Racism and racial representation on soaps

[Soap-princess]

The conversation probably would have hit harder coming from Amanda and not Billy. CK and her portrayal of Lily has benefited from colorism more so than any character/actress I can recall.

[Faulkner]

I had the sliiiightest expectation for her to mention skin tone when she listed how she herself benefits from privilege. But I guess that would have been a third rail.

[Soap-princess]

Lol. I didn’t have such expectations because the show is awful.

[Faulkner]

Dreadful. It’s lacking in grand drama but doesn’t do character moments like this well either. Worst of both worlds.

[janea4old]

Karla Mosley is out at B&B (or rather, they stopped using her and now it's confirmed they won't).

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGIisWqgP8T

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGIjm_jAumk

 

Edited January 5, 2021 by janea4old

[Faulkner]

They all but confirmed it by finally cutting Maya from their recent opening but glad to see KM make it official. Sad that they allowed a “historic” character to just do the Irish goodbye. A waste and they painted Maya into a corner with a story they knew they couldn’t truly execute. 

Edited October 10, 2020 by Faulkner

[Faulkner]

Just watched a lot of this 1982 episode of AMC, which featured Liza taunting Angie after falsely accusing Jesse of rape as well as Jesse visiting Ray Gardner in prison. Of course, Liza and Ray were execrable villains we were supposed to despise, but the portrayal of racism is pretty striking. You had Liza weaponizing her white female fragility as well Ray, a stereotypical “hillbilly,” addressing Jesse as “boy.” When Jesse bristles at Ray’s repeated use of the slur, Ray responds, “I could call you a lot worse!”

 

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Edited November 2, 2020 by Faulkner

[lucaslesann23]

I saw this question on twitter, how does everyone feel the 4 soaps are doing with race diversity after the blm backlash?

[Faulkner]

My ranking would be:

 

The Solid (but not Great IMO):

1. Y&R - solid character writing for the Quad that’s allowed Bryton James and Brytni Sarpi to really shine and of course Mishael is a star, although Nate could still use some work (get Olivia on this show, pronto). Story was horrendously rushed, though.

 

The OK:

2. DAYS - Eli/Lani embroiled in heavy story with Kristen/Brady/Trask, with actual secrets!, while still involved in their daily police jobs (Lani supporting Allie, etc.) That said, the story itself is not that scintillating IMO.

 
The Meh:

3. B&B - the love triangle is very visible but zzzzz. Delon De Metz’s Zende is cute but has none of Rome Flynn’s verve or energy. Zoe is a big nothing and Carter is a waste. Filler.

The Jury is Still Out:
4. GH - Seems like the Taggart story will heat up but they’ve done very little to activate their black characters thus far (Jordan/Curtis are pretty two-dimensionally written), aside from showcasing Trina more.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Faulkner

[lucaslesann23]

Agree with all but kinda surprised about GH. When it came back i seen a few people say its been doing okay with diversity ie spreading its cast around story for em etc. Did that change in the last month or two?

[Faulkner]

Gotta say, I’ve never been

that impressed with GH’s recent attempts at diversity. They did drive a lot of the initial Cyrus story earlier in the year, but they’d taken somewhat of a backseat until now. GH, like all of the shows these days, is so poorly paced.

[Taoboi]

As the unofficial co-worker trainer who has had to train co-workers after the manager who never appreciated my merit (8 plus years in the restaurant business) had her underqualified favorites train them, I definitely know the frustration and embarrassment when everyone around you knows your worth BUT your higher management and they do nothing. While I left that job a year ago next week, I do admit I took great pleasure showing how much weight and power I held back for years on my way out the door. Superiority has its advantage.

 

Thank you for sharing your story, Mike. I took it to my heart. It really resonated and I wanted to reply sooner than now. 

 

Like you I had loved soaps when I was young. Grandma and Mom always sending me to nap (and me not wanting to) when Y&R or AMC or GH came on. So I remember images here and there. OLTL became my first and favorite soap...Viki and her alters (and Dorian and Joey) did me in. So as I grew older, I wanted to write for soaps. Well, I always wanted to write. And soaps was one of my interests.

 

So I did apply for the writing programs. Back when they were around. The runaround I used to get from them was crazy. But I guess the companies knew that they would be shut down by the time I was submitting.

 

I moved out here to California in 2005 to get my feet wet, but to also see about writing programs out here. The issue that I've always had was that did I really want to live in LA. I know one should go where the work is, but while I might thrive socially there, I was not sure if I would thrive professionally there. LA taking your soul and all that. Still...I decided to keep submitting. I am based in San Diego so if I should ever get in, then I would make a concrete decision about moving.

 

But life took twists and turns. With this crazy year, I admit that it's been on my mind again. I have still submitted out to writing programs over the years. It was the reason I came back out to California after I left in 2010. Technology has changed. lol. But there has been a lot more of who you know and loopholes that were not out there when I first started to submit. And one of my worries has been what you were discussing. Life experiences has made me very colorblind and judging people on their merit, not where they come or their skin color. But I've become more realistic. If this year has taught me anything, it would be that not everyone sees people that way.

 

I am still doing well, branching out to new projects and avenues this year than I have in a while, but...if I branch out to LA how hard will it be to get people to see you on your merit if they are not even willing to let you get your foot in the door due to your skin?

[DramatistDreamer]

Racism in the soaps is not just what you see on screen, it is also what happens, or fails to happen behind the scenes. Reading that very little seems to have changed behind the scenes, in terms of production and executive positions, I really couldn't give any of these shows even a passing grade in terms of how they function. I am seeing some generous grades but after 30, 40 years, I think it's time to stop grading on a curve.

[Darn]

It's wild to think daytime has only gotten more racist while other forms of media are tripping over themselves to catch up. 

[janea4old]