Black Character Portrayals in Soaps Today

[Cheap21]

IA. DV would've been better suited for another role but not this tough chick from the streets. She'd came across too "bubblegum" to sell it. I had to roll my eyes whenever Randi got "feisty". I do think she's a better fit for the role she is playing on Single Ladies

[DeeeDee]

Exactly.

It's a good thing AMC ended before the writers had her cheat on Frankie with one of the white male characters.

[Cheap21]

that would have required giving those two a story

[DeeeDee]

And the sad thing is AMC didn't care enough to recast.

Daphnee Duplaix would've been a much better Randi.

[ChitHappens]

Yes, it was a retread of Donna Beck. There should have been angst and we should have felt sorry for Randi as she struggled to become a respectable woman. I couldn't feel bad for Randi and all I wanted to do was beat her portrayer with a lead pipe just to get her off my screen. My sympathies went to Cornelius for having that thing shackled to him. It was the first time in the history of my tv viewing that I was cheering for a black man to have an affair with a white woman. I shipped Madison and Frankie just to get away from Randi, even if for a little while. I really did!

[DeeeDee]

Yep.

They wouldn't have gotten one otherwise.

By the time AMC ended Brot & Natalia were getting way more story than they were & they were barely on themselves.

[ReddFoxx]

At first, the character was more forceful, but after awhile she ended up being Blake's ally more than anything else and was mostly in the background.

[VirginiaHamilton]

IMO, although Tea is an educated Latina on paper, I had my own issues with:

a. her being propped as the most high-profile Latina character in daytime, considering that she possessed Eurocentric physical features that made her 'acceptable' enough to be paired with one of the lead (white) male characters - a privilege that would not be extended to someone who looked like the aforementioned Marisa Ramirez.

b. her being written (in the beginning) as a woman who wanted to scramble as far away from her Boriqua heritage as possible.

c. her eventually being written as a 'fiery-tempered' Latina who'd go off at the drop of a hat.

And, yes, cheap, I'd be making the same critiques if Tea Delgado was a character that I loved/liked/cared for.

[marceline]

Well it's not like they could've had her cheat with a black one.

[VirginiaHamilton]

They sure did...SMDH

[VirginiaHamilton]

That is, if she didn't run away with her white-pimp-turned-hero after emasculating Frankie for not being 'exciting' enough.

[marceline]

But not before making Carlo Hesser her father.

[Cheap21]

see I like that and preferred it to the other portrayals of Latinas. They didn't ignore the fact that she was a Latina and just start writing as if she was white with a tan. This was utilized in story and part of her backstory. She felt she needed to deny her heritage in order to get ahead in white corporate America (which unfortunatrly is a real issue that rings true for today) and she did run from it but ultimately realize she couldn't bc Latina is who and what she was. I liked the contrast they used to emphasize this between her and the Vegas and her interactions with the real Carlota were gold. By the time she had returned as a full character a few years ago she had changed and embraced her upbringing to the point where it was no longer an issue

[marceline]

That's what I was alluding to above. Minority characters aren't allowed to have "issues" especially when there's only one. IMO, It was fine when Tea came on because we had the whole Angel Square crew: the Vega family, Javier, Linda Soto, etc.... Tea could have identity issues because she wasn't a token.

[DeeeDee]

:lol: