Throughout the semester, prompts based on class readings, screenings, lectures, and discussions will be posted on this blog. Responses will be graded on their level of critical thinking, pertinence, engagement with class texts, and grammar/spelling/proofing/
length. Be sure to read the prompt carefully and fully engage with the content of the class materials. At the bottom of your response, type your FIRST NAME and the FIRST INITIAL OF YOUR LAST NAME (e.g. Claudia Z.).
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Week Four: Response 4.2
In Long’s exploration of Shonda Rhimes’ “race-blind”
casting, how does this attempt to create diversity also obscure power relations
that people of color experience?Cite an
example in Grey’s Anatomy or another
show from ‘ShondaLand’.
Amy Long argues that although Shonda Rhimes has good intentions by “blind” race casting, Rhimes fails to challenge existing oppressions that still very much exist. As Long mentions, Grey’s Anatomy fails to address the ways in which racism and sexism function in the lives of the characters and in life. Long states that although not blatantly obvious, Grey’s Anatomy maintains dominant hegemonic ideas about race and gender by discounting that racism and sexism still exists. The show treats all the characters the same and depicts all the characters as working hard for their position. By ignoring the differences of the characters’ experiences, the show erases the subjugation that some characters might experience because of systematic oppression. It makes it as though sexism and racism are a problem of the past and anyone can do anything if they work hard enough, it ignores the systemic inequality that still exists. The show also ignores intersectionality and the different simultaneous that can contribute to different experiences. Most often, the differences of the characters are attributed to individualistic traits or focus on the individual such as personality. Although the cast is racially diverse, the representations of the character’s experience is not. “the narrative collapses such distinctions and, more importantly, obscures the power relations and structural forces through which these two drastically different experiences (or, more specifically, representations of experiences) are produced and interpreted.” Shonda Rhimes has the opportunity to address important social issues in Grey’s Anatomy but often fails to. For example, throughout Grey’s Anatomy, the main character is Meredith Grey, an excellent surgeon that is the daughter of an amazing former surgeon. The experiences of Meredith Grey would most certainly differ from another surgeon who does not have the same privileges that Grey has. Grey is a white, heterosexual, able-bodied, educated, rich woman with rich educated parents. Grey’s experience would very much differ from a surgeon who doesn’t have these privileges. For example, Izzie was poor growing up and had a career as an underwear model through school to pay her tuition. Izzie most likely didn’t have the privilege to solely focus on school or even to be known in institutions that highly respected Meredith’s mother. Both women would have different experiences and perspectives to offer but it is often overlooked and not addressed. If Miranda Bailey was an intern at the time that Grey was, Miranda Bailey might have to work in distinct ways just to get the respect that is warranted to Grey just because of those privileges. Overall, I think that although Shonda Rhimes means well in trying to create diverse representations in television, it often obscures the complexity of people and their experiences. Natalie Y
Shonda Rhimes wanted to base her characters on the performance of the actor, rather than focus on the color of the person’s skin. By Rhimes "race-blinding" casting, her objective was to not focus on the white blue eyed character, but get people who she believed were the best to play the character. In some ways, it is refreshing to see people of color in strong dominating roles, such as being a plastic surgeon, the chief of surgery, a lawyer, etc. When I started watching Grey's Anatomy, I admired Dr. Callie for being a Hispanic, full figured successful doctor, rather than the typical size zero white women I repeatedly watched on my favorite television shows growing up. Rhimes goal was to create diversity in television, but she did not add enough emphasis on the obscured power relations that people of color experience. It is rare for her television shows to represent the different ways people of color are oppressed in a white patriarchy society, and Rhimes had the opportunity to do so by having a diverse cast. Although some of the episodes do focus a bit on race, such as an episode where Dr. Bailey, an African-American surgeon, had to operate in a white Nazi to save his life. Dr. Bailey had to overcome the racial barrier between the two and do her job by saving the white Nazi man. That is one of the few racial barriers Dr. Bailey had to overcome, but in the real world as African-American women, there is a lot more discrimination to face than just one racist