies can be about escapism, seeing different things or experiencing things you can’t (or shouldn’t!) do in real life. There obviously needs to be an element of relatability (certainly in any kind of conventional drama) but if you’re incapable of related to other human beings if they’re not just like you, I’d suggest the problem is very much with you rather than the range of movies available. Well there’s a difference between it seeming to be the case (to you) and there being any actual imbalance (confirmation bias and the like). I have to say though that the simple statement that you don’t like movies or TV with black characters is racist by at least one common use of the term. The fundamental assumption is that all black people are fundamentally different to you and, by extension, all white people are fundamental the same as you. I don’t think simply slapping a label on this is especially useful though, addressing your reasoning and rationale behind it is much more important, something that’s so often lost in the angry reactions you referred to in the opening.
I mean, I go to a school which is about 2/5ths Hispanic, 1/5th White, 1/5th Black, and 1/5th Asian, so if I or anyone else only sat with people of the same race, we would be pretty restricted. Now that I think about it, though, there does seem to be a more minor effect, but not an absolute one; maybe half of all the tables are dominated by a single race, and the rest are pretty mixed. If the demographics are more 7/10ths White and 1/10th everyone else, then I can see more restriction happening.
I'm married to a Latina, we could give a rats ass, other when they are obviously stacking the deck for PC purposes. We watch "Worlds Dumbest" videos, because they rag on everybody, just so long as they're stupid. We also watch South Park, for much the same reasons. Everybody is fair game, they don't do PC, and neither do we, "Do we Puta?" "No we don't, Pinche Gringo!"
Blacks make up about 1/8th the U.S. population. Do you figure the number of Blacks on TV is more or less than that?
I haven't watched television in years. I don't like seeing black people or Jews on the television. Especially in roles that are not familiar to me. Also I noticed that many shows that try to appeal to a white audience will lure you in before poisoning the story line with a mass of black characters. There was a western show my wife tried make me watch. It's called "Hell on Wheels". It started out ok. There were a lot of blacks. But the white workers didn't like them and they were mistreated by the foremen which made sense because the story takes place right after the Civil War. The hero was on a vendetta to kill some men who'd killed his family. Then the black characters kept becoming more important. Eventually the black guy was made head of security, another Negro was promoted to foreman. At one point the blacks were issued rifles to watch for Indians while the white workers did the manual labor. Not very realistic and I stopped following it. I was also forced to sit through an Adam Sandler (Jew) movie. He plays a singer. Very talented, thoughtful and kind to old ladies. And he falls in love with a beautiful blonde girl. But the man she's dating is a huge schmuck who cheats and doesn't appreciate her. In the end she falls in love with the talented Jew. In another movie he plays a hockey player. A gifted athlete it's discovered he has a talent for golf. Which he uses to help a little old lady who is being abused in an old age home. It's some sort of slapstick where the white golfers are made to look weak and foolish by this athletic Jew just bursting with confidence.
I am from Australia and I was totally shocked when I read that African Americans are only about 16% of the US population. African Americans are unbelievably over represented in US media. And the African American agenda types push this idea that African Americans are the only American minority that matters. Where are all the Mexicans in US media? Where are all the Asians? All you see is white Americans and African American really. I blame African Americans.
I think another poster here said 'blacks' comprise approximately 13% of the American population. If there are more blacks in movies, commercials, etc. it is because their presence brings more revenue. That's how America works....You don't need government to assess what you are worth, you are worth what other Americans are willing to pay you. Your last comment there....in RED I don't see this but maybe, I am color blind.
There are plenty of interracial friendships. It's normal where I live, to see black and white people socializing together.
You said: “That’s how America works...” I strongly disagree. I would say: “That’s how America is supposed to work...” Blacks have long made a steady push to force themselve into more and more TV shows and commercials: through protests, whines, demands, all geared to get more free stuff (TV and commercial parts, in this case). It worked. Now they're doing the same thing with Oscars. Just look at what happened in the last year with the Oscars. Blacks whined and whined because they think black actors and films should ALWAYS win some Oscars (whether they DESERVE them, or not). In the end, after all the noise and whines, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences caved in, and agreed to make the entire process more diverse. There are now certain to be Oscar “set asides”, that is: "Affirmative Action Oscars" will now be given out, just for black actors and films. These Oscars will look the same, but they will have a different name. They’ll be known as: "Leroy, the Affirmative Action Oscar." From now on, every time a black actor or film gets an Oscar, a lot of people will wonder if they really deserve it, or if it’s just a token Oscar, given to keep protesters quiet.
