Lack of Racial Diversity in Daytime

[bakedghoti]

discuss!

it's appalling that to this day, Daytime remains practically all-white.

worst offenders: b&b (for lack of racial diversity despite being set in LA) and oltl (for recasting korean blair into a white, southern woman).

[bakedghoti]

still no comments on this yet 2 threads were devoted to luke/noah not kissing. i guess no one wants to discuss this topic.

[JSROCKS]

There has been a lack of racial diversity on the soaps on tv since the genre was invented. IMO I think it would be difficult to have any kind of meaningful disscussion about this on a internet message board. I say this because the soap audience is so very diverse and some in that audience really seem to have a hard time distinguishing between the real/surreal and flat out fantasy.

That you tried though is a step in the right direction.

[R Sinclair]

It doesn't help that you start 18 discussion threads in 10 minutes. Damn. I was going to comment but now I'm not going to.

[stenbeck212]

Well, that fantasy shouldn't make people of color extinct. Not when they're formidable presidential candidates, Oscar winners and heads of corporations. Soaps need diversity on every level. Has there ever been a non-white head writer or EP?

[JSROCKS]

ITA

Don't know about "non-white" writers ( head or otherwise), but the way that some minorities are stereotypically written, I'd say there are none, or if there are they are in deep denial. IMO, however, this could apply to any minority.

[Khan]

Is racial diversity (or diversity of any kind) "good" for soaps? Yes.

Should there be more of it? Definitely.

Will it ever happen? Not on your life.

[Money]

The lack of diversity is really disturbing. It feels as if it's 1958 where minorities are begging for crumbs. BB has been the worst offender however their storylines historically focuses on the Forresters and everyone else ultimately gets shafted anyway, but the other soaps really has no excuse. I remember when BB did that PSA storyline with African Zende and his adopted HIV Hispanic father and it was a disaster.

I'm really dissapointed in OLTL. For such a progressive soap all of their minorities are window dressing. GH is another offender and their only claim to diversity is Sonny who remembers he's Hispanic periodically.

YR needs to do a hell of a lot more with Neil, Victor's lapdog and Lilly. And there really aren't any words about GL. We all know that until now with Jesse and Angie, AMC had the same white mentality.

I'm tired of Soaps pretending they're diverse with token characters when they're just as racist as they were fifty years ago.

[stenbeck212]

It probably won't happen, as Khan says. People want characters and stories they can identify with, but instead we get small sets with ceilings and digital cameras.

[rhythmchyc]

I think racially diverse casts only come about when the economy is going really well. Y&R, with a pretty diverse cast now, had so many Black characters in the 90s, even Asian and Latino characters.

I remember watching the Christmas special this past holiday season and seeing Dru, Neil, Olivia, Malcolm, Nathan, and an HIV-positive Keesha. Not to mention Luan and Keemo, Jack's Asian former wife and son. That's all in one episode! (Note: No way in hell I remembered these characters' names. I just looked them up lol)

I don't think I've seen so many ethnic actors in any episode of any soap opera all last year! In fact, if I added up all of the Black actors' appearances from Y&R from last year and compared it to that one episode, it probably wouldn't match up.

In the 90s, however, soaps were doing really well in the ratings. So, producers had money to spend on extra recurring and even contract actors. Now, if you notice, a lot of soaps are becoming like B&B, concentrating on a small groups of people.

So, when the economy gets better, the diversity gets better, I think.

Is it true that Talia on OLTL is Arabic? If so, that would be mind-boggling. Talk about coming out of left field.

[DeeeDee]

The lack of diversity (of any kind) is ridiculous yet producers continue to wonder why their ratings suck.

[applcin]

They've made reference to her Middle Eastern background since she was introduced. First there was something about her working after 9-11 as a cop with the last name of Sayid. And she was one of racist Tate Harmon's targets, she was part of that storyline as both cop and victim.

I wouldn't call OLTL either the best or the worst. The Hispanic contingent (Antonio, Cristian and Adriana) has been very prominent. And while the African-American characters have been for the most part (exception of Evangeline) supporting players, the show hasn't shied away from interracial pairings or hints of romance: Evangeline/John; RJ/Lindsay; RJ/Nora; RJ/Elizabeth; Natalie/Vincent; Leyla/Nash; Nora/Hank; Evangeline/Cristian; Antonio/Kerri. At least when I look at OLTL, I don't see indistinguishable carbon copy skinny blondes and a stable of just as indistinguishable talentless pretty boys.

Heck, I was a little annoyed when GL's Italian characters consisted of Joey Lupo and a caricaturish appearance by his mother in the person of Lainie Kazan.

[rhythmchyc]

Ah, OK. I think I fast-forwarded or ignored that whole plot considering how incredibly snooze-worthy it was. I even missed Vange's a coma ish because it was so boring.

I too enjoy how OLTL keep the Latinos on the forefront and don't stereotype them in anyway. I do wish the writers would include a bit more of their culture into these characters. I suppose that would be asking too much for a daytime drama.

Then again, I find it a bit disconcerting how if you peeled of Layla's skin color, she'd be as white as Sara.

[applcin]

I really enjoy the interaction among the Vega family. I mean, independent of what I think of them personality or character-wise (not crazy about Antonio, like Cristian better but Sara/Cristian is a bore)...I do like watching the brothers converse together or talk with their "mami" Carlotta. Having grown up in a very Italian household, I see some similarities. Just the fact that their talks switch back and forth between English and Spanish, as would happen in real life, is nice...for me anyway. (Evangeline picking up some Spanish phrases from Cristian was also a realistic touch, I thought). I like that they've not been whitewashed and have maintained that Latino presence. Like you said, they're not stereotyped yet their culture is obviously a part of their characters.

LOL....when I saw Joey Lupo on GL, I realized the only thing that made him stand out as Italian (apart from his last name) was that he was the only character to call his mother "Ma." Everybody else always called their mothers Mom, Mother or by first name. That always struck me as so waspy.

[Rakesh]

Passions is a very diverse soap.