Complain for the Sake of Complaint

I mentioned in the beginning that GIRLS is not the only show to receive critiques for it’s lack of diversification. Similar critiques were made of prior popular, usually successful, yet predominately white-washed character shows like 90210, Seinfeld, and Friends to name a few. Recently, shows like How I Met Your Mother faced similar complaints. Others resist such accusations by proactively adding a “token” character(s) to the cast, like New Girl, Happy Endings, and arguably Modern Family – through their representation of a homosexual couple – to avoid any misgivings about their lack of diversity.

Then there are shows like Scandal, where even having a show created by an African American woman, starring an African American woman as the lead is not sufficient enough to avoid criticism. In this case, some concluded that any black man who does not watch and support Scandal must have an issue with powerful black women, specifically or these black men must have an issue with black women dating white men, generally. Obviously, it would be impossible to think of a world where some black men simply do not want to watch the show with no greater or ulterior motive. Ironically, I have yet to read a blog/news story about white (or black) men being intimidated by powerful white women for not watching and supporting The Good Wife, a similarly themed and equally complex show about a powerful white woman coping with the hardships of the workplace, while navigating the complexities of her own personal life, adultery notwithstanding.

Token black guy? Dime a dozen!

Token black guy? Dime a dozen!

In review, if you have a show lacking black characters like GIRLS, it’s at worst racist and at best, insensitive. If you cannot find a central purpose for a black character, you can avoid and ignore the critics, like How I Met Your Mother (among others), or develop a token – and literally replaceable, see picture to the right – character, like New Girl or Happy Endings (among others) have chosen to do. Lastly, you can develop a show by an African American for African Americans, like Scandal, and in reward for your hard work and dedication, you can receive weekly judgmental posts on the merits or demerits of your show from…African Americans. Oh, the irony of it all.

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Why does this chaos occur?

Social Diversity is Still the Minority

These discussions prove that it is clearly difficult for a “progressive society” to accept the fact that we are not that progressive. We are only more progressive than when we were socially regressive in the past. This is why we have such a hard time processing the idea that a movie about slavery, like Django, regardless of the color of the director, could ever accurately be told without the excessive use of the word “Nigger.” I was not a slave, but I am fairly positive slave masters did not concern themselves with addressing slaves by the politically correct noun of our generation. Perhaps this is why it is so easy for us to champion for equality, yet it is simultaneously difficult for us to accept similar representation of this so-called “equality” within our own social circles, families, TV shows and movies.

If we were half as progressive as we claim, then the primary focus of critiques of shows like GIRLS, Scandal, and others would revolve around the varying plots from week to weak; instead of steadily and consistently focusing on race, interracial relationships, or whether black men are ready to accept and view black women as equals, which are plots that are not even central premises of the shows themselves. However, when popular shows like GIRLS come along, it forces us, yet again, to analyze what it means to be white, black, young, old, and most importantly, diverse in America. Lena Dunham never set out to tell everyone‘s story. She set out to tell her own story. In doing so, she somehow made many question what her views said about her, young whites, New York, and America.

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Presumably, this happened for two reasons: 1) people felt comfortable or uncomfortable in seeing themselves in many of the, admittedly limited, GIRLS characters; and 2) others felt comfortable or uncomfortable not seeing themselves. But, who’s fault is that? Is it Lena’s fault for not identifying with more people that remind us of ourselves or is it our fault for not identifying with more people who remind Lena of her own friends and experiences?

Sometimes it feels as though we’re force fed acceptance, yet we’re accused of insensitivity if we gag. Are those we choose to surround ourselves with in silence more representative of what we truly believe than what we claim we believe out loud? Regardless, it is increasingly evident that mass media – not limited to movies, TV, and songs – forces upon us a Utopian view of reality that we have not yet fully embraced in actuality, even if we should. In media, groups of friends represent the mixed raced, economically diverse, and sexually orientated among us. In reality, we know this is not true, and it seems like when the realness of reality is held up to us like a mirror, it makes us uncomfortable. Instead of confronting our own shortcomings, we claim these medias are unfair, inaccurate, or not representing the truth whenever they depict a part of our lives we choose to pretend never happened, not accept, or outright ignore.

If that is not their experience (or even their perception of their experience), I prefer the creator of GIRLS, or any talented writer/producer out there, not develop token black characters to represent myself and others like me. They also do not need to appease me by adding a racially diverse set of “extras” in the background of the show, which as the name implies, are extras to the show – having no significant bearing on the plot or quality.

Cast of Girlfriends

Cast of Girlfriends

I would no more expect this of GIRLS, a show about four white girls, than I would from a prior show about four black women, GIRLFRIENDS. I never expected Girlfriends to pencil in a token Caucasian character that did not fit the narrative of the story simply to appease the critics. To do so is insulting to my intelligence. It suggests that neither group of women exist – when we all know they do – and these groups lack of diversity is somehow an indictment of those who do not resemble them. That is not the case. Black people having black friends and white people having white friends does not inherently imply that the two dislike and/or hate the other. This fact of life applies to TV and real life.

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Diversity is not about the representation of everyone, every time. It’s the acceptance that everyone is free to define their social circle however they see fit, without fear, retribution, or judgment by others. In other words, it’s the belief that people – within reason – are free to choose and live their lives without needing my or other’s approval. As long as we have the expectation that each of us is the self-righteous expert on moral and social representation, we will not even be as diverse or accepting in the future as we claim we are in the present. Although it may be simpler to manipulate the make-believe world of media to fit our various agendas, it will be easier for art to imitate life when our lives are actually as diverse, accepting, and representative as we believe it is in our heads.

WIM Sig1) Do you feel a show predominately geared towards a white/black audience should still have at least one main black/white character? 2) Is it inaccurate for a show to have a group of friends or characters that does not include minorities or other under represented group? 3) Is it the responsibility of quality TV shows/movies to be representative or is it the responsibility of the community to develop quality TV shows/movies for themselves?

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