Soaps to whiten your whites
Oh look. Aussie soaps are again scorned for being "too white."
- Published by David Knox
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Australian soap operas, notably Neighbours and Home and Away, are under fire once more for filling their casts with predominantly white Anglo-Saxon actors. This is an age-old criticism of the genre, but as Australia’s diversity continues to splinter, it doesn’t make it any less valid.
University of Queensland Aboriginal studies lecturer Sam Watson said the dramas were operating an “exclusive white family club” that didn’t reflect Australia’s true demographic.
“The producers and directors of these shows are very sadly harking back to the White Australia policy of the ’40s and ’50s,” he said. “Instead of embracing the rich diversities of our country, they are shunning it.”
But if academics are worried now, wait until they get a look at TEN’s new Out of the Blue soap. Made primarily for the English market, it’s whiter than an old box of Rinso…
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance spokesperson Simon Whipp said, “Our members are missing out on roles for no other reason than the fact that they are not white,” he said.
The White Australia policy began in 1901 to restrict non-white immigration to the country.
Aboriginal MP Marion Scrymgour, who is Arts Minister for the Northern Territory, said people in indigenous communities needed greater representation on television.
“It’s important that young Aboriginal people are able to see there are opportunities for interesting and rewarding employment,” she said.
Yesterday, a spokesman for Channel 10, which broadcasts Neighbours, said the show’s casting policy was not their concern. “We simply broadcast it and don’t have much say as to the content or the people who are hired,” he said.
TV Tonight understands that while FremantleMedia manages casting, Network TEN executives wield enormous power in who is hired and fired.
Channel 7 executives refused to comment when asked why all but one of the Home and Away characters were white.
Source: news.com.au
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- Tagged with Home and Away, Neighbours, Out of the Blue
29 Responses
Jack, there is a bi sexual character in Neighbours, however to the best of my knowledge she hasnt had an on screen relationship with a woman yet.
Andrew:
“Channel 10: “We simply broadcast it and don’t have much say as to the content or the people who are hired.” ”
yeah that was messed up, given how they like to cast former Idols in the show, despite objections by the producers.
Yeah there could be some more colour in Aussie soaps, there could be more colour in ALOT of shows (around the world) but let the producers do it themselves, rather than forcing it on them.
yawn!!! I’m more bothered at the fact there are no gay characters, a gay guy in neighbours/ H&A would be great imo.
No token characters please.
Neighbours does have a little bit of diversity, it’s just not very obvious. A few years back we had Sky and her familyy who were part Serbian, and when Rachel and Zeke’s dad was alive a point was made of him being Belarussian (and their mother was Tibetan). And looking a bit further back there was Lana who was from Canada, Connor who was Irish, his later girlfriend who was Asian. Currently they do have an Asian nurse as a supporting character as well. They don’t try very hard to make the street multi-cultural though, which is ridiculous considering the area it’s filmed in (where I’m from) is very multi-cultural.
H&A has that aboriginal guy at the school. He is friends with Ruby. They were all playing pool the other week.
And there was Lewis last year, the intern at the hospital who hooked up with Rachel, he was aboriginal.
And there was Stephanie, or Charlotte, keep getting the names mixed up between the character and the actor, she was the Doctor at the hospital during Noah/Jude days (so early this decade). She dates Jude, and was pregnant with his twins, but in true H&A style, miscarried them, oh and she was Asian.
And Leah is of Greek heritage isnt she? Poulos, is that Greek?
So they are, and have been people of other backgrounds.
The nurse is only a bit character..katya was zeke n rachel’s sister. You would think at least the schools in both shows would have some diversity.
Actually Ryan you’re right, they had Lori many years ago who I think was Asian. It could be that there is a lack of ethnic actors going for casting. Unfortunately for Neighbours and Home & Away, it does seem disproportionate.
Dean is South African.
neighbours has a permanent asian character that works as a nurse, they also had an asian young woman who was zeke’s and rachels sister, but she left last yr. im also pretty sure there was an aboriginal playing football when they had the final a few weeks ago
The irony is that whenever a show relies on real talent, it always reflects the actual demography. For example Australian Idol and So You Think You Can Dance.
For China, Japan or Russia, even though there are no people of other races, the programming still matches their demography. India has several different ethnic groups though the white European population is about 0.001%.
If you have a look at the statistics for Vermont South where Neighbours is filmed, there are other ethnic groups such as Malaysians, Chinese and Vietnamese living there. Though occasionally there are people of ethnic minorities on commercial free-to-air networks such as Ahn Do, Jay LaGaia, Jamie Durie, Marcia Hines and Faustina Agolley. But none on Neighbours which implies racial discrimination being used by the casting agency.
No, of course these shows don’t represent the reality of Australia…. but does anyone think people in the UK want to watch the reality of Australia? Out Of The Blue is made with BBC money, Neighbours and Home & Away probably would have died years ago had it not been for their success in Britain. These shows succeed because they represent the fantasy of Australia; a place where the sun always shines, everyone lives 10 minutes away from the beach, there’s no crime or social problems, blue-eyed blonde-haired people make up 90% of the population etc. etc. It’s bland, it’s suburban, it’s comfortable but it’s what they want from Aussie TV. Very few in the UK would be interested in watching East West 101 or Wildside or even City Homicide. Producers here know that and oblige by sticking to the fantasy.
