Warning. Contains open spoilers for “The Walking Dead”. But I don’t want the discussion to be focused just on this series.
I’m almost halfway through season 3 of “The Walking Dead”, and I think I’m going to give it a rest. I’ve grown tired of every other scene being yet another zombie kill fest. It doesn’t make sense that none of them have “turned” from simply inhaling/breathing in all the zombie blood constantly splashing in their faces.
But I’ve also grown tired of something else–the lack of depth in the black characters. Sure would have been nice to know T-Dog’s backstory before he exited stage left (even his real name was obscured from view). And is it just a coincidence that his departure was followed by the immediate acceptance of Oscar the Model Prisoner, who has to kill the bad black prisoner to show his worth (while the white prisoner is allowed to be “good by association”). Would the show have been THAT bad to provide room for two black male characters? Wouldn’t that have been realistic, given the racial-make up of Georgia (home of Chocolate City)? And I want to like Michonne. I really do. But she hardly speaks. She doesn’t show emotions except for “angry black woman”. She’s so bad-ass everyone’s first instinct is to kill her, despite the fact she brought them baby formula and told them Glenn/Maggie’s kidnapper shot her. Don’t get me wrong. I really do love bad-ass female characters. But it’s a bit jarring that everyone is afraid of her and that she also happens to be black. This is too real, I suppose. I’m not predicting any love interests in Michonne’s future (but maybe I’m wrong).
Then there are the other women–the white ones. The only one who’s likeable is Maggie. Carol the Perpetual Victim is just a vehicle for Daryl’s arc as a tough guy with a heart of gold. Lori was ugh. (Sidebar: how did a woman that thin give birth to a baby that big???) Andrea and her smirking face, double-ugh. Can’t wait for Michonne to tell her “Told you so”…but just like Michonne having a love interest (like all the other women have), I suspect this isn’t gonna happen.
I just wish there was a black or female character that was as well-developed and half as likeable as the white/Glenn male characters. Perhaps I should hang in there and wait for things to get better? I just finished the episode where the gang is about to retrieve Maggie and Glenn.
Of course, as a black woman, I’m going to be extra sensitive to portrayals of black and female characters. The negative portrayals of other groups don’t immediately jump out at me, until they’re pointed out (Hispanics on “Breaking Bad”, for instance). Are you ever bothered by stuff like this? Have you ever abandoned a critically-acclaimed series just because you can’t shake the feeling the writers have gotten “your group” or another group all wrong?
A bit of a different example, but I hate the fact that I avoid watching **Breakfast at Tiffany’s *anymore. Audrey Hepburn remains iconic, but I can’t handle Mickey Rooney’s role as Mr. Yunioshi. Just a racist turd in a punch bowl to me.
*I know “dude, thanks for that visual” - but I heard somebody use it once years ago and always wanted to find a place to use it…
All I can tell you is don’t give up. It gets better.
And yes: not a group, just an individual character. Felicity Huffman’s character on Desperate Housewives started out as my favorite, but devolved into a conniving, dishonest shrew. Bye.
Oh, wait! Fat people generally and fat women particularly. As a fat woman, I am very attuned to the way they are portrayed, which is almost invariably offensive and rude.
I can’t sit through an episode of Two Broke Girls, even though it makes me laugh. The brunette does nothing but run herself down. It’s the cornerstone of her comedy apparently. I find that really grating, really quickly. Thinly veiled self loathing, no thanks!
That’s another thing I noticed about “The Walking Dead”. The absence of heft in the characters. T-Dog was husky, I suppose. And then there’s good ole Otis, who I knew right away was gonna be a goner. But otherwise, everyone else is quite lean. Especially the zombies, despite being set in a place where 30% of the population is obese. Maybe all the fat people get eaten up before they have a chance to turn.
And that is one of the many issues with the way fat people, and particularly fat women, are portrayed in modern entertainment: as a rule, they appear only if they’re very fatness is going to be a topic. Despite, as you say, being a sigificant percentage of the population, fat people are generally non-existent in the United States of Hollywood. Unless a character is going to be:
[ul]
[li]pathetic[/li][li]sad[/li][li]mean[/li][li]obnoxiously “jolly”[/li][li]repulsive[/li][li]filthy[/li][li]lazy[/li][li]on welfare[/li][/ul]
…then the call goes out for fat actors to play them.
And don’t forget, Otis was initially viewed as stupid and inept for having shot Carl. And then his gallant actions were completely overshadowed when he became the hapless victim to Shane’s treachery. Stupid, inept, hapless. A perfect role for a fat man.
I’m not trying to offend anyone, but I have a serious question for the people who are self-proclaimed “fat” in this thread. If you could, would you be not-fat? Do you see being fat as an undesirable condition?
