Racism and racial representation on soaps

[Soap-princess]

Technically most latinos are caucasians who speak Spanish but geographically located in Latin America. The same how African Americans are blacks with African descent but located in America. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Caucasians are predominantly Eastern Europeans from the Caucasus area--Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Republic of Georgia, etc. so what you're saying technically makes no sense.

Spain is western Europe and even before the Spanish conquest of the New World, there was mixing in Spain due to the Moors from North Africa having occupied Spain for over a century.

 

These days, especially, speaking Spanish has no more to do with how closely Latinos identify with Spanish culture or identity than how a closely an English speaking Nigerian identifies to England.  Please explain your reasoning because it makes very little sense to me at the moment and I have traveled and stayed in Spain as well as parts of Latin America.

[All My Shadows]

I agree with her first comment. In fact, I've been fighting the urge to be shady and messy on social media by commenting on how it seems like everyone who was SO gung ho about healing race relations two months has moved on to their next topic of interest. So much of the noise (and I necessarily don't mean "noise" negatively) came from people who wanted to flex how woke they are by posting a black screen on Instagram or copying and pasting hotline numbers or watching a documentary that Netflix/Hulu/Amazon moved to the top of their welcome screens. They feel like they did their part, so now it's on to the next thing. For the gay white men I know, it's the new Taylor Swift album.

 

I'm not feeling the comparison of the new Wonder Years remake to Everybody Hates Chris at all. Assuming TWY keeps the tone of the original series, it will lean more towards seriousness whereas EHC leaned more towards gentle comedy. Plus, they're set in two different time periods, and the new WY family is going to face issues that the Arnolds never had to.

Oh, and helllll no, this won't apply to soaps. These networks do not care about these soap operas. I feel the general mindset on soaps is "You guys handle it, but if you guys can't handle it, we're just gonna cancel."

Edited July 27, 2020 by All My Shadows

[Faulkner]

I disagree with that comparison certainly. We’ll have to wait and see on the reboot (although Lee Daniels’s involvement gives me pause). But a big yes to her skepticism about the networks’ commitment. 

[GLATWT88]

False. Look up the demographics of Latin America and you will easily discover you're statement is wrong. 

 

Yes. The Iberian Peninsula were dominated by Moors and Moorish culture for century. You'll definitely witness some with darker complexion who claim to be full Spaniard and Portuguese lineage but may have Moorish roots. Not to be confused with the many African people who hail from former Portuguse colonies now residing in Portugal. 

[victoria foxton]

 

  

 

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by victoria foxton

[All My Shadows]

God damn, Maura!

[Vizion]

I like Maura but it kills me how the GH folks have something to say about everyone but their own castmates (namely Ingo and Steve). 

 

The DAYS cast was not silent about Missy Reeves but the only person from the GH cast who has said anything about the problematic folks in that cast has been NLG I believe. 

[ghfan89]

Yup. Jill Farren Phelps really decimated the Gannons when she took over in the late 90s. I think she was also the producer who put the kaboosh on the interracial pairings of Alan-Michael/Gilly and David/Bridget on Guiding Light too.

[Aback]

Is the Caucasus area Eastern Europe? Are the people from Armenia, Azerbaijan and ROG traditionally “white”?

[prefab1]

I live in Armenia, and the people here certainly do think of themselves as "white" (and would be shocked to hear that some people might view them otherwise). 

[Faulkner]

Oh wow. I was in Yerevan last year for a work trip in Armenia and Georgia. Loved it there. Nicest people ever. It’s interesting traveling certain places as a black man. I was surrounded by crowds as if I was a celebrity.

[Aback]

I know the feeling. I live in Italy. Italians all think of themselves as whiter than white lol. They would be appalled to learn that some people may assume they are Latinos or Middle Easterners at times. 
 

My point is that - provided that race is such a flimsy structure - the term Caucasian doesn’t make any sense. It must be the result of some urban legend. What we consider “white people” have got nothing to do with the Caucasus area. 

[David_Vickers]

Awesome Maura West!  I love her, more all the time!

[DramatistDreamer]

 

In many ways, the term "Caucasian" seems to be a very archaic term, especially when considering that theoretically race is a social construct but you'd be surprised how many people in the U.S., particularly those who categorize themselves as white, refer to themselves as white and Caucasian, almost interchangeably.

 

My point (challenge, if you will) to the poster that I originally replied to is that I have never personally known anyone who identifies as Latino/Latinx claim that their culture or identity was with Spain. I grew up with Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Colombians, Mexicans/Chicanos, Panamanians and I never heard that before.  In fact, the majority of those I have known looked at Spain as having colonized their respective countries/islands.  Even the issue of language is fraught.  If you've ever been to Spain, you will find that those who willingly speak Castilian (and honestly, that is not everybody, there are some ethnic groups that are fairly resistent to Spanish/Castilian culture and language) speak quite differently from someone in say...Cuba or Mexico, who each have their own idioms.  Try going to Cuba or Mexico or Panama and addressing an elder person by saying ¡Oiga! like you'd do in Spain and see what reaction you'd get. I myself would never do this outside of Spain but I'd bet that the reaction wouldn't be very good.