In a speech I gave earlier this year to NFTS first year students I argued that how we represent diverse communities – as opposed to just individuals from diverse backgrounds – is the new frontier for on-screen diversity.
It goes to the heart of how we should think of "colour-blind casting" and judge dramas like Killing Eve and Luther.
What follows is an extract of that speech….
Much of drama narrative teaching concentrates on the protagonists. I want to look at an important element of on-screen diversity that is often overlooked and that is the power of the community.
And to do that I want to take you back to the year before I was born.
The year was 1970. That year Sesame Street launched, with an opening scene of a black male teacher in a suit, walking a young black girl, Sally, down the street and introducing her to a multicultural neighbourhood. They walk to his home and he introduces her to his black wife who gives Sally cookies and milk.
From the very first frame, Sesame Street put an aspirational, professional black couple at the heart of its programme.
Now what is interesting is in the 1970’s British Children’s television was in many ways racially diverse.
The same year that Sesame street was launched British television launched Here Come the Double Deckers! a children’s drama with key black characters.
On its flagship early years programme - Play School - the BBC had several black presenters including Floella Benjamin who is now a duchess in the house of Lords. There were programmes like Pipkins on ITV with a black presenter. And on Saturday morning Tiswas you had a teenage Lenny Henry.
In children’s drama Double Deckers was not the only drama with black characters. You had black characters in key roles in Grange Hill, and if I really want to delve deep into my childhood my personal favourite children’s drama was a science fiction drama (which was recently remade) called Tomorrow People - again with black actors in key roles.
Yet despite being born and raised in London I looked across the Atlantic and saw myself reflected back at me and in a reality I wanted to be part of. I looked at programmes filmed just down the road from where I lived and failed to find an emotional connection. This is despite the fact that these UK programmes had quote unquote on-screen diversity and representation.
I had no conscious understanding of race but something in Sesame Street resonated with me. It got something right in 1970 which British television still fails to grasp.
Over the last 50 years there has been real progress, with most British drama writers now recognising that there should be positive black characters. Casting directors are now more willing to cast black actors in non-stereotypical positive roles. Things are far from perfect, but there is no denying that progression. There may have been a degree of representation in the 1970s children’s programmes but now we see positive black characters on our screen relatively often – from actors in Dr Who to The Hustle and of course Luther. However, there’s something special about these positive characters. And all the characters and presenters I mentioned earlier in 1970s children’s programmes.
They are often the only black character, inhabiting functioning white communities, or at the very least majority white communities. Black communities on TV on the other hand are portrayed almost exclusively as dysfunctional. While many of the people portrayed in a drama set in a non-white community may be likeable, the community they were set in is normally anything but.
The message that comes across loud and clear on our screens is that while there might be good black individuals, black communities are a problem. It suggests that if you are a good or positive black person you should want to leave the dysfunctional black communities as quickly as possible.
While some might downplay these unspoken messages, the reality is one comes across these implicit negative views about black communities all the time. There are often similar messages about South Asians on TV, while there might be positive individuals from the Indian sub-continent, the communities are invariably problematic, populated with forced marriages and potential terrorists.
Yet the reality is that while dysfunctional black communities certainly do exist, there are also incredibly good positive functional communities. Analysis by Dr Nicola Rollock into the black middle class offers strong examples of functional positive black communities that rarely see our TV screens. I for one am very proud to be part of a black community that includes lawyers, film makers, policemen, civil servants, charity workers – but also unemployed people. It’s mixed, but positively so.
And so what resonates with people is the portrayal of communities and it is this that has been missing from so much of our diversity debate.
In Killing Eve we do not see any reference to Sandra Oh’s Korean heritage until she has left her white husband, lost her job - working with predominantly white people and hit rock bottom.
At that point she takes a job in the most stereotypical of East Asian occupations. You’ve guessed it - a Korean restaurant.
I am sure the BBC and the producers patted themselves on the back after casting Sandra Oh in the role - a role originally written for a white person in the original books. And yet when it came to representing her community they stumbled at the first hurdle.
No one would ever want to be in that community if they could ever avoid it, and she only returned to that community when she had no where else to go.
Just think about the message that send out to East Asians. You want to kick some butt? Yes you can - as long as you jettison your community and only expose your culture in small palatable (preferably edible) doses.
And yet when we get it right it is brilliant.
Christmas just gone Sainsbury’s broadcast an advert of a black family enjoying Christmas dinner.
