Have you reached a point movies/tv can be "too white"?

[Admiral Woofington]

I mean in the sense that the diversity of the cast is so minimal it actually turns you off from watching the movie/TV show.

I understand that I can't expect everything to have every 2 across be another ethnicity, but when there's like 90% pretty white people and the token minority here and there it just feels so artificial I can't help but be turned off.

By no means do I want this to turn into an ugly topic so if a mod wants to change the title be my guest.

 

[TheMikado]

Friends, the thread.
My wife and I can't even get through a single episode.

 

[Bronx-Man]

Game of Thrones: the thread

 

[#Senpai]

Even as a white man, I find most of fictional shows to be overly white.

 

[NealMcCauley]

I watched the Norwegian disaster movie The Wave last week and the first thing that popped into my head when it was over was "Damn that movie was white."

Okay movie though.

 

[Anna]

Nope. The world around me is overwhelmingly white, so even one person of colour on the screen is an interesting novelty.

 

[Fulminator]

i've never turned a show off for this, but i do notice it and talk about it more than i used to

recently watched MindHunter, which was white af.

 

[shaneo632]

Depends on the show really. If it's done for the sake of period accuracy then I don't really mind, but if it's some sitcom with 100% white people then it is pretty offputting.

I sometimes wince at Noah Baumach's films because they're so achingly white upper-class that it can get a bit tiresome.

 

[Assisted Living Dracula]

Quite literally the last thing on my mind when I turn on the TV after a day at work and dealing with real-world bullshit, bills, parents' health issues and various other actual problems.

 

[House_Of_Lightning]

Friends and Big Bang are too white for me.

 

[LosDaddie]

As a minority, not really.

I can still enjoy shoes like GoT, Mad Men, and Seinfeld if the writing and acting is good.

 

[SigmasonicX]

If a brand new show still goes all white, I find it really disappointing. This was one of the first things I noticed about the OA (on Netflix) and part of why it didn't grab me.

 

[Spock]

After not seeing friends in a long time, I caught an episode a few weeks back and, dang yo, lol. that show is strait up milk. :P

Edit: I can watch and enjoy the show, but wow it has this vibe that is just 'eh, lol.

 

[SliceSabre]

I have encountered many shows I perceive as being very 'white' but I have never turned off a show or refused to watch one for being 'white'.

 

[Mona]

Nope

 

[FireSafetyBear]

Yeah they can be too white

But I don’t use it against it

 

[Thatonedice1]

The joke about game of thrones being overtly a white guys show is pretty funny when I have known a couple of black people that watch the show (myself included).But to be honest most shows always have overtly white cast so I don't let it stop me from watching a show. I do wish more pieces of media took the Hamilton route and cast mostly minorities. But what can you do.

 

[AnansiThePersona]

I can watch many shows that would prolly be considered "too white" but Friends? I'm sorry y'all I just can't do it.

 

[Africanus II]

Friends is the show that came to mind.
Surprisingly, guess which demographic always recommends it to me!

 

[Zoe]

Not at all

 

[Lady Murasaki]

Depends on the show really. If it's done for the sake of period accuracy then I don't really mind, but if it's some sitcom with 100% white people then it is pretty offputting.

Click to shrink...

Same. But the tricky thing is that many shows and movies base on myths about what was 'racially accurate' in determined time and period. Rome, for example, was much more diverse than is actually shown (the original Romans themselves were by definition Mediterranean, white but tending to be dark skinned, dark eyes and hair) and it is believed they didn't have color prejudice. Not to mention the white Egypt catastrophe that is most movies about this ancient civilization.

I also like quite a lot diverse shows. The Good Place has an awesome diverse cast and it isn't even about being a minority.

 

[Bronx-Man]

As a minority, not really.

I can still enjoy shoes like GoT, Mad Men, and Seinfeld if the writing and acting is good.

Click to shrink...

Now see, with Mad Men the overwhelming whiteness works because the entire show holds it up to a spotlight & critques how 60s work culture was dominated by white male hegemony. It’s different from a lot of shows that ignore that entirely.

 

[AndyD]

Friends, the thread.
My wife and I can't even get through a single episode.

Click to shrink...

Ha, Friends was on the other day and my wife and I said the same thing. It really is noticeable now after watching recent high quality diverse TV series like This is Us or Modern Family. As said above, if a show reflects the reality of the time and circumstances, like Mad Men, it's one thing, but otherwise it's noticeable.

 

[TheMikado]

Game of Thrones: the thread

Click to shrink...

Not even close. Its fiction based and had a significantly diverse case outside of the anglo-regions.
There are shows which have no contemporary or historical context for being less diverse.

 

[Mahonay]

Yes, but only in some of the more blatant cases.

It's why I have trouble watching shows like Friends now, and really most Network TV.

 

[chodyburrito]

Yup I was watching Seinfeld yesterday and just couldn't get over how little minorities were represented.

