Tokenism in Entertainment

[Samoan Corleone]

I've been on IMDb lately (a breeding ground for many a deep, intellectual discussion) and I read the board for the movie Wild Hogs. Basically, Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy are four old midlife-crises-having has-beens who are either in or nearing their 50s. They also portray this archetype in the movie. Anyway, a lot of people on IMDb say Martin Lawrence was only on the film to play the token African-American and to drop stereotypical urban slang every time something spectacular happened. Now, if they had another white actor play Lawrence's role, people would be complaining about there being no "minorities" among the four. It's not just this film or film itself that this Catch-22 applies to.

What gives?

[ya lyublyu tebya]

No one can ever win with that. :dead: Someone will always find something to complain about.

[Samoan Corleone]

I know, but I like South Park's approach to it, with the South Park Elementary student Token Black. :laugh:

[kepstein8888]

A few days ago they had a picture of a group of women on Yahoo, and it asked: What's wrong with this picture?

After spending several hours looking for a cat with only three legs hidden in the tree, I decided to check the answer, which was that all of the women were white. New rule: All pictures of women must include women of different colors. This includes family pictures.

[anarchiste]

This includes family pictures.

That has to be a classic win for the Political Correctness Brigade.

[jikin]

A few days ago they had a picture of a group of women on Yahoo, and it asked: What's wrong with this picture?

After spending several hours looking for a cat with only three legs hidden in the tree, I decided to check the answer, which was that all of the women were white. New rule: All pictures of women must include women of different colors. This includes family pictures.

The problem with the picture wasn't so much the lack of minorities as it was the fact that it was labeled something to the effect of "The New Face of Beauty" with everyone being shiny white. It made it seem as if real beauty nowadays means low pigment levels.

[Kisai]

Token roles exist to spread the demographic of the film about, so the producers can make more money.