Notes on Fostering Activism - Bringing Our Voices to the Page, Stage, and Screen
by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson
The Notes on Fostering Activism series is designed to open up dialogue regarding community action, activism, patterns of thought, and overlapping issues within various causes and communities. Some posts will deal with race, but some will not. All are encouraged to share their experiences - both here, and experiences in other social, cultural, or political communities.
In writing and researching the Cashmere Mafia piece, I ran across an article from Newsday (originally from the LA Times) titled “Diversity Issue Dogs Creators of New TV Shows.”
Written late last year, it appears that most of the story is still accurate:
HOLLYWOOD - Race relations are taking a starring role in several new culturally tinged series this fall. Fox’s “K-Ville,” ABC’s “Cavemen,” CBS’ “Cane” and The CW’s “Aliens in America” and “Life Is Wild” couldn’t be more different in incorporating cultural flavor. “Cane” examines the criminal dealings of a loving Cuban family, while “Aliens in America” is a satirical look at the prejudice that greets the arrival of a Pakistani student in a small town. “Life Is Wild” follows a white family that moves to Africa.
And “Cavemen” has been labeled by network president Stephen McPherson and ABC’s marketing department as a funny commentary about race relations with a “new minority group.” In one respect, the new shows are different from series already on the air, such as “Grey’s Anatomy,” that take place in a “color-blind” world, in that they will confront race, cultural pride and conflict directly.
But with all five shows, it’s not a person of color who will be steering that vision - as with much of network television, the series have white male show runners.
Show runners, like writers and producers, help to shape the final product we see hitting our screens every week. While the scribes for the show may have one idea for the direction and casting of the show, the show runners and lead producers also have input and sway and tend to make changes with impunity. Getting a perspective on race on television from one of them would be fascinating, right?
Unfortunately, the resounding answer from all the studio people in the the know will be a brusque “no comment:”
With the exception of Fox’s “K-Ville,” the forces behind all of the shows, particularly ABC, CBS and their affiliated studios, declined to address race in the new shows and forbade producers from answering questions.
“There’s just no upside for us to participate in that discussion,” said one executive. Another suggested that issues of creative control, ego and racial sensitivities made the topic more delicate.
After continued prodding, the writer reached Jonathan Lisco (creator of the New Orleans based cop drama K-ville) and Kim Myers (director of diversity for the Writers Guild of America, West). Both were willing to delve into the sticky subject of how race plays out behind the scenes.
Does the absence of minority show runners on the new programs dilute the cultural truth in characters and stories?
“Good writers can always transcend their backgrounds, but we always believe that there’s an authenticity that comes into play when writers who have diverse backgrounds are writing those characters of diverse backgrounds,” said Kim Myers, director of diversity for the Writers Guild of America, West.
Lisco, who is white, said he understood the dilemma. “I get this question all the time,” he said. “Most of the time I’m writing about the human experience, and the race issue is not seminal to the story. When it is, I approach it with great respect.” He added that there are black members of his writing staff - one a writer’s assistant - who provide valuable input on story lines dealing with race.
Myers added that there most likely is a dearth of qualified minority show runners because of a lack of opportunities. Writers of color may be placed on shows as a “diversity” hire but encounter hurdles as they attempt to move up the ranks. A Writers Guild study released earlier this year found that, despite some advances by women and minority writers, white male scribes disproportionately dominate film and TV jobs in Hollywood. Minority writers accounted for fewer than 10 percent of employed television writers from 1999 to 2005.
I am glad that Myers actually told the truth about her industry - there is a lack of opportunities, not a lack of talent. It is important to make this distinction.
Unfortunately, the perception is that minority writers can only write “ethnic” plot lines, whereas white writers are seen as writing to the human experience. Unless a minority writer can prove they can “write white” they are generally shut out of writing for most mainstream shows. They then build up a resume of writing credits that tend to focus on minority perspectives - which continues the cycle of being overlooked for higher profile positions.