patient. Other shows that Rhimes has been a part of also have a diverse cast, such as the show How to Get Away with Murder. Similar to Grey's Anatomy, the cast is diverse in race, but also many of the characters come from a privileged background. The lead character, Annalise Keating, is an African-American successful criminal attorney who at a point was married to a white educated man. Although Keating’s success is often displayed and praised by her students, her struggles as African-American women are rarely being shown. Some problematic issues that are being demonstrated are using her race when things are not going her way by accusing others she is getting blamed because she is black and how Keating changed her name from Anna Mae to Annalise to fit in a white society. The other characters in the show are from diverse backgrounds, but it does not display the struggles minorities in college will face. Another character who has never shown the difficulties of being a minority in law school is Laurel, the daughter of a Hispanic millionaire. Laurel lives in a nice high-end apartment, not having to work or worry about how she is going to pay for school because she comes from wealth. As a Hispanic woman myself, I know very few Hispanics who live a life like Laurel does, although we share race in common, our struggles are very different. I enjoy watching Rhimes television shows, but I do believe she has the power to display the power relations of her characters and it should be emphasized in more than just one episode every season. -Joselyn G.
Amy Long’s article Diagnosing Drama: Grey’s Anatomy, Blind Casting, and the Politics of Representation dissects the racial and gender implications behind the hit show Grey’s Anatomy and the seemingly progressive strategy of its’ creator, Shonda Rhimes. The focus of Long’s argument looks at the problematic nature in Rhimes’ use of “race-blind” casting for the show, for which she claims is not nearly as socially progressive as it seems on the small screen. Although Rhimes’ casting strategy is inherently more racially inclusive than the hegemonic white-washing of roles that are racially specific, Long argues that it creates an allusion of equality amongst characters and their narratives, and thus generally fails to disrupt the discourses of systemic racism and sexism off screen. With the intention of “race-blind” casting, Rhimes inevitably writes each character from a neutral perspective that excludes issues of race from each narrative. Therefore, Long asserts that by presenting socially equal characters, Rhimes ultimately contributes to the “new racism” that claims racial inequality is a thing of the past. An example of Long’s argument that she does not use is the comparison of Rhimes’ characters Izzie Stevens and Callie Torres, wherein Izzie grew up in a trailer park with a single mom and had to model in risqué photoshoots to afford medical school and Callie grew up in a wealthy household with supportive parents and secretly has a trust fund. These characters are problematic, as Long would argue, because Izzie is played by a white woman and Callie a Latina and thus the casting of each role reverses the representation of the inequalities the majority of Latina and white women experience. Although not all Latina women come from lower class families and must work exceptionally harder than most to succeed, the demographic is much higher than white women because of the systemic oppression Latina women face. Ultimately, by “blind-casting” such a role like Izzie, Rhimes missed an opportunity to represent an intersectional experience women of color often face. Ultimately, Long believes that save a few specified episodes, Rhimes’ characters represent a society derived from a social level-playing field that is above racism, sexism, and classism and thus obscures the reality of power relations that people of color experience every day.
Although I found Long’s article thought-provoking and eye opening, I feel as if she failed to give Rhimes enough ‘disrupting the hegemonic discourse’ credit. While Long acknowledges that Rhimes is one of the only African American women leading contemporary network television, she does not examine the influence that fact may have on Rhimes’ characters and production choices. As we discussed in lecture, because Grey’s Anatomy was one of Rhimes’ first hit shows, the intial diversity of her cast was a ground-breaking accomplishment in and of itself; nevertheless, her rookie presence as a successful woman of color in a business dominates by white men may have kept Rhimes from pushing too many limits too soon. As the series went on, Rhimes continued to include racially and gender charged story lines for the characters and continues to much more frequently in her newer shows, as well. Despite the innate problems in “race-blind” casting, I believe that increased representation of people of color in popular culture (even if their intersectional oppression is not directly represented) is a positive and progressive step in the direction of shifting the discourse of white supremacy and systemic racism.
