The Overall Whiteness of Hollywood

To this day, I will always find it strange that once in my sociology class in college, the professor had wondered if anyone was upset by the fact that there is a Black Entertainment Television (BET) when there is not something like that for white people. Oddly enough, people agreed with him. I tried to argue that there already was a white entertainment television. He disagreed, although he made it seem like the two that came closest were either Fox News or Lifetime. I honestly don’t know what was up with that class because the networks that are for white people are called every other network. 

Let’s face it, there is never really that much about Hollywood in terms of television without finding a whole lot of white people on it. Most of the programming on all of network TV will focus on a cast that is largely white. It will probably not be entirely not without non white characters. There will be some of the characters that aren’t white. Sadly, it may just be one for the show’s entire run like The Big Bang Theory. While that character was in every episode of the show, that’s 12 years to only have one of the main characters not be a white person.

Why is Hollywood so white? Well, there’s not much to say about it. Part of it is just demographics where there still tends to be more white people than other races in this country. Thus, they are still more able to easily get roles in part due to having a number’s advantage. But there are other issues too that also prevent non whites from getting roles that they should get.

Casting might be part of the issue. For whatever reason, some casting notes may just say that they are for white actors alone and not for others. You wouldn’t think that this should happen most of the time. The only times where it should happen would be if you want to adapt a story based on a true story with someone who looks like the person in question. Other times, what a character looks like as described in other works that are adapted may be ignored.

This leads to the biggest problem in Hollywood, affecting both movies and TV shows. This problem is referred to as whitewashing. This is when a white actor is cast to play a role that was previously not white in the original work. This happens so much, it would be hard to even list all the number of times it has happened, even if it happens more in film.

Of course, there can be issues when a person is there just to represent races that would not otherwise be represented typically. Does one want to just be token representation? Is diversity for diversity’s sake a good thing? Is it good if someone is there who isn’t white just to be a representation of another race or culture? You can be the judge of that. Some may not like a perceived forced diversity while others may be glad that they are represented at all.

Ultimately, there isn’t much one can do to combat this. Shows can introduce more main characters that aren’t white and hopefully do it well. Other shows can make sure that more people who aren’t white are cast in the first place. Representation is a good thing and we need more of it.