Just need to look at Lost and Heroes to see programs that have characters from a variety of cultural backgrounds and none of the roles are token. These shows give acting opportunies to non-white actors.
That reminds me of that “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode when Larry offended a black doctor by saying affirmative action, which is so true! I mean the people with the talent or suited to the role written should be cast not just because they are black or asian etc..
“It’s important that young Aboriginal people are able to see there are opportunities for interesting and rewarding employment,”
Get stuffed! Its important for ALL people to able to see there are opportunities for interesting and rewarding employment, and just because there isn’t an aboriginal on neighbours, doesn’t mean there aren’t aboriginals on TV, or other racial groups. And sorry to tell these people, but neighbours isn’t the only interesting and rewarding job out there, nor is acting.
I am sure that the people who cast both Neighbours and Home and Away don’t look at a non-Anglo-Saxon person and say “Wow, there acting skills are amazing but we’re not going to hire them because they’re not white”.
The last thing that defines equal opportunities is hiring someone just because of their race, and just because an Aboriginal (or any other race) applies for a role doesn’t mean they are going to get it merely due to their race.
Neighbours briefly had an asian family back in the 90s but they didn’t last too long. IIRC one of the neighbours accused them of eating dogs or something like that.
Anyway I think both Neighbours & H&A could do with some other cultures would make them more interesting IMO.
I agree with most of the posts here that unless the “non white” character is organically part of the story, it just becomes tokenism and it dosn’t work. But it could be done. Lou had a Vieatnamise daughter, seen briefly in the mid 90s. This character could be reintroduced. The trick would be in the casting. As well as finding someone talented enough, they would have to match the ethnic background. It initially bugged me when they cast the very talented Italian Steve Bastone as the brother of Anglo Stuart and Ned Parker. But the scriptwriers rectified this by having it turn out that Daddy Parker was not Steve’s biological father. They could some how introduce a bioligical relative of Steve and have a new Italian family in the show. They could also reintroduce Pauls son by one of the Alessi twins, he would be half Italian. The possibilites are endless….. I should have applied to be a Neighbours scriptwriter.
Having said all of that, I would hate to think that there are brilliant actors out there who are missing out on parts just because of their racial background. Would Didge have worked as an Asian girl? Absolutely. Would Callum have worked as a Fijian boy? Definitely (I seem to recall that Toadie was about to adopt a Cambodian boy, but that all fell through). I’d like to think that the producers would seriously consider re-jigging a character’s background if the right actor auditioned, but maybe I’m just being naive.
Friends was always criticised for not having a predominantly Caucasian cast. Rather than being free to cast whoever they want or script a drama however they please, producers are now placed under pressure to at least try to have a racially diverse cast on their production, and if they don’t, they’re criticised for it. If the producers of Neighbours want to focus on a street that has all Caucasian families, shouldn’t they be allowed to? It’s not like they have Harold and Lou standing at the bottom of the street preventing Asians or Aborigines from entering, is it? If the producers then try to include a more diverse mix of races as extras, they’ll be criticised for not giving them proper story lines. You’ll never satisfy anyone.
Perhaps the scriptwriters and producers are making conscious decisions to avoid depicting racial diversity, but then again, it’s a fact that there are many suburbs and towns in Australia that have predominantly (or even exclusively) Caucasian populations, so it comes down to a question of which part of society the producers are depicting.
i agree that different races should be included, but not purely for the colour of their skin so that the network can tick the box. it should primarily depend on talent.
@ sillygostly, its surprising u mention pttr-first of all its not a soap. they have carbo the greek and mel who has some colour background (not entirely sure what). 2 supporting roles, sadly, i would have thought made them one of the best. especially as a family drama will be limiting because they are all related
Channel 10: “We simply broadcast it and don’t have much say as to the content or the people who are hired.”
Nan Taylor: “What a load of old s***!”
In my suburb, there aren’t any Aborigine families that I’ve seen, but there are many Asian, Indian, Pacific Island, American, UK, New Zealand, and unidentifiable but certainly non-Australian families, as well as the usual Greek and Italian families. Very cosmopolitan indeed.
They’re right that Soaps don’t reflect that variety very effectively.
What is worse is when they bring in people from “non white” backgrounds (for want of a better term) and they end up being stereotypical examples of their race. That said it’s about time more shows diversified their cast and story lines.
While diversity is all well and good, I also don’t want TV shows to throw in token characters either. It seems that when some shows introduce say, a gay or an obese or a religious (esp. Muslim) character, it literally becames the sole focus of their personality, and it’s insulting and pointless. Merely a reflection of how out of touch the writers are.
Speaking of white-bred… Rafters also springs to mind…
Wow, flick passes everywhere
Same old stuff gets trotted out by both sides of argument, every year or so…
David, any idea what situation is in countries like China,Russia,Korea, India ?
Do they have similar complaints re nationalties and ethnic groups ?