So how can we solve this problem?
While this is a large issue to tackle, I want to start by breaking it down into three steps: exploring, understanding, and taking action. This post will deal with exploration.
For the commenters who are media consumers:
What decisions influence the shows you watch, the books you purchase, and the movies you pay to watch in the theatre? What kind of films do you look for? What kind of characters do you relate to? How do you feel about how your race/ethnicity is depicted on screen?
For the commenters who create scripts, screenplays, novels or any other type of fiction:
What kind of worlds do you create? Are your worlds monoracial? Do your characters interact with people of a different race? Do you find it difficult to write about other races or ethnicities in a way that feels authentic?
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Cynthia wrote:
I find it most difficult to write about things that I don’t know about, lest it be historical AND foreign. I read Wayson Choy’s “Jade Peony”, a novel about growing up Chinese in WWII-era Vancouver back in high school. And while it was one of the first novels written by a Chinese Canadian that I’ve ever read, I never really grasped onto it culturally. I didn’t grow up poverty-stricken in Chinatown, yet many novels about Chinese in western countries take place that way.
(On western, especially American television, you do see Asian characters who don’t live communities like Koreatown or Chinatown, but they’re usually seen as owners of small businesses in smaller towns (think Mrs. Kim in Gilmore Girls) and not professionals such as doctors or accounts. An Asian doctor or accountant is usually part of the younger, western nation-raised generation. Well, many of the Asian kids I went to school with have parents who’re doctors, accountants, lawyers, managers, etc. Their parents are immigrants. Many of us have parents who speak reasonable English too.)
As I’ve said in earlier posts, I am a writer. I published my first novel, Aspirations, last year. Aspirations takes place over a period of one year, focusing on a white girl, Katie Hill, and her three friends. Out of her three friends, one is Asian and the rest are white. The Asian girl, Elizabeth, is a stereotypical “I’m rebellious because my parents are old country” character, but there’s a twist. She’s an old fashioned girl too and her parents are actually more liberal than, say, Mrs. Kim from Gilmore Girls. Elizabeth just wants to run from one tradition to another. She was obsessed with etiquette books and even owns a copy of an original published in the 1920s. To be perfectly honest, Elizabeth could have been Italian, Greek, Hungarian or any ethnicity at all.
Most of the characters I write about were like me. They grew up in the suburbs, are university educated and more than likely, attended prep school. They could be any ethnicity (though most of my characters have been white or at times, Asian) or even species (for a high school creative writing assignment, I wrote a children’s book about a monster girl’s first day at school.) Of course, there’s historical writing, which I have tried too. I actually found it quite easy to change the setting of Sophocles’ Antigone from ancient Greece to high society China in the 1920s (e.g. Antigone was a westernized flapper with unbound feet and a degree from an American college, while her sister, Ismene was not sent abroad and remains a dutiful, traditional Chinese woman.), which I did for an assignment in university. All I had to do was change a few references. I actually find it easier to write these foreign, historical stories to write about being an impoverished Asian immigrant who lives in say, Chinatown. That said, I’d say that I’d relate to a multigenerational WASP better than said Asian character. And I’m sure most of the non-white people I went to high school with would agree.
Aspirations blog: http://writergal8.blogspot.com
Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 10:38 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
^^^ Sorry for the lack of returns between paragraphs! I wrote the whole thing out on Word and it looks different! Oops!
Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 10:45 am ¶
EvilAngelfish wrote:
Thanks Latoya for opening up such a fascinating topic of discussion. I had to think about it from both angles - as consumer and creator. Here are some thoughts:
As Consumer:
My favorite genres of movies/books rarely have protagonists who reflect my ethnicity in a way that is not stereotypical but I just suck it up and dish out the $ to be entertained. While I do try to buy fiction written by diverse authors, I hate how there’s “regular” fiction and “ethnic” fiction. My favorite television shows aren’t necessarily my favorites because they have diverse casts but most of them do (e.g., BSG, Heroes, Private Practice, Dexter). Though there are a few shows I’ve loved with virtually no minority characters (Buffy, Frasier), I could never get into shows like Seinfeld or Friends because it seemed ridiculous that they could take place in NY and not have any main characters of color. Whenever new batches of shows hit the airwaves, I am 10 times as likely to give the ones with diverse casts a chance.