Amy Long’s article talks about Shonda Rhimes, a show writer, who uses “race-blind” casting. The idea of this type of casting, is to write the script of the characters beforehand, only including “gender, location of origin, and individual merit or personality traits” (1069). When it comes to casting the character, to cast someone to fits perfectly into the role without looking at race. Long expresses how she sees “race-blind” casting “ignores the intersectional specificities among groups of men and women” (1079). Race is a big part in some people’s lives and we all have different stories of how we got to where we are today. In the article, it compares Christina and Burke’s relationship, to Meredith and Derek’s relationship. It analyzes how Christina and Burke’s relationship doesn’t work out because of the stress and conflict between them and it leads to a break up. As Christina and Burke, the interracial couple suffered, Meredith and Derek, who are both the same race, portray a “fairytale” relationship, rarely having conflict. As I watch the show now, I never realized how race was never involved. I mostly just focused of the stories that each character told. Yet, now I can see how some people may be taken back because of the gaps that are not filled. For example, in a recent season a character named Jo Wilson is a woman who was a foster child growing up. She later married someone who was abusive so she ran away, changed her name and now works at the hospital. From looking at her character I have always wondered how could she have gone through so much and not really say anything about it. Long makes a good point about the problems with “race-blind” casting. It makes you think about other shows Rhimes has written for. However, I think sometimes, it is good to focus on the stories that are happening currently and living in the moment of each character so the viewers get more involved. Kaitlyn A.
I didn’t watch Grey’s Anatomy until recently and I was hooked from the very first episode. I liked the fact that it was a very diverse mix group of doctors with a black man being the chief of surgery. I related to these black, accomplished men in the show and aspired to be just like them someday. The more I continued to watch the show however, I realized that Seattle Grace is an incubator isolated from the harsh realities of the real world. Throughout its twelve seasons, Rhimes has done an exceptional job of hiring a “color-blind” cast to play these different characters, which in turn hides reality. Rhimes’ show lacks the everyday common assumptions we make about people such as the black guy being the janitor and doctors being all white or Indian. Moreover, although the integrity of the characters and what they did to reach the plateaus they have reached isn’t being questioned, aside from one episode where a white supremacist refuses to be treated by Dr. Bailey, we don’t really see much doubt and uncertainty in the eyes of the patients and families that come through the doors of the hospital as to who would be treating them. As Long notes, “These sorts of displacements and transferals do more than simply obscure actual, structural barriers to racial equality.” The show completely ignores the constant marginalization that happens to black people due to presupposition held in the eyes of the masses concerning the levels of accomplishments African Americans are capable of reaching. Another example noted in the article is how in the pilot episode, when Merideth and Yang are looking around to see who the “Nazi” was and eventually realize that it was Dr. Bailey, Izzy stepped in to support Bailey by saying that it might be due to her accomplishment and brilliance that she is called a “Nazi” and not because she is evil, which portrayed Izzy not only standing up for the African American woman but relating to her in some way, which is very unlikely outside the production set of Grey’s Anatomy. Shewakena K.
In her article “Diagnosing Drama: Grey’s Anatomy, Blind Casting, and the Politics of Representation, Amy Long argues that although the TV show Grey’s Anatomy seems to be progressive because of its diverse cast, it actually ignores a lot of issues those characters would face in reality. Long goes on to describe how Shonda Rhimes “race-blind” casted Grey’s Anatomy. Rhimes wanted to have actors who best fit the role of the character regardless of their skin color, hair color, eye color, shape etc. While this led to one of the most diverse casts on screen, it did not create realistic depictions of how these characters would have interacted with each other based on power relations, systems of oppression, and systemic racism in society.