It resonated with black people - why?
Because it showed a happy functioning black community.
It also had a very important message - black people can be happy without white people. If it was killing Eve it is the equivalent of saying - Sandra Oh you can kick butt, be a superhero and celebrate your culture.
Now recently the question of onscreen portrayal has taken on more urgency and people have started to bandy around the term “authentic”.
As the UK media industry seeks to improve its diversity the question of “authentic” representation looms large. What does “authentic” portrayal of under-represented look like and how can we judge it?
Recently BEATS (British East Asians in Theatre and on Screen), a media advocacy group for increased diversity, attempted to answer that very question with regards to the portrayal of British Southeast Asians in drama (BESEA). They proposed a simple checklist:
(1) Are there two or more BESEA characters? (2) Do at least two BESEA characters speak fluent English with a British accent? (3) Does at least one BESEA character pursue their own goal separate to the white characters?
If the programme can answer “yes” to all three questions then it has passed the test.
What the BEATS test indicates is that it is not just about quantity - quality is equally important.
Interestingly, there has been push back by some members of the British East Asian community to the exact specifics of the checklist, most notably whether the requirement regarding British accents champions second and third generation immigrants over more recent arrivals. I personally think there will be room for improvement and ways to address this concern. However we shouldn’t lose sight of the core principles and what the checklist identifies are three important criteria vital for authentic representation:
People of colour are not isolated individuals.
Do not “exoticize” people of colour; and finally
People of colour must have agency over our lives.
Now if you take the Killing Eve example or Idris Elba in Luther they frequently pass the second and third criteria. They are really not exoticised in my opinion. And they definitely have agency over their own lives. Sandra Oh seems to kill who she likes and to some degree beds who she likes - I hope that isn’t a spoiler for people who haven’t watched it yet.
But they fall down on the first criteria - speaking to another person who looks like them.
Netflix’s recent hit Lupin also falls down on this criteria - if you disregard flashbacks of Omar Sy talking to his dead father.
Now what is interesting with the first criteria - two Asian people should speak to one another - I believe what they are trying to do is capture the idea and importance of community in portrayal
Community is the new frontier when it comes to diversity.
The fact that BEATS have published this checklist now is also particularly important.
Last June the BBC committed £100m of its content spend over three years on “diverse productions and talent” stipulating that “diverse stories and portrayal on-screen” would be one criteria that productions would be judged by without detailing how.
The fear among many people of colour working in TV that I have spoken to is that the BBC will repeat the same mistakes they did when trying to figure out what “authentic” Scottish portrayal is. Asking whether a black character eating “jerk chicken” is more authentic than having them dine in a French restaurant. Or leaving it up to the discretion of a single executive as to what “authenticity” looks like.
What BEATS’ criteria demonstrates is authenticity is not about specific cultural signifiers but about how you approach your characters. The BBC would do well to heed this when it finally publishes its guidelines as to what “diverse stories and portrayal on-screen” really means.
Now Of course there is one final, fourth, criteria Lenny (Henry) and I identify in our book (Access All Areas) as being essential to achieving real authentic portrayal. And that is to make sure there is diversity in key positions behind the camera.
And so to sum up if we want to have diversity we must recognise that characters are not isolated people. At its most basic they have back stories and for black people those back stories have to include their communities.
Finally I will leave you with one more Sesame Street-related fact.
When the first episode of Sesame Street was aired in 1970 the US was 87.65 per cent white. According to the last census conducted in 2010 it is now 72.40 per cent white.
The year I was born, 1971, was the first time the UK census specifically gathered ethnicity data. That year they found the white population made up roughly 97.7 per cent of the population. Today the BAME population in the UK is 13 per cent, a larger percentage than the non-white population at the time Sally first met all the Sesame Street characters in the first episode.
In 1970 a children’s television show had already worked out the importance of appealing to the country’s non-white population through positive community representation not just portrayal of individuals, an appeal that made a small child born in London a year later fall in love with it.
British broadcasters do not have the luxury of waiting another 50 years to finally work out what Sesame Street got right. Because unlike 50 years ago Sesame Street is literally just one channel hop away, as is all the other great diverse content that prioritises community representation over simple diverse representation of individuals.
NFTS students, you must make that change or British film and television will die without it.
You are our hope, and our future.
It goes to the heart of how we should think of "colour-blind casting" and judge dramas like Killing Eve and Luther.