As Creator:
It occurred to me that when I was younger, most of the fictional worlds I created were monoracial – they were white. It seemed really odd to me that professional writers of color have to prove that they can “write white” because until fairly recently, except for the token Toni Morrison, Richard Wright, Isabel Allende (I can’t even think of a token Asian or Asian American author) offerings that get brought out in literature courses, much of our craft was built on white writing. Anyone who learned their craft at a liberal arts college in this country can “write white” so it’s kind of like writers of color are all bilingual – they can write in the “regular” voice as well as a voice colored by their identity as a person of color. As I matured as a writer, I began to put people like me into my work and create worlds that were more diverse. However ironically, it’s my ability to “write black” that gets called into question. As far as other races go, the further they are from my personal experience, the more difficult they are for me to write. For example, I think I can create authentic educated, middle-class American minorities of any race but outside of that sphere, I’m not as skilled…
Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 10:47 am ¶
johnjihoonchang wrote:
I’m pretty much in the same boat as EvilAngelfish in terms of consumption and creation, with the titles switched out with my own favorites.
I will add that my writing for the screen is markedly different other works (short stories, blogs, etc) as the collaborative effort can really change an idea from what you write to what you end up with on screen.
For example: since you have to cast actors and the best actor for the part might bring a welcome element (which could be big things like sex/race or smaller things like vernacular and style) that’s different from what the character was originally written as, I concern myself with the essentials of the character and leave wiggle room for interpretation.
I write with a solid concept in mind, but the most important part of the script is the essentials of the character and the overall story, as the collaboration can really change what I started with. This means that, while I usually start with some ethnicity in my head for most of my characters, unless the ethnicity has a story-centric purpose, I don’t spend too much time working to inject ethnicity-specific elements into the script.
Of course, if I was writing for TV, I’d have to do whatever the showrunner, the studio exec, the standards and practices person, or the lawyers tell me to do as well.
In my writing outside of for screen, the characters that inhabit my worlds tend to reflect the characters that inhabit my real life, namely, young urban professionals of varying ethnicities (but all with middle class roots). I don’t know if I’d feel comfortable writing characters that are not Corean American or white for characters outside of my own socio-economic-lifestage spectrum.
Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 7:08 pm ¶
johnjihoonchang wrote:
A quick note on power structure when it comes to writing (for TV). In order of great power (final say) to least power:
1) Studio/Company Topper: These men and women (typically VP’s and above) can nix anything they want to nix and force everybody below to go back to the drawing board, but they’re rarely involved.
2) TIE: Exec/Legal: Studio/company execs represent the network/company as well as the exec of the company that the show belongs to. Legal is the division that makes sure that nothing in a show will lead to a lawsuit. Execs *can* be bargained with, usually by a showrunner. Legal can nix anything without appeal, but will only do so in case of possible lawsuit threat.
3) S&P: Standards and practices exist to make sure that content falls under acceptable moral/ethical guidelines as determined by the network/company. These are the internal censors of the company and can be bargained with, usually by the showrunner.
4) TIE: Showrunner/Producer: The showrunner is the primary creative force of the show and is usually the creator or hand-picked by the creator to run the show. They are also the primary interface by which writers below can try to bargain for change with the powers above. Some showrunners are more collaborative in their approach to envisioning a show, others prefer to lead the vision of a show. Non-creative producers (line producers) are the money/logistics person of a show. While they theoretically are under showrunner/exec producer, they can force changes on the showrunner/exec producer by virtue of necessity.
