Racism and racial representation on soaps

[Faulkner]

Soaps have so many opportunities to cast nonwhite actors in different roles, and they don’t take them. For example, Ashland and Tara on Y&R could have been nonwhite, even with the twist of Kyle being Tara’s baby daddy. (I realize shows need to be careful with “negative” portrayals.)

[Forever8]

Exactly!!! Tara could've been of South Asian descent. But then again this show doesn't do right by black or POC in the last decade. Anyone remember Ravi? Juliet? 

[Faulkner]

It’s funny that both of those characters happened during Sussman’s reign. They weren’t particularly well-written but they had potential. Mal had no interest in either.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Remember when "Lane" fanatics practically ran a campaign to drive the character off the show?

 

There have been some characters that I never could stand, but I still can't grasp the idea of trying to force an actor out of a job unless they'd done something unconscionable.

 

 

Coming from the U.K., one would think that Mal would've seen the value of having a South Asian character, even a family on a soap, since shows like Eastenders, no doubt, benefited from having South Asian characters on that show.

Mal Young was passive aggressive AF when it came to writing non-white characters.

[Forever8]

It seemed Angelica McDaniel foisted the Rosales clan on him... 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

From what I saw of the writing, it showed that he didn't want to write for them, although I know that the Rosales family were her pet project and it was obviously a vanity project. If McDaniel were genuine about integrating a Latino family into the landscape in a way that made sense, instead of shoehorning her wish-list and redesigning the show's DNA, she could have easily picked up on a different branch of the Raul Gutierrez family (they wouldn't have even have had to change the name, could have kept it Rosales). And actually used Raul for more than a cameo when he appeared on the show for the anniversary episodes. He could have ushered in the family, which could have eased the way of the characters and actors, but I guess it was not as showy as that photoshoot.

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[Chris B]

One thing I’ll give Mal is that I do think had he remained that he was going to use Ana more than what we got. The only regret I have about his exit is that it was before he could develop her character and Fen. 
 

I also agree with y’all in terms of Asian characters. I thought Ravi and Juliet both had long term potential and fit in well. Juliet have Cane his best story and he was morphing into the new Brad Carlton. Considering how much screentime he got and how juicy that material was, I still find it insane Daniel Goddard complained so much. I wanna say that story doubled his yearly episode appearances. Just crazy!

 

One thing that has bothered me recently is that CBS Daytime has posted these things about “Stop Asian Hate” but their soaps don’t have one Asian character. In fact, I don’t think any soap does except Terry on GH who is also Trans which means she won’t get a story. Ditto for Brad who is gay. It’ll be interesting to see if in the coming months we start to see any Asian characters pop up as a result of this. 

[Faulkner]

DAYS has Trask and had Haley, but Haley’s dead and Trask is only used sparingly as a heavy.

[koos]

I thought Ravi was fantastic and I'm almost dumbfounded by his being wasted. The Juliet story was the last time I didn't fast-forward Goddard.

[Taoboi]

I remember Juliet. I loved her and she had so much potential especially if she had been still alive once Sam was born. Lane spoiler. Custody fight. Hillary's friend feeling like pariahs in town. Juliet using her skills in work...or getting close to Billy for example. That's just off the top of my head. 

 

Then you have Ravi with his relationship with Ashley which could have left to class drama. And if not staying with Ashley, he could have been spun off into the Mariah age group.

 

And DG can shut up. SSM was the best thing that happened to Cane. He was great as Brad Jr. 

THIS.

 

 

[Vee]

I remember people absolutely roasting Ravi on this board mere days in. I always liked the actor and got what they were going for. Was it flawlessly executed, no, but I think the relationship with Ashley often worked. I think he was meant to be a stepping stone to putting her with someone like Graham, which clearly did not pan out, but I may be wrong.

 

I agree with others that Sussman actually gave the Cane character a new future and role and Goddard ran from it - we've talked about it before. She made him interesting as a classic heel. But the actor, his fanbase and ultimately the network couldn't take it.

[Taoboi]

And I remember the stepping stone theory which would have interesting as well since Ashley/Graham did have great hate chemistry. And having Ravi interact with Mariah and Abby around that time more frequently would have been an easy out to do with him so he was not islanded off. Of course, Ashley in a triangle would have been great as well. 

[Faulkner]

My initial issue with Ravi was that he seemed a bit like a South Asian stereotype. And they did lame things like GT/Phyllis giving him a makeover in one of those silly ‘80s dressing room makeover montages set to pop music. And he felt isolated from the other young characters, especially during a time when the show needed a more viable youth scene. (Like why not have him befriend Mariah or Devon or someone?) Yet Abhi Sinha did give him more depth, and he worked reasonably well with ED. I just wanted some direction, which the show overall didn’t get under Sussman’s watch until too late.

Exactly. And once he was established, it could have been a great way of bringing on a South Asian family, as many have stated.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Faulkner

[Forever8]

I wish they would've avoided "The Raj from Big Bang Theory treatment" with him. I felt he didn't need to fit in a stereotype as a characterization. Plus I wish they would've had him with his age group more i.e. Noah, Mariah Devon, Abby, etc., He spent most of his time with Phyllis and Ashley. I would've liked them to bring on his parents and his genius big sister played by Shenaz Treasury. 

 

Juliet had the making of a good vixen i.e. Jill, Mari Jo Mason, etc., she just needed some red bull or the right director in scenes when she became lethargic to reign her in. I would've had her fight Cane & Lily for Sam but ultimately lose custody and only gets visitation rights. She finds herself having to scheme in order to get her child back by any means necessary. 

[Faulkner]

Something about Laur Allen felt very Bill Bell Y&R to me. She was beautiful and had sort of a sexy allure with her ScarJo raspy voice. Of course they had to kill her off.