It is definitely safe to say that my main consumption of media is through television show. Although, I do watch the news and movies, I am an avid follower of many hit tv shows. My absolute favorite show is Lost.
Lost takes place on an island where no one knows where its actual location is. The leader of the survivors is a doctor named Jack Shepard. And yes, you guessed it, he is a white male. Jack leads the survivors through many trials and tribulations on the island. He gets them through invasion, illness, and sadness. It is not weird that they didn’t choose an African American actor to play Jack? Couldn’t an African American character play him just as well?
Another stereotype that they portray on this show is the role of Sayid Jarrah. Sayid, as you can tell, is of middle eastern descent. He speaks with an accent and has definite middle eastern features. In the show, they play “flash backs” from the characters past. In Sayid’s past he was a torturer. Sound familiar? A middle eastern torturer. Could they not make Sayid Jarrah just a normal guy?
James “Sawyer” Ford is a white redneck con artist. This is another stereotype that the writers play in to. Sawyer speaks with a hick accent, is from Kentucky, and is the “ass hole” of the group.
An actual surprise is the main female character, Kate Austen. Kate is white, and one would think that her career would be a teacher or something highly stereotypical. Actually Kate is a fugitive who is wanted for arson and murder.
In on particular episode in the first season there is a white man in his mid 50s looking for his wife, who he lost in the middle of the plane crash. He tells everyone that her name is “Rose.” All of the survivors go out looking for her but no one finds her. A few episodes later Rose is found and there is a twist about her. Rose is a black woman also her mid 50s. This surprised many of the survivors because they obviously thought that Rose would be a white woman. Weird.
Lost is one of the only shows on television now that has multiple races on their cast. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are white, Rose and Micheal are black, Jin and Sun are Asian, and Sayid is middle eastern. It is really neat that they have such a multicultural cast, but the writers are playing these characters too stereotypically.
1 comment:
Okay, when is entertainment not entertainment and an opportunity for social commentary? Are we expecting the media or specifically media corporations to try and solve the issue of "other"? Who should we be talking to then? Is it the consumer who has the power to ask for change? Is that power the economic purchasing power?
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