5) Story Editor: The story editor (for most fiction shows) is basically the writer that’s tasked with enforcing the creative vision of the show and takes care of things like continuity, show bible, and making sure the other writers are following the prescriptions of the showrunner and also serves as editor for most scripts that are produced. Script editors (or showrunner) usually take care of the final revision of a script.
6) Staff Writer: Staff writers have to follow the directions of all above as well as the vision of the showrunner, but are also usually tasked with coming up with the ideas behind individual episodes and writing the initial scripts and revisions of scripts. Staff writers, along with the script editor and some showrunners, do the brunt of the writing of a show.
7) Freelance Writer: While freelance writers aren’t beholden to staff writers, they are typically charged with executing staff-generated ideas for episodes, although they are usually permitted to submit their own ideas (which they will get to write). Agreements with unions usually result in a set number of freelance written episodes per order of shows. Freelance writers usually just write a first draft, unless their initial draft require serious revisions.
As you can see, there are a lot of hands that can affect any script written for TV.
Posted 11 Jan 2008 at 7:37 pm ¶
Ike wrote:
Cynthia,
I was curious as to why you focused so much on Asian and Asian American characters as your “minorities”. Would you feel less comfortable writing about black, Latino, or Native characters?
Posted 12 Jan 2008 at 2:00 pm ¶
Jay wrote:
Cynthia, I’m sorry that you automatically see white as the “default” and everybody else as the “other” (that you see Asians as foreign only reinforces this). This will probably get you more easily published, but will reinforce the power structure.
Also, my guess is that all of your supporting characters are white too, including your characters’ friends, family and lovers.
Actually, I remember a lot of poc writers feeling the same way you do. Derek Kirk Kim (www.lowbright.com) said that making the main character white was automatic for him when he first started (he’s not a writer, but it’s similar).
http://sfchroniclemarketplace.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/11/06/apop.DTL&type=books has the interview.
Posted 12 Jan 2008 at 6:26 pm ¶
Cynthia C wrote:
Ike:
Ike, the girls in Aspirations attended a school similar to my own alma mater. There were very few black and Latinos at that school. You were either white, Asian (overwhelmingly Hong Kong Chinese) or South Asian. This racial make-up is very typical of a 1990s university prepartory school in the Toronto or Vancouver area. An Asian character is much more realistic for a story like Aspirations.
Jay:
Where did I say that I saw Asians as foreigners? I only said that I found it easier to write foreign stories that take place in China than it is to write about an impoverished Chinese American or Canadian/stories that take place in Chinatown. In any case, the young Asian woman in Aspirations is first generation North American by birth, which, once again, is very typical of the Asian students in the prep school scene. I don’t recall a SINGLE Asian student at my school who wasn’t either first generation Canadian, immigrant or foreign. There may have been one or two whose parents came as students, but I don’t recall a kid who had parents who were CBC. Not in the upper school in the 1990s.
I tend to write about people who grew up in upper middle class suburbs, and the typical upper middle class suburbanite in Toronto is Asian (or more accurately, Chinese or Indian), WASP or Jewish.
It’s possible that my next novel will have an Asian central character, but it’s not likely she’s going to be one of those poverty stricken, urban ethnic enclave raised women. She’s likely going to be a YASPy child of equally YASPy Hong Konger parents who grew up playing tennis and golf. Take away her Asianess, and she’d be WASP.
As for a Chinese version of Antigone, it would be unrealistic to set it in North America in the early part of the 20th century the way I intended it to be done, as there was NO ASIAN HIGH SOCIETY at that time. And I don’t think Antigone works well with a contemporary setting. The difference between pre-1911 and post-1911 China are really different.
I think many people, minorities and whites included, somehow expect minority characters AND their families to be very ethnic or rebellious, and I don’t really understand why that is. If people didn’t really expect that, then no one would have complained about the Huxtables. The Huxtables would have been no different from the Seavers, Keatons, or any other sitcom family that existed around that time frame.
