True Detective, Diversity and a Medium Coming of Age

WordMaster

The Internet was abuzz yesterday after Huffington Post TV critic Maureen Ryan published a thorough – and thoroughly depressing, if unsurprising – assessment of behind-the-scenes diversity on cable dramas. Though the article focuses on HBO, home of critically-acclaimed shows like The Sopranos, The Wire and Game of Thrones, Ryan also looks at AMC, FX, Showtime and Netflix, which all combine to form the forefront of modern-day so-called prestige television.

             Long story short, it’s not good. To summarize:

• Over the past 40 years, HBO has aired precisely one original, hour-long drama series created by a woman (Cynthia Mort’s Tell Me You Love Me).
• Since 2008, HBO has not aired a single one-hour drama or mini-series with a creator or “narrative architect” that is female or non-white.
• In the last 12 years at the five aforementioned outlets, only 12% of drama series creators and narrative architects have been women.

Essentially, we’re not experiencing the Golden Age of TV so much as the Golden Age of White Male TV. If you asked someone what the best shows of the past decade were, he or she would probably rattle off a list that includes The Sopranos, The Wire, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and Mad Men, all of which not only revolve around central male protagonists but are also produced, written and directed predominantly by men. This is not to diminish the artistic quality and cultural significance of those shows in any way; even though I have my personal preferences (Mad Men forever!), few would deny that they have all, to some extent, altered the way we view, think about and discuss the medium, elevating it from “fun” escapism for mass audiences to something more refined and ambitious.

TV and the Question of Racial Diversity

StarGazer

        Over the past week, the television industry has gathered in Los Angeles for the winter Television Critics Association (or TCA) meetings, which are essentially an opportunity for both broadcast and cable networks to show off their upcoming projects to the press. No show so far has caused more of a stir than HBO’s Girls panel, perhaps not a surprise given that the Judd Apatow-produced dramedy has been a controversy magnet ever since it debuted in April 2012. While the majority of the media’s attention has focused on the panel’s antagonistic response to a clumsy, bordering on offensive question about creator and star Lena Dunham’s proclivity for onscreen nudity, an inquiry regarding the show’s racial diversity – or, more accurately, its lack thereof – is arguably more deserving of widespread discussion. The responses were telling not only of this particular show’s attitude toward race, but also of how urgent the issue still is in the TV and entertainment world as a whole.

        A refreshingly considerate Dunham allowed that they were still grappling with how to adequately address such concerns within the show and said that she has learned a lot, thanks to the conversation that Girls has helped open up. Unfortunately, her clear willingness to listen and learn was overshadowed by Apatow’s much more dismissive answer, which boiled down to not wanting to feel pressured into including a more racially diverse cast and looking for ways to make it feel “organic”. Without getting too caught up in the specifics of what he said, it’s a disappointing display of ignorance and white male privilege. Of course someone with no personal stake in the matter would see increasing diversity as cool but optional, something subject to the whims of artistic desire and inspiration. I can only wish someone had asked him to explain the difference between organic and inorganic POC inclusion; it’s not like we’re talking about whether they should incorporate dragons into the show, though that would also be awesome. What Apatow and, sadly, too many of his colleagues in the entertainment industry don’t understand is that diversity isn’t about being politically correct or not alienating different audiences, though the latter is important, but rather about reflecting the world we live in more faithfully and acknowledging that people have wildly different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. They should care about diversity because it’s good for art and will open up a wide range of new creative and storytelling possibilities, not out of a resentful sense of obligation.