Is Australian Television Racist? Diversity Still out of the Picture:
On March 1, 2012, The
Sydney Morning Herald released the article, Diversity
Still Out of the Picture, by Paul Kalina. The article points the finger at
Australian TV for racism by not casting enough multicultural actors. “The overwhelming
message is that opportunities for actors who are, or look like, ''ethnics'' are
significantly lower than for whites and that Australian TV networks are failing
to represent the racial and ethnic make-up of what is one of the most
culturally diverse countries on the planet.” [i]
The article is filled with influential
TV personnel addressing this ‘issue’. Marea Jablonski (of actors' agency BGM),
says that “Australian TV does not reflect its audience and that commercial TV
is very conservative in its casting;” Penny Chapman speaks regarding the
network executors and some concerns they have, “What they aren't worried about
is faces that aren't white, I think what they're nervous about is what faces
that are not white will say.'' She points out that the casting of ethnic
actors, those from non-English speaking backgrounds, frightens the executors –
how will they create a cast around and incorporate another culture into the TV
series? Here, Chapman feels that great opportunities to embrace Australia’s
diversity and multiculturalism have been wasted – many of the TV market’s
consumers are multicultural, so why not create cast members that connect with the
consumers?!
One TV series that the article mentions
is Neighbours. The soap has recently become acutely aware of the need to
reflect our diverse society – most notably, through the introduced of the
Kapoor family - an Indian-Sri Lankan family, who recently took up residence in
Ramsay Street. However, as a Neighbours
watcher – it is seen that this move in television is still extremely
conservative. When watching the Kapoor family – you do not pick up on any
Indian-Sri Lankan cultural values or ways of life – they seem ‘Australian’ –
only by looking at the cast members physically would you agree that the
characters are from such orientation.
Christina Ho talks about “exchanges of goods,
information and care” – and notably television is quite the domain for the
exchange of information. These exchanges she stresses are essential; they “bring
people together, not always to create something as strong as friendship, but to
enable the “recognition or acknowledgement of otherness in situational specificity
(Wise 2009:35).”[ii]
In a vast multicultural country, this coming together creates coherency that
enables a country to function of a social entity.
Communication through the media has always been important
to society – in this modern era where technology strives we are mass media dominates.[iii] This allows us to
communicate and interact without being in the same spatial and temporal
vicinity. [iv] “Ideas, symbols and
meanings can be sent and received by many people at once, almost
instantaneously.” [v]–
TV is the medium of this mass cultural interaction.
Therefore, I conclude – the Australian TV is
ignorantly racist. The TV is a powerful medium that allows us as a nation to connect and as a multicultural nation our TV should reflect this.
- Megan Ayre
[ii] Christina Ho (2011): Respecting the Presence of Others: School Micropublics and Everyday Multiculturalism, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32:6, 603-619.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2011.618106
[iii] Wadham et al. (2007). Culture and Education pp. 16
[iv] Wadham et al. (2007). Culture and Education pp. 16
[v] Wadham et al. (2007). Culture and Education pp. 17
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