Racism and racial representation on soaps

[prefab1]

I don't know Rowell personally, but from her many social media media posts, I get the sense that she's both a tireless campaigner for social justice who's done important work calling out institutional racism in the soap industry AND a relentless egomaniac. I mean, her posts contain more "I"s than a Roman arithmetic textbook. 

 

I think that's probably true of a lot of the divas we enjoy watching at a safe distance. If we had to regularly interact with them closely in person, it would be exhausting, because the diva would suck up all the oxygen in the room, leaving none for us. 

[Vee]

 

Block and ignore like all the others when they give themselves away.

 

On a side note, @Errol @Toups : The previous known and proven sockpuppet accounts for a notorious troll need to be banned, period. Not allowed to return to posting every few months for a few days. I'm talking ones that have been around for the last year or more and share the penchant for identical grotesque photoshopped avatars. You know who they are, so Ban. Them.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Vee

[Aback]

Spoilergirl1. It’s locked though. 

[lucaslesann23]

shes a fake, I belive her real account was exposed on twitter, and  i wish someone their would have the brains to ask VR back though

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Dylan

[db108108]

I wrote an academic article several years ago on Latino representation on soaps. OLTL was way and away the best soap and integrating Latino characters. Some interesting things I wrote about:

 

-Soaps are all about the romance. White/white and black/black pairings are all common, but Latinos are almost never paired with other Latinos. Latinos tend to be used more as exotic decoration than as integral characters, and thus a Latino/Latino pairing may be too exotic.

 

 

Tea from OLTL was the most interesting case given that she used Spanish dialog at several points, mostly when she broke down into hysterics. Spanish thus is cast as the emotional language, or a threat in some cases (when she appeared on GH).

 

Passions was absolutely terrible at Latino casting. It was unique in that one of the four core families was Latino, and the Erica Kane figure was Latina, but the actress was not Latina, and neither were most of the LoFitz kids. There was also tons of blatantly racist dialogue (especially from Rebecca) that was played off for laughs. Sure, we knew that Rebecca was abhorrent, but she was also comic relief (remember her implied relations with farm animals?), so it's hard to make a distinction at what we (the audience) should and should not laugh at. 

 

The figure I found interesting was Rachel Cory from Another World. Not Latina, of course, but Victoria Wyndham is, changing her name from Camargo on the advice of her father. She we actually did have a Latina leading a soap for almost 30 years, if only the audience had known....

 

The article is here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jpcu.12353

 

I'm not particularly proud of the research cited - it was several years ago and I could have done far better.

[Vizion]

Saw this on Twitter. Is it from here? Either way the fact that every show had access to this information and still had the pisspoor representation they had on their shows is completely inexcusable 

 

 

 

This should surprise nobody but Ronn Moss is a hardcore Trumper

 

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Vizion

[Chris B]

@Vizion This is well known in the soap world, they just no longer care. I had mentioned earlier in this thread how a CBS report had leaked when Shemar left showing that the show lost 1-2 million viewers based on his exit. Once they realized that they introduced lots of new black characters and brought back Dru and Lily. Of course when they did this they also gave them story. 
 

Things like this Is why I support VR so much and get so frustrated. It’s not just us liking these characters, these characters are HUGELY popular and this audience has been so loyal they deserve better. 
 

Mishael Morgan was the first black actress they struck gold with since VR left. The chemistry with Bryton was first class, but they still let her go. That’s insane considering the popularity. I also maintain Loren Lott was on her way to that level of success had they given her a chance. 
 

Soaps are dying and they’d rather die than simply give their audience, which is largely black, representation. That is insane. 

[DramatistDreamer]

Loren Lott is so charming and gorgeous that I have to believe that in a few years, she will have the kind of career that Tika Sumpter and/or Renée Elise Goldsberry currently have.

 

 

This was one of the reasons, I admit, I'd hoped that Morgan wouldn't return to daytime soaps.  I knew that it was more likely she'd be wasted just to prove some odd point. 

 

It should be clear to most folks who open their eyes long enough, that Y&R does not want a black actor/actress leading the show in storyline.  The way TPTB ensure that this does not happen is to undercut their Black talent.  This is the only explanation for why on earth they'd bring back the actress but not the character that she made so distinctive and interesting and replace Hillary with the dullard Amanda character.

 

Another case and point: Y&R had Darnell Williams and Debbie Morgan, two iconic Black soap actors--did absolutely nothing with them.  TPTB known damn well that they could have had a blockbuster storyline if they had brought back VR as an amnesiac and "Sarge's" common law wife. That story writes itself! Yet, they didn't want to, in order to prove some odd point.  (There is also the possibility that maybe their writers are just hacks).

[ReddFoxx]

Not really surprised, but I would have thought that Moss was one of those dumb people who are apathetic about politics. But then again Trump has drawn in a lot of apathetic types.

 

 

[victoria foxton]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwicgbnFlc3qAhWhmHIEHSABCWYQ0PADegQIARAH&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fentertainment%2Fwebsite-falsely-reported-soap-star-melissa-reeves-was-fired-from-days-of-our-lives-amid-black-lives-matter-controversy-we-apologize-for-the-error&usg=AOvVaw3FxQpcMmW8s8VF6kfnXHls    

 

[Vizion]

 

[Gray Bunny]

 

Ha!  I posted that photo. Glad to see it making the rounds. 

[ChitHappens]

 

It's hard to believe people thought Days, who's possibly done THE biggest disservice to black character/actors, would fire Missy for liking a tweet.  Sigh...

[Aback]

I had no clue - and I have no words. 

[pdm1974]

Although, I do wonder about the whole "if there's smoke there's fire." I wonder if it was in discussion by TPTB.  It's been hard for me to watch MR or support the character of Jennifer since the whole Chick-Fil-A mess.