 

[Ghos]

Most casts are almost entirely white so what's the difference really.

 

[PassiveObserver]

Nah. I wouldn't be able to watch Walt Stillman or Noah Baumbach films otherwise. Gotta turn my woke mind off to enjoy those urbanite quips.

 

[Raptomex]

I'll be honest, I never even notice, even if the cast is diverse. I only keep watching if I enjoy it, no matter what the cast, and stop watching if I don't.

 

[TheMikado]

Ha, Friends was on the other day and my wife and I said the same thing. It really is noticeable now after watching recent high quality diverse TV series like This is Us or Modern Family. As said above, if a show reflects the reality of the time and circumstances, like Mad Men, it's one thing, but otherwise it's noticeable.

Click to shrink...

Friends is really weird because it was kinda of the comedy version of a Dawson's Creek or Beverly Hills in demographics. Where you would have expected it to be a more "mature" version of Saved by the Bell where there is more diversity of cast.
The crazy thing is that Dawson's Creek and Beverly Hills make more sense than Friends in terms of lack of diversity simply due to location.

 

[killertofu]

PoC film buff here and I honestly don't want to see Lady Bird because all I thought was "wow another coming of age story where some spoiled white teen acts out for an hour and a half"

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[Deleted member 179]

Not when its a lot of white people, but when it turns into r/WhitePeopleTwitter I cringe harder than I ever have before.

I do want diversity in films and I will notice when its not, but I don't become uncomfortable. That hits me more in real life situations, like the Oktoberfest at my gf's family's catholic church. Definitely bothered there.

 

[Phobophile]

Pretty much every Wes Anderson movie to me. I can enjoy them, but the characters are completely unrelateable to me.

 

[Bronx-Man]

Also, i love him and his movies dearly but

Spoiler

Wes Anderson

 

[CrazyAndy]

Since Friends is the best sitcom ever I would have to say nope.

 

[TheMikado]

I'll be honest, I never even notice, even if the cast is diverse. I only keep watching if I enjoy it, no matter what the cast, and stop watching if I don't.

Click to shrink...

The context matters. Friends was particularly egregious because of the context of city life.

 

[Richter1887]

This shit was very close to making me drop the show.

 

[ToTheMoon]

I don't watch much TV, but I don't normally notice it with movies even when I probably should.

I definitely get turned off by movies that are "too male", though.

 

[Scubamonk]

Not really, no. Seinfeld and Sunny are two of my favorite shows ever, and they're pretty white.

 

[Preezy]

Since Friends is the best sitcom ever I would have to say nope.

Click to shrink...

 

[The Almighty Tria]

TV needs more diversity, but to say it turns me off from watching a great TV show is ludicrous.

 

[Otherist]

Generally, something needs to be really, really good if it expects to hold my attention while only being concerned with white people's perspectives. Or at least be incredibly original/groundbreaking in another regard. Not even strictly from a "fuck passive racism" angle, but also just for the sake of freshness. In other words, it has to be at least as good as Twin Peaks or I ain't on board.

 

[Kirblar]

No, not unless it's a show that's abnormally white relative to what its portraying to the point it becomes distracting.

Lots of places in the US are still overwhelmingly white. It's when a show is set somewhere that isn't and is still overwhelmingly white that there an issue.

 

[Lazloisdavrock]

jeez

 

[UltimateHigh]

It's something I notice, yeah.

 

[Shuri]

Good thread,

We should make a list of shows we think are problematic. Heck, perhaps have it stickied in the OT. We need to avoid giving those shows coverage, ratings and most importantly money.

 

[Deleted member 135]

Honestly and bluntly, I'm white, so no.

But I barely watch TV and movies as it is. What little I do watch (Arrowverse, Star Trek reruns) is pretty diverse as it is.

 

[Sansian]

It's hard to say... I certainly will notice when a show is in no danger of having a minority on the set, but at the same time it's pretty awkward when you can tell that a production is bending over backwards for diversity points. I suppose the best example of the whitest shit out there that I will watch are the Hallmark Christmas movies because it's so cute when they use the budget to rent a producer's house and hire a fading c-list actor from the 80's or 90's while rounding up all of the attractive people from a local theater group to play the rest of the roles. Coming up with an example of a production that pushes diversity too hard is pretty difficult, because it doesn't happen as often (which is a problem in itself after a fashion). The best example I can give is the Extreme Ghostbusters cartoon where they created the main cast like they were creating a 6-player raid party for an MMO and didn't want any duplicate classes.

 

[Raptomex]

The context matters. Friends was particularly egregious because of the context of city life.

Click to shrink...

I agree 100% but I just never actually thought to myself the show was "too white". At least not until now that's it brought up.

 

[Dice]

I live in the Toronto area, and it's pretty diverse here. So Friends or How I Met Your Morher sorta does this to me.
I don't switch off, but it does just feel a little weird.

But I do like the push for more diverse casts these days; it adds a way more interesting character makeup.