Racism and racial representation on soaps

[Soaplovers]

The way Camille on ATWT was let go confused me because we only just scratched the surface of her character..imho

[Chris B]

A black actress on Hollyoaks, a popular British soap called them tf out! And keep in mind Hollyoaks has pretty big representation for the black community on screen, but this goes to show (like Victoria Rowell said!) it takes more than that. How they’re treated behind the scenes MATTERS! Having people who can do your makeup matters. Having people who can light you (HELLO LOREN LOTT!) matters! Not having to do your own hair or wearing the shake and go they give you MATTERS!

 

 

Who knows if it’ll happen, but now is the time that the US soap actors need to speak out and be specific. They can’t do anything to them now because the press would be too bad. Victoria Rowell needs to gather the best of the best and get on live or do one of those zoom reunions and everybody needs to speak up!

 

[ChitHappens]

 

I feel I should know who this is but I'm drawing a blank.  Help me out, please.

[Faulkner]

Camille was Ben’s love interest who had breast cancer and a mastectomy and fell in love with Brad Snyder.

[Soaplovers]

 

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[ChitHappens]

I'm super happy Patrick M spoke up about the horrible wigs for black women on Daytime because what they use to do to Reign Edwards was criminal.  She looked broken.  

 

Yeah, I don't remember her.

[Faulkner]

I thought she was a fabulous actress.

 

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OMG those wigs on Nicole.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Or someone else, because the burden shouldn't only be on her but yes, that I would like to see!  Ellen Holly, Tonya Pinkins, Tonya Lee Williams, Eddie Earl Hatch, Stephanie E. Williams and so many others would have loads of insight I'd bet! 

[ReddFoxx]

Rebecca on Passions was flat out racist. There was a scene where Pilar had collapsed in a bathroom and Rebecca tapped her with her foot and said hola. I know that the show went for comedy a lot, but this wasn't funny.

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[DRW50]

 

Hollyoaks' representation of the black community has tended to be very shaky, generally keeping the characters in their own bubbles and having questionable storylines that no one seems to take much notice of in terms of racial dynamics. They do at least try for diversity, but it never goes right. Kudos to her for speaking out, as I know she's putting her whole career on the line. 

[soapfan770]

I was pretty disgusted with Passions handling of rape after rape and doing things out of spite just for pure shock value but I do remember the show’s main villains like Alistair and Rebecca being openly racist/sexist/homophobic etc. But I do remember it was a large stampede of disgruntled lesbians led by Simone is what killed Alistair Crane in 2006 with Kathleen Noone’s character shouting out “Thank God for the lesbians!” 
 

I remember I think it was Toups’ great assessment after JER’s passing that I will always remember that by that point it was a complicated Reilly just trying to communicate his thoughts out to the world. 

[GLATWT88]

I think it's okay and important to have problematic characters on soap operas as long as they're not being touted as heroes and the topics are addressed/handled in a responsible manner. 

 

Passions did tend to address very tense topics with humor and sometimes it worked and other times it failed miserably. 

[GLATWT88]

Speaking of race and how general perception has evolved and changed over the years, I will say that Y&R acted positively and with sensitivity when editing the 1991 Masquerade episode. After watching the episode during the Friday classics, I decided to look up more episodes from that period and while doing so I stumbled upon a clip with the deleted scenes that didn't make the 2020 re-broadcast. One thing was glaringly obvious to me, a lot of scenes were cut to exclude a character that was dressed in Native American headdresses. In recent years, we have become more sensitive to the harm caused by acts of cultural appropriation. Many celebs have actually gotten into hot water for using Native American symbolism, dress and imagery. I think whoever was in charge of editing the episode was aware of the issues that might arise from including those scenes. I didn't bring it up weeks ago when I first watched as I didn't  know where to address it, but I feel as if it may be relevant to this topic. I'm surprised no one in the comments section of the YouTube video noticed it. I'm sure to most of the older audience and even some of the younger, it would seem like it is not a big deal, but considering our current climate and how we are changing albeit slowly I think it was culturally responsive and responsible on Y&R's part. 

 

If anyone is interested in the scenes I am referring to, the clip below includes the scenes that were removed from the re-broadcast. Most of the scenes with the character are in the second half of the clip.

 

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Edited June 6, 2020 by GLATWT88

[soapfan770]

Weirdly wasn’t that Miguel dressed up as the Native American Chief going after Esther? I remember reading something form 1984 Y&R where Miguel & Esther had some flirtatious scenes scenes never addressed again and Miguel apparently mentioned a brother who went to law school while Esther mentioned having a brother on screen.

 

Years later I remember reading  Skip Evans was planned to be Esther’s brother while John Silva was suppose to be Miguel’s brother but they decided against making any connections WTH? But then again I remember reading this from the same source that claimed Skip died in a motorcycle accident in 1991, something I have never verified and will never repeat as  fact unless proven true.

[GLATWT88]

 

Yes, I believe that is Miguel. Someone mentions it in the comments. I don't know if Miguel was an important character at the time or about those rumors but I really enjoyed this episode and reading the storylines connected to this period. Obviously the episode needed to be edited down from its runtime from 1991 to fit current episode length, but considering how Miguel was cut from every scene where he was prominently visible even scenes where he was just in passing which made some scenes look choppy, it was clear he was removed due to his outfit.