It was essentially impossible to miss the “angry black woman” media explosion involving Shonda Rhimes.
She was upset, with good reason. She is dominating TV, so why is her race or gender a factor?
Until it no longer is a factor, it’s important to see people of color (PoC) represented on TV.
No one is better at this than Shonda herself. Shonda has created Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder. Two of which star a black woman, and Grey’s features a large ensemble diverse cast. Kerry Washington and Viola Davis are two very important actresses representing women and PoC. Kerry has been nominated for Leading Actress Emmys, and it’s highly likely Viola will be as well.It’s unsurprising that fellow The Help alumna Octavia Spencer turned to TV after her Supporting Actress Oscar because she found that the roles she was being offered weren’t enough. She’s an Oscar winner, she should be hunted. So, instead, she turned to TV. Laverne Cox is another talented, PoC actress with Emmy experience. In fact, not only is she a PoC, but she is also transgender. The first openly transgender person to receive the nom.
As for TV shows in general that feature PoC, there are two that are of importance at this very moment: Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat. While Fresh Off the Boat is a slur, Eddie Huang insisted on this title. He wanted to properly explain what it feels like to be Asian-American, insults and all. With shows like Black-ish, a rare, if not singular, case of a show where there are no white people featured in the main cast, that’s a groundbreaking thing to be on the air right now.
Rounding out the diversity spectrum are Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumero on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. They are both Latina women. In fact, such a combination is so rare that Stephanie didn’t believe the show would be picked up because of the fact that Melissa had been cast as well.
Lastly is John Cho. As an Asian male, it’s rare for him to be one of two main characters. When Selfie was first announced, no one made any mention of his PoC status, which made him so happy. Cho has been in many shows on many networks, like NBC’s Go On and FOX’s Sleepy Hollow. It’s great to see him finally snatch a starring role.
There are, obviously, countless more examples, but, because of the high profile status of the show, these are the most important PoC in TV at the moment. May things only improve, because an Emmy nomination can only solve so many problems.
(Feature Photo via Zap2It)