Black Character Portrayals in Soaps Today

[DramatistDreamer]

I've occasionally 'lurked' on this site, being entertained and enlightened by all of the comments but I actually had to chime in and applaud your comments because they echoed my own. Succinctly put. You put the effort into summarizing what I've been too exasperated to put into detail myself.

I don't think it's just daytime however. I have been inundated with articles on how Network Primetime shows are being shutout critically by their Cable rivals. Simply put, I think this is due to the fact that Cable (nudity issues aside) takes more risks in general in terms of content. Then when you go down a notch to Daytime, it's mired in a weird time warp. Sadly, if there was ever a genre that is reflective of its lack of diversity in the writing room, its Daytime (you get none) Drama.

Okay that was my 2 cents.

[DRW50]

Welcome!

[DramatistDreamer]

Thank you!

[ChitHappens]

Welcome and have fun posting

[frequentsoapfan]

When Lindsey Morgan got the role of Kristina I could not believe how many times I read that she the wrong complexion for the role or Kristina was supposed to be white, or Italian etc. Nevermine that LM herself has one white parent but Sonny is half Cuban and the kids who played the role of his bio kids prior to soras were both Latino so it made me wonder if half those people only started watching in about 2010. There were just so many who instantly decided she was wrong for the role not based on her acting but her skintone.

[VirginiaHamilton]

*sigh*

I credit Tea's not being 'white with a tan' solely to Florencia Lozano (in spite of her Eurocentric looks), who - in spite of the cliched and downright terrible way that they'd written her character - managed to slip in hints that she was authentically Latina instead of just being Latino by name (looking dead @ Ted King as Lorenzo/Luis Alcazar and Nomas Delgado). That said, by the time she'd came on to OLTL in the 90s, I'd had my fill of seeing successful non-white TV characters that were ashamed of their background (and still do, as a matter of fact) so I just found her to be another cliche.

[VirginiaHamilton]

Stevie Wonder can see that it wasn't about certain viewers being new to the show, but more about wanting to keep GH's core family (as much as it pains me to type that) lily-white. After all, it was the same reason why said viewers had a problem with the existence of Maya Ward.

[JaneAusten]

No I think it was fury over firing academy award winner Lexi Ainsworth for another more mature looking actress they had an issue with.You'd think Lexi was Meryl streep the way some acted. AI who played Maya was paired with the most unappealing actor on the show who by virtue of being a Tony Geary pet was already protected she wasn't

[ChitHappens]

You have to know by now Maya being shackled to that piece of filth is a very sore topic with me. There were so many Daytime Don'ts with Ethan/Nathan, and I was happy AI got out. Maya would have been fighting a child stalker for his affections eventually. In bed with random black guy at the end of her tenure was for the best. I damn near weep just thinking about it.

[R Sinclair]

Yes. I called that chick out on Twitter (this was about 2 years ago). She tweeted that she's Greek, Puerto Rican and Dominican. So I asked her if AMC's casting was looking for Randi to be black or Hispanic? She replied to me (paraphrasing) "I'm blessed to have the opportunity AMC has given me."

So, I'm thinking she'll snatch a pay check in a heartbeat to play black, while proudly sharing her heritage is anything but that.

[ChitHappens]

And the truly sad part is that black characters, especially on Daytime, are few and far between, so when a role is created, a blacktress (loved that word) is barely in the running. There are few roles out there and non black women are getting them.

[frequentsoapfan]

AI stays winning though. She walked away from GH(and playing second fiddle to a child) for one lead role and even though it failed she landed another gig this fall as Joanna de la Vega on Arrow. I haven't heard about this generations answer to Meryl Streep being on anything.

[frequentsoapfan]

Well some did say she looked half black(one of my personal favorites) or that she doesn't look enough like Sonny's mother( another favorite since I saw her though flashbacks and she was no white woman)

[marceline]

Black actresses seem to do well once they leave ABC.

[frequentsoapfan]

Yes they do and AI has good management. I beleive her managent is also Halle Berry's and Taraji P Henson's. I also saw her into two commercials this year. One was a McDonald's commercial and the other was a Superbowl Pepsi Commercial.

I definitely see Tika Sumpter doing her thing thing on the big screen.