Posted 13 Jan 2008 at 3:05 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Thanks for all the amazing comments.
Cynthia - I think you are chafing against what is represented as “ethnic” lit. I generally do not write white lead characters, but I think that is a product of an aggressively multi-culti school system. I think I would feel the same way if I hadn’t discovered black authors who broke from the mold in many ways and described things that were middle and upper class narratives.
Have you read Free Food for Millionaires or Kept? I would be curious to see what you think.
Evil AngelFish -
I think you hit the nail on the head there. Excellent writing and relateable characters are the main pull - but things like an all white NYC are jarring enough to pull me out of the created fantasy.
JJHC -
I generally run commentary about race and gender in with what I write, so switching around race and gender becomes tricky, particularly with leads. Thanks for the info on show hierarchy and the provocative point I did not thinking:
Is it more difficult to write about different socio-economic lines than racial backgrounds?
Posted 13 Jan 2008 at 3:37 pm ¶
Cynthia C wrote:
LaToya,
No, I have not read either novels, but the first, Free Food for Millionaires, sounds typical when it comes to Asian American literature. The lead character is, according to the description on Amazon,
“She is the child of immigrant Korean parents who work in the same laundry in Queens where they have always worked and are trying hard to hang on to their culture. Casey has catapulted out of that life on scholarships but now that college is over, she hasn’t the same opportunities as her white friends, even though she has acquired all of their expensive habits. ”
Laundry businesses, restaurant businesses, corner stores, etc are what I want to stay away from. I don’t see why we have to wait until the western country born generation to have accountants and doctors.
I have not read Kept either, but will definitely check both books out some day.
Posted 13 Jan 2008 at 4:31 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Ugh - is that the description on Amazon? They fucked that up. That doesn’t sound like the book I read - though it does sound like a few of the books I was assigned in high school.
I recommended both books to you because they are first and foremost about class. Casey Han in Free Food for Millionaires becomes a stock broker. A lot of her interactions deal with having money (but not wealth) and learning to navigate the differing worlds she finds herself in. In Kept, Jude is old money, old manners, but low on money and high on expectations. More world navigation. Both with Asian American protagonists and characters, operating in a Korean/white/foreign-born and finishing school educated milieu.
Posted 13 Jan 2008 at 5:55 pm ¶
johnjihoonchang wrote:
LP - Most of my writing comes from my personal experiences, using them as the baseline for understanding characters and the world which I fill, whether fantastic or realistic. I find it difficult to write across socio-economic class lines because I just don’t have a great number of considerable interactions with people outside of my own bubble. Part of this is because I’m a little insular as of late, due to trying to hold a day job and feverishly working on writing scripts the rest of the time, but I also admit that I spend my social and free time in environments that I’m comfortable in, which is the middle class world. Even though I didn’t grow up with many other people of color to interact with in my youth, in college, I made friends with people from all over the US and the world, but even then, the people that I connected with had middle class roots (upper class if from certain parts of the world). Consequently, due to what I’ve learned via my relationships across ethnic lines, I do feel comfortable (to some extent) writing characters of other ethnicities in the same socio-economic range as myself. However, since the only interaction with people of more modest living that I’ve had was via volunteering as a urban youth tutor, I don’t feel qualified to write about that world, as I really don’t know what it’s like to grow up entirely that world (my own family started off lower class, but by the time I was 10, we’d become middle-upper class).
As I value authenticity in my writing, I feel compelled only to write about what I know and what I can extrapolate from my own experiences and relationships. Hence an inability to write characters outside of my socio-economic status.
I feel like if I were to expand my social spheres and have considerable and deep personal friendships with people outside my socio-economic class, I would probably be capable of writing such stories. But for me, the world of rich New England boarding schools as well as the world of struggling inner city families are both inaccessible, at least for now.
Posted 14 Jan 2008 at 3:27 pm ¶