I am not sure whether or not this was intentional, but it could be argued that Shonda Rhimes wanted to race-blind cast Grey’s Anatomy just to get visual racial diversity on peoples’ televisions. After Grey’s Anatomy became a huge ratings success, Rhimes was able to get more of her shows picked up by ABC. Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder, which came from Shondaland productions after Grey’s Anatomy, have diverse casts that are more than just topically diverse. The characters on her newer TV series have stories that do depict issues that they would face in the real world based on their identities.
In Scandal, whose main character Olivia Pope is a black woman, there are many instances where her identity as a black woman in America affects her life. In one episode her father tells her why he sent her to the top boarding schools in the world. He explained that she would have to work twice as hard to get half as much as everyone else. In later seasons, she starts dating the POTUS after he divorces his wife and even though she is extremely successful and well known on her own, the media portrays her as just the president’s mistress.
In another Shondaland show, How To Get Away With Murder, the main character, Annalise, is a queer black female lawyer. In the first season, she is married to a wealthy and educated white man. She discusses the difficulties they had faced in their relationship because people judged her (but not her husband *shocker*) and told her that she did not deserve to be with him. Annalise also constantly fights against discrimination she is faced with as a lawyer who is a black woman. In addition, one of Annalise’s law students named Connor is in a relationship with a man named Oliver. Just as their relationship begins to get serious, Oliver finds out that he is HIV positive and kind of goes through how the couple worked through that diagnosis. Oliver is not shunned by anyone on the show and his partner is very accepting and caring as Oliver comes to terms with being HIV positive.
While it is true that the race blind casting in Grey’s Anatomy ignores a lot of power relations that would exist in that scenario in real life, I think it is important that there are examples of people of color, women, and LGBT individuals on television. Especially when these characters being portrayed are in positions of power and are successful at their highly-skilled professions.
Shonda Rhimes decision to enact “race-blind” casting was done to focus on merits of the actor, rather than color of their skin. In doing so, she was establishing more diversity in the casting. However, as mentioned by Long, Rhimes “race-blind” casting creates a problem: ignoring systematic and institutional racism, as well as the differences in life experiences faced by people of color. As stated by Long, Rhimes’ “Grey’s Anatomy” does not tackle the components that exist in the characters’ lives: racial and gender inequality that are paramount in reality. Most of the characters, if not all, are closely related in terms of tenacity, the sheer effort, it took to get to their positions. This characteristic that is associated among the cast of characters hinders racial and gender boundaries that are still existent in everyday life. People of all color have struggled and tenacity alone is not enough to group all races as single unit. There are some races that still are oppressed and tenacity get them so far in hierarchy of “people of color.” Even at the individual level, a black woman juxtaposed with a white woman may have similar struggles, but two couldn’t be more different. A perfect example of this can be seen with Jo Wilson (a white woman) and Stephanie Edwards (a black woman). In one of the episodes, Jo learns that Stephanie was born with Sickle-Cell Disease, so her childhood was tough. Jo feels that she can relate to Stephanie, as she also had a tough upbringing since she was put into foster care and could only rely on herself growing up. Jo believes that puts her on equal footing in terms of past struggles. However, Stephanie puts JO in her place by saying, “You understand me more because I was sick? You can't even wrap your mind around it, can you? That I might be better at this than you are, that I might be stronger or smarter or more savvy. […] . Stop trying to make us even, Jo, cause we’re not even.” Stephanie’s statement towards Jo subtly represents the reality of our society: that every struggle is unique to the individual. Though we may have all struggled with something, it still doesn’t put an individual on par with another. In conclusion, Shonda Rhimes has accomplished racial and gender diversity in her shows and still continues to strive for diversity, albeit minor points not being addressed in terms systematic and institutional racism. Jonathan M.