What follows is an extract of that speech….
Much of drama narrative teaching concentrates on the protagonists. I want to look at an important element of on-screen diversity that is often overlooked and that is the power of the community.
And to do that I want to take you back to the year before I was born.
The year was 1970. That year Sesame Street launched, with an opening scene of a black male teacher in a suit, walking a young black girl, Sally, down the street and introducing her to a multicultural neighbourhood. They walk to his home and he introduces her to his black wife who gives Sally cookies and milk.
From the very first frame, Sesame Street put an aspirational, professional black couple at the heart of its programme.
Now what is interesting is in the 1970’s British Children’s television was in many ways racially diverse.
The same year that Sesame street was launched British television launched Here Come the Double Deckers! a children’s drama with key black characters.
On its flagship early years programme - Play School - the BBC had several black presenters including Floella Benjamin who is now a duchess in the house of Lords. There were programmes like Pipkins on ITV with a black presenter. And on Saturday morning Tiswas you had a teenage Lenny Henry.
In children’s drama Double Deckers was not the only drama with black characters. You had black characters in key roles in Grange Hill, and if I really want to delve deep into my childhood my personal favourite children’s drama was a science fiction drama (which was recently remade) called Tomorrow People - again with black actors in key roles.
Yet despite being born and raised in London I looked across the Atlantic and saw myself reflected back at me and in a reality I wanted to be part of. I looked at programmes filmed just down the road from where I lived and failed to find an emotional connection. This is despite the fact that these UK programmes had quote unquote on-screen diversity and representation.
I had no conscious understanding of race but something in Sesame Street resonated with me. It got something right in 1970 which British television still fails to grasp.
Over the last 50 years there has been real progress, with most British drama writers now recognising that there should be positive black characters. Casting directors are now more willing to cast black actors in non-stereotypical positive roles. Things are far from perfect, but there is no denying that progression. There may have been a degree of representation in the 1970s children’s programmes but now we see positive black characters on our screen relatively often – from actors in Dr Who to The Hustle and of course Luther. However, there’s something special about these positive characters. And all the characters and presenters I mentioned earlier in 1970s children’s programmes.
They are often the only black character, inhabiting functioning white communities, or at the very least majority white communities. Black communities on TV on the other hand are portrayed almost exclusively as dysfunctional. While many of the people portrayed in a drama set in a non-white community may be likeable, the community they were set in is normally anything but.
The message that comes across loud and clear on our screens is that while there might be good black individuals, black communities are a problem. It suggests that if you are a good or positive black person you should want to leave the dysfunctional black communities as quickly as possible.
While some might downplay these unspoken messages, the reality is one comes across these implicit negative views about black communities all the time. There are often similar messages about South Asians on TV, while there might be positive individuals from the Indian sub-continent, the communities are invariably problematic, populated with forced marriages and potential terrorists.
Yet the reality is that while dysfunctional black communities certainly do exist, there are also incredibly good positive functional communities. Analysis by Dr Nicola Rollock into the black middle class offers strong examples of functional positive black communities that rarely see our TV screens. I for one am very proud to be part of a black community that includes lawyers, film makers, policemen, civil servants, charity workers – but also unemployed people. It’s mixed, but positively so.
And so what resonates with people is the portrayal of communities and it is this that has been missing from so much of our diversity debate.
In Killing Eve we do not see any reference to Sandra Oh’s Korean heritage until she has left her white husband, lost her job - working with predominantly white people and hit rock bottom.
At that point she takes a job in the most stereotypical of East Asian occupations. You’ve guessed it - a Korean restaurant.
I am sure the BBC and the producers patted themselves on the back after casting Sandra Oh in the role - a role originally written for a white person in the original books. And yet when it came to representing her community they stumbled at the first hurdle.
No one would ever want to be in that community if they could ever avoid it, and she only returned to that community when she had no where else to go.
Just think about the message that send out to East Asians. You want to kick some butt? Yes you can - as long as you jettison your community and only expose your culture in small palatable (preferably edible) doses.
And yet when we get it right it is brilliant.
Christmas just gone Sainsbury’s broadcast an advert of a black family enjoying Christmas dinner.
It resonated with black people - why?
Because it showed a happy functioning black community.
It also had a very important message - black people can be happy without white people. If it was killing Eve it is the equivalent of saying - Sandra Oh you can kick butt, be a superhero and celebrate your culture.
