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wishfulclickingThoughts on the state of the role of one or more underprivileged category/-ies of people in pop culture/fandom: is there any progress to be seen as compared to, say, 10 years ago?
Note: this is going to be focused on mostly American pop culture, with an extreme focus on television and film, with perhaps some nods to books. I can only speak on which I'm familiar.
Also: fandom means different things to many people, so I can only speak to my experience. Ditto on pop culture.
Yes, but the kind of progress where you're in a fifty foot hole and managed to make a two foot hill and everyone above you is sighing and telling you to get on with it because they could never understand what it's like to be in that hole no matter how many times they close their eyes and pretend and wrap themselves in sheets for effect. Okay. Sometimes you are in the hole and sometimes you are on a hill looking down. The metaphor got away from me.
Again: looking back ten years I can see progress in pop culture to a degree, but at times it just feels like it's not that there is less, but that the pressure took another shape; or, on the good days I can point to some progress, but we must still press forward. Just possessing an underpriviledged member still gets noticed because it is so rare; majority of casts on major networks are overwhelmingly white; it's rare to see queer characters as the main character still, and to see a queer nonwhite character is even more of a rarity; women are getting more central roles in some shows and female centric films have done well in the box office but people still like to call it a trend and not good business to promote films to a sizeable chunk of the population, especially one so underserved. Not just with African-Americans, Asians are rarely seen in major films, Latino actors face similar issues.
Of course there has been some progress: Community is an ensemble cast that is diverse and lets all its characters have moments and breathe beyond the stereotype; Happy Endings has an interracial couple is shown to be a real couple with desire between them, Brad is a Black man who is successful, Max is a gay man that is not the stereotypical version usually seen on network television, Penny is a single woman but not overly desperate; Glee is not afraid to let its queer relationships take central focus; House of Lies has a Black man as the main character who is a success; The Good Wife has received raves; Bridesmaids showed different kinds of women and didn't dump on any of them; Pariah was made and received well, even if the Precious comparisons grate; Adam's storyline on Degrassi was so full and so much beyond just Adam being transgendered and an adolescent, Degrassi showed how he fit in with his family, his school, it showed everyone making mistakes and then making them again and growing--it presented Adam as a person and not just an issue. Switched at Birth portrays a deaf teen girl and the deaf culture.
There are valid complaints with each of the films/tv shows I've mentioned, I'm sure; but their existence does speak to the progress within pop culture.
In fandom, I can't completely say because it's only been in the past three years I've done anything in fandom besides read fic and watch character discussions. So considering the past three or four years fandom (well as much as you can say fandom because each experience is different and norms don't always crossover), I will say mirrors the progress of pop culture: there has been some but sometimes the shape just feels like it's shifted. Discussions have been had and will be had again and everyone will make mistakes and then make them again and someone else will make them and a lot of it is painful but the spirit of it all is necessary even if the execution is, at times, lacking.
There is an issue with presenting issues as absolute and ignoring nuance; at times real issues seem to be adopted to further other agendas, making it seem like it's a familiar fight just with different weapons; sometimes opinions not falling in line with the accepted get brushed aside or attacked. All of these issues and others I've failed to mention can be found in other venues besides the corner of fandom I'm familiar with.
Note: this is going to be focused on mostly American pop culture, with an extreme focus on television and film, with perhaps some nods to books. I can only speak on which I'm familiar.
Also: fandom means different things to many people, so I can only speak to my experience. Ditto on pop culture.
Yes, but the kind of progress where you're in a fifty foot hole and managed to make a two foot hill and everyone above you is sighing and telling you to get on with it because they could never understand what it's like to be in that hole no matter how many times they close their eyes and pretend and wrap themselves in sheets for effect. Okay. Sometimes you are in the hole and sometimes you are on a hill looking down. The metaphor got away from me.
Again: looking back ten years I can see progress in pop culture to a degree, but at times it just feels like it's not that there is less, but that the pressure took another shape; or, on the good days I can point to some progress, but we must still press forward. Just possessing an underpriviledged member still gets noticed because it is so rare; majority of casts on major networks are overwhelmingly white; it's rare to see queer characters as the main character still, and to see a queer nonwhite character is even more of a rarity; women are getting more central roles in some shows and female centric films have done well in the box office but people still like to call it a trend and not good business to promote films to a sizeable chunk of the population, especially one so underserved. Not just with African-Americans, Asians are rarely seen in major films, Latino actors face similar issues.
Of course there has been some progress: Community is an ensemble cast that is diverse and lets all its characters have moments and breathe beyond the stereotype; Happy Endings has an interracial couple is shown to be a real couple with desire between them, Brad is a Black man who is successful, Max is a gay man that is not the stereotypical version usually seen on network television, Penny is a single woman but not overly desperate; Glee is not afraid to let its queer relationships take central focus; House of Lies has a Black man as the main character who is a success; The Good Wife has received raves; Bridesmaids showed different kinds of women and didn't dump on any of them; Pariah was made and received well, even if the Precious comparisons grate; Adam's storyline on Degrassi was so full and so much beyond just Adam being transgendered and an adolescent, Degrassi showed how he fit in with his family, his school, it showed everyone making mistakes and then making them again and growing--it presented Adam as a person and not just an issue. Switched at Birth portrays a deaf teen girl and the deaf culture.
There are valid complaints with each of the films/tv shows I've mentioned, I'm sure; but their existence does speak to the progress within pop culture.
In fandom, I can't completely say because it's only been in the past three years I've done anything in fandom besides read fic and watch character discussions. So considering the past three or four years fandom (well as much as you can say fandom because each experience is different and norms don't always crossover), I will say mirrors the progress of pop culture: there has been some but sometimes the shape just feels like it's shifted. Discussions have been had and will be had again and everyone will make mistakes and then make them again and someone else will make them and a lot of it is painful but the spirit of it all is necessary even if the execution is, at times, lacking.
There is an issue with presenting issues as absolute and ignoring nuance; at times real issues seem to be adopted to further other agendas, making it seem like it's a familiar fight just with different weapons; sometimes opinions not falling in line with the accepted get brushed aside or attacked. All of these issues and others I've failed to mention can be found in other venues besides the corner of fandom I'm familiar with.
