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Another call for more multicultural casting

Actor Firass Dirani levels some familiar criticisms at those who are making our Dramas.

Actor Firass Dirani (Underbelly, The Straits) has impressed upon the need for television networks to cast more actors from multicultural backgrounds.

“Those people on Winners & Losers in their floral colours and their pastels … I don’t even know people like this,” he told the Daily Telegraph.

“We need to watch ourselves, warts and all; flaws and all.

“Hopefully the networks start writing shows that cater for different actors and different cultural backgrounds.”

It’s fair to argue that dramas such as Packed to the Rafters sit at one end of the spectrum while others such as The Slap and (the now defunct) East West 101 represent another view of Australia.

To be fair, Rafters has drawn upon Greek characters and Winners and Losers has cast Asian actors as the parents of Melanie Vallejo (ironically, Dirani and Vallejo became romantically involved when working on Power Rangers). But Dirani’s point is about the broader tone of the shows.

Neighbours has long been the target of similar arguments, but recently employed Indian /Sir Lankan actors. Even Pay TV’s Tangle is very white-bread.

What can we expect from Tricky Business on Nine? Those promos look very safe.

Drama still trails Reality TV in terms of ethnic diversity and has done for years. Even Young Talent Time is a great snapshot of the make-up of Australian families.

But one of the ways forward is not just to write multicultural characters, but to “cast blind.” This is a policy that has served shows like Grey’s Anatomy very well, where roles such as those played by Sandra Oh, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. were never conceived as Asian-American or African-American roles, but cast with the best actors for the job.

Come to think of it, if it’s ok to screen Grey’s Anatomy in primetime on a commercial network with all its diverse actors, why is it less ok to do the same in an Australian show?

18 Responses

  1. I just to want to see the same mixture of people on Australian TV as I would see if I got on a bus in Sydney or a tram in Melbourne. Right now that dont happen.

  2. remember the asian neighbours in neighbours?? no? neither do i, they didnt last long… after what 27 years there is finally a gay character in a daily soaps…. we are a pretty racist bunch… would we continue to watch these shows if they had more diversity?? but networks/writers/producers all say the same thing “we are trying to capture the australian way of life and have characters that represent every day australians” etc etc. everyday australians?? they never go to a bank… unless its to rob it… never do any grocery shopping at coles or woolworths. they never have bills, dont talk about money or car rego. never deal with taxes or have to go to centerlink… where are the dole bludgers??? where are the soccer mums??? where is the town drunk and the village idiot?? where is the busy body?? (ok H&A has colleen) in neighbours, where is the creepy neighbour?? (yes pauls creepy but i mean the creepy guy who is always walking his dog at weird times (like the dude on friday night dinner) i say more diversity, more ethnic characters, more gay characters and less cancer story lines, less pointless drama that just makes you stop watching. 🙂

  3. Ive been talking about this for years. In fact a few months ago I was talking to a friend and we tried to count every dark skinned person in an Australian drama that we could ever remember. Try it….its a ridiculously low number. When shows are cast in Australia, they simply leave out one section of the community. Its disgusting.

  4. If I was to watch say, “The Cosby Show” and complain that it doesn’t represent me, anyone i know or real people. I’d be called a racist.

    Yet it’s perfectly fine for this guy to make similar comments about shows with anglo-familes.

    I’ve read this story a few times today and I think it highlights his own issues with anglos. Yes there’s probably room for improvement, but Australian tv is pretty diverse. It just so happens the majority of people are from an white background. That’s a fact. The culture shouldn’t try and deny it, advocating that is wrong.

    Advocating a rejection of that shows because they deal with white families really highlights ones own prejudices.

  5. I think a character should be ‘in’ the show & their skin colour is secondary & not a key plot point! The same with sexuality!
    I think ethnic groups are a part of society & more shows need to reflect this!!

  6. I am not interested in what they do or not in the USA or UK in regards to their Drama shows, if there is a problem with Aust drama ‘mix’ ratios or whatever, then the answer is Australian, not American or British.
    At best maybe there will be 20 Aust dramas to speak of at any given time now, re on air, to return, or new to come on, that is nothing, nothing, in comparison to no.s re USA or UK. Why bother comparing the situations as being the same.
    Should, or could, the ‘mix’ of casts in Aust shows be looked into and improvements made, sure, but beating certain dead horses to death, re USA and UK, never gets any of this any step forward, and never will.

  7. ‘Considering there are less Anglo-Australians than non-Anglos (put together) in our population, we should be seeing more representation on Aussie TV.’

    I wish the uneducated would refrain from making statements based on emotion and not on the facts. At last count Anglo Aussies were still hovering around 70%, so maybe the current mix isn’t as bad as some obviously believe it is.

  8. Quite bizarre to think that 30-40 years we were more progressive in multicultural casting than we are now. Look back at Number 96 they had characters and actors of a varied mix of racial backgrounds and nobody raised an eyebrow.

    Even Arcade (1980) which was a dud was progressive enough to feature an Asian family among its central characters.

  9. @ Southpatt:

    “Political correctness” – what a load! 1/4 of Australians were born outside of this country. This has nothing to do with “political correctness” – it’s time for TV to start reflecting the realities of Australian society.

  10. As an ethnic minority, It would be lovely to see more diverse actors on screen. But I’m not in the industry so I don’t know how often ethnic actors lose roles to white actors. Is there enough diversity in the group of those who go to auditions/castings?

    Considering there are less Anglo-Australians than non-Anglos (put together) in our population, we should be seeing more representation on Aussie TV.

  11. Yes but you need to be careful not have ‘token’ characters. We see it with gay characters as well.

    If you’re going to have diversity then create back stories for them too i.e having a ‘white’ man and showing his ‘white’ family but trying to shake things up by him having an Asian girlfriend isn’t enough.

  12. The Grey’s response is an excellent one. I am sick of seeing an abnormal selection in various groups just because some wish to be seen as politically correct.

  13. It’s probably one of the biggest issues I have with television in Australia.

    Other than ethnic based casting like in Underbelly where it was necessary to have certain types of ethnicities, many network, and Pay TV shows have a disheartening lack of diversity that don’t put those actors/actresses into roles because of their skin color.

    It’s getting a little odd for an entire race of people like Asian-Australians who altogether make a ridiculous amount of the Australia population and yet are almost never seen in mainstream television dramas.

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