Because if the answer to that is yes, I don’t understand why you would be upset at the lack of positive fat characters on TV. Do you want to encourage people who need badly to lose weight for health reasons to feel better about their unhealthy lifestyle?
It’s not at all like being black or gay, it’s something that you do to yourself (in 99 cases out of 100) that is going to shorten your life significantly. It’s more like smoking than anything else.
Why would TV or movies positively portray being overweight?
I stopped watching Malcolm in the middle because i could not stand the mom character. Almost did the same with King of the Hill and Peggy, but the show was better and it wasn’t as focused on her as Malcolm in the middle.
Because no one wants to feel invisible. Even if we accept that fatness is a bad thing to be avoided at all costs, it is still reality. Art should reflect reality at least a little bit, correct?
Fat people don’t have a monopoly on negative personality traits or behaviors, and yet their portrayal on TV and in films would indicate they do. This isn’t fair. They should be as three-dimensional as any other group.
And seeing as how 60% of Americans are overweight, but their representation in media is very low, I’m not seeing how showing positive representations of fat people will encourage even more Americans to be fat. Americans are fat not because of what they see on TV (though all the fast food commercials probably don’t help).
Being broke is an undesireable condition. Being bald. Having bad credit. Being a smoker. But those things don’t seem to pigeonhole characters’ personalities on other TV shows.
I know you probably think that I am fat because I am lazy, stupid and completely lacking of willpower and if I was just ashamed enough to change I would change and the only problem in my life - that I am fat - would go away. And perhaps I could be encouraged to make that change by only ever seeing negative examples of fat people in the media, and that should make me happy.
But while we’re waiting for that to happen, I am still a person. I’m a nice person who cares about others and am neither shrill nor angry nor jolly. Sometimes I am happy and sometimes I am sad. I am rarely mean. I give a lot to charity. I help my friends and family. I have friends and family who like me and like being around me. I work, I exercise, I take care of my dog, I go to the store. I have friends who are fat and friends who are thin and some who are inbetween and we’re all different and great in different ways. And some of the thin people are awful and some of them are nice and the same goes for the fat ones.
It would be cool to see fat people on TV, but, whatever. When fat people are the main characters it seems ok - Roseanne, Mike & Molly. When they’re secondary characters, it gets to be pigeonholing time . I wouldn’t mind if there were no fat people on TV, to be honest. But at least they should be cool and varied when they are.
So, sorry you were not trying to offend anyone and you did. But that’s probably my fat fault.
First, I watched The Walking Dead for the first four seasons and I agree with your criticisms. For a while there it seemed like there couldn’t be more than one black man on the show at a time. I actively disliked Michonne because she just seemed to be the “angry black woman” but they added a little more depth to her character in season 4 and she does more than just scowl at everybody. Carol also grows as a character and demonstrates that she’s able to handle things on her own without needing Daryl to come save her. Maybe you are a bit more sensitive to such portrayals because of your own background, but, if little white me notices it too, I don’t think extra sensitivity was the problem here.
I’m not sure I’ve ever just flat out given up on a show I liked because of how characters were portrayed. I really got annoyed watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer because one of the characters, Xander, never really grew up like the others did. This was a young man who went up against vampires and assorted demons but was still afraid of some high school kid who had bullied him a few years in the past. He couldn’t even muster up the courage to marry the woman he loved. Bah!
Elliot Stabler from Law & Order SVU. Yeah, I get it, there are cops who are psychopaths and idiots, but Elliot was fully capable of being highly intelligent when he wasn’t dead set on doing something stupid and violent when he knew better.
Actually yes, being a smoker is pretty much shorthand for being a bad guy on TV and in movies set in the present day…except for cigars for some reason. Having bad credit is pretty much reserved for sitcom characters and suspects in police procedurals. I don’t think anyone is a bad person for being fat, that’s not my point. My point is, why should we be pressuring TV show producers to have more positive fat characters when it’s something that’s not desirable to be? That can be and should be worked to be avoided? Yes, a lot of people are overweight (though not as many as are indicated by the BMI stats, which don’t take into account muscle mass) and that’s a BAD THING. I don’t think we should be trying to use propaganda to make people living in an unhealthy way think that’s okay to do.
Because fat people shouldn’t be defined solely by their weight. Fat people are capable of good moral choices and quite capable of leading by example in that way. Fat people are law-abiding, hard working and successful. Fat people have people who love them. They have husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and lovers. Their weight may be an example of making unhealthy choices in exercise and food, but it shouldn’t be the only defining factor of their personalities and their morals and can be a role model in not limiting people’s capabilities by their appearances. You may be turned off by their looks, but to judge them only that way is unfairly ignoring their positive contributions to society. To deny that fat people can be positive role models on TV reflects a fantasy world.