Now recently the question of onscreen portrayal has taken on more urgency and people have started to bandy around the term “authentic”.
As the UK media industry seeks to improve its diversity the question of “authentic” representation looms large. What does “authentic” portrayal of under-represented look like and how can we judge it?
Recently BEATS (British East Asians in Theatre and on Screen), a media advocacy group for increased diversity, attempted to answer that very question with regards to the portrayal of British Southeast Asians in drama (BESEA). They proposed a simple checklist:
(1) Are there two or more BESEA characters? (2) Do at least two BESEA characters speak fluent English with a British accent? (3) Does at least one BESEA character pursue their own goal separate to the white characters?
If the programme can answer “yes” to all three questions then it has passed the test.
What the BEATS test indicates is that it is not just about quantity - quality is equally important.
Interestingly, there has been push back by some members of the British East Asian community to the exact specifics of the checklist, most notably whether the requirement regarding British accents champions second and third generation immigrants over more recent arrivals. I personally think there will be room for improvement and ways to address this concern. However we shouldn’t lose sight of the core principles and what the checklist identifies are three important criteria vital for authentic representation:
People of colour are not isolated individuals.
Do not “exoticize” people of colour; and finally
People of colour must have agency over our lives.
Now if you take the Killing Eve example or Idris Elba in Luther they frequently pass the second and third criteria. They are really not exoticised in my opinion. And they definitely have agency over their own lives. Sandra Oh seems to kill who she likes and to some degree beds who she likes - I hope that isn’t a spoiler for people who haven’t watched it yet.
But they fall down on the first criteria - speaking to another person who looks like them.
Netflix’s recent hit Lupin also falls down on this criteria - if you disregard flashbacks of Omar Sy talking to his dead father.
Now what is interesting with the first criteria - two Asian people should speak to one another - I believe what they are trying to do is capture the idea and importance of community in portrayal
Community is the new frontier when it comes to diversity.
The fact that BEATS have published this checklist now is also particularly important.
Last June the BBC committed £100m of its content spend over three years on “diverse productions and talent” stipulating that “diverse stories and portrayal on-screen” would be one criteria that productions would be judged by without detailing how.
The fear among many people of colour working in TV that I have spoken to is that the BBC will repeat the same mistakes they did when trying to figure out what “authentic” Scottish portrayal is. Asking whether a black character eating “jerk chicken” is more authentic than having them dine in a French restaurant. Or leaving it up to the discretion of a single executive as to what “authenticity” looks like.
What BEATS’ criteria demonstrates is authenticity is not about specific cultural signifiers but about how you approach your characters. The BBC would do well to heed this when it finally publishes its guidelines as to what “diverse stories and portrayal on-screen” really means.
Now Of course there is one final, fourth, criteria Lenny (Henry) and I identify in our book (Access All Areas) as being essential to achieving real authentic portrayal. And that is to make sure there is diversity in key positions behind the camera.
And so to sum up if we want to have diversity we must recognise that characters are not isolated people. At its most basic they have back stories and for black people those back stories have to include their communities.
Finally I will leave you with one more Sesame Street-related fact.
When the first episode of Sesame Street was aired in 1970 the US was 87.65 per cent white. According to the last census conducted in 2010 it is now 72.40 per cent white.
The year I was born, 1971, was the first time the UK census specifically gathered ethnicity data. That year they found the white population made up roughly 97.7 per cent of the population. Today the BAME population in the UK is 13 per cent, a larger percentage than the non-white population at the time Sally first met all the Sesame Street characters in the first episode.
In 1970 a children’s television show had already worked out the importance of appealing to the country’s non-white population through positive community representation not just portrayal of individuals, an appeal that made a small child born in London a year later fall in love with it.
British broadcasters do not have the luxury of waiting another 50 years to finally work out what Sesame Street got right. Because unlike 50 years ago Sesame Street is literally just one channel hop away, as is all the other great diverse content that prioritises community representation over simple diverse representation of individuals.
NFTS students, you must make that change or British film and television will die without it.
You are our hope, and our future.
Agree with quite a lot. The rules are like the feminist rules - two women should talk about something other than men. I like these rules.
ReplyDeleteHappy communities don't make good TV. East Enders, Emmerdale, and Coronation Street aren't exactly adverts for white working class life.
And all this fuss about Luther isn't properly black because he doesn't have only Black mates and eat Black food? Four words. Blazing saddles Camptown Ladies.