Although Miss Rhimes had great intentions when doing “race-blind” casting, the effects of it are definitely apparent in a lot of her earlier works. Casting people based on their talents and skills instead of their physical appearance sounds amazing and seems like something straight of a happily-ever-after type of story. However, problems arise when specific racial issues aren’t addressed and everyone in one of Rhime’s shows is treated the same. Although I do agree that Rhimes’ race-blind casting was destructive back when Long had her work published, I believe that Shonda Rhimes has definitely gotten better in giving her characters real life struggles. How to get Away with Murder is riddled with characters exploring different social issues, either subtly or an in-your-face sort of way. There are several scenes where the viewers are asked to accept Annalise’s blackness, queerness, and womanhood. In a specific scene, Annalise is seen taking of her wig, makeup, and everything that makes her look “professional”. That scene shows the intersection between her blackness (having to wear a wig to seem “acceptable”) and womanhood (having to wear makeup). The whole first season of the show is Annalise and the others trying to figure out what happened to Annalise’s husband, who had cheated on her. Another example of improvement would be Connor, on of Annalise’s students, being gay and the topic being constantly looked into throughout the show. At times Connor is seen as promiscuous but he’s also seen as loyal and loving when he ends up in a relationship and finds out his partner is HIV positive. By putting Connor in a relationship with someone who’s HIV positive, she makes him more than just a sex seeking gay guy, disproving this stereotype about gay men while also forcing people to think about HIV and how it’s still very real and didn’t stay in the 80s. The critique Long made about race-blind casting might have been true before but it certainly isn’t anymore. -Hector B
Amy Long argues that although Shonda Rhimes has good intentions by “blind” race casting, Rhimes fails to challenge existing oppressions that still very much exist. As Long mentions, Grey’s Anatomy fails to address the ways in which racism and sexism function in the lives of the characters and in life. Long states that although not blatantly obvious, Grey’s Anatomy maintains dominant hegemonic ideas about race and gender by discounting that racism and sexism still exists. The show treats all the characters the same and depicts all the characters as working hard for their position. By ignoring the differences of the characters’ experiences, the show erases the subjugation that some characters might experience because of systematic oppression. It makes it as though sexism and racism are a problem of the past and anyone can do anything if they work hard enough, it ignores the systemic inequality that still exists. The show also ignores intersectionality and the different simultaneous that can contribute to different experiences. Most often, the differences of the characters are attributed to individualistic traits or focus on the individual such as personality. Although the cast is racially diverse, the representations of the character’s experience is not. “the narrative collapses such distinctions and, more importantly, obscures the power relations and structural forces through which these two drastically different experiences (or, more specifically, representations of experiences) are produced and interpreted.”
ReplyDeleteShonda Rhimes has the opportunity to address important social issues in Grey’s Anatomy but often fails to. For example, throughout Grey’s Anatomy, the main character is Meredith Grey, an excellent surgeon that is the daughter of an amazing former surgeon. The experiences of Meredith Grey would most certainly differ from another surgeon who does not have the same privileges that Grey has. Grey is a white, heterosexual, able-bodied, educated, rich woman with rich educated parents. Grey’s experience would very much differ from a surgeon who doesn’t have these privileges. For example, Izzie was poor growing up and had a career as an underwear model through school to pay her tuition. Izzie most likely didn’t have the privilege to solely focus on school or even to be known in institutions that highly respected Meredith’s mother. Both women would have different experiences and perspectives to offer but it is often overlooked and not addressed. If Miranda Bailey was an intern at the time that Grey was, Miranda Bailey might have to work in distinct ways just to get the respect that is warranted to Grey just because of those privileges. Overall, I think that although Shonda Rhimes means well in trying to create diverse representations in television, it often obscures the complexity of people and their experiences.
Natalie Y
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteShonda Rhimes wanted to base her characters on the performance of the actor, rather than focus on the color of the person’s skin. By Rhimes "race-blinding" casting, her objective was to not focus on the white blue eyed character, but get people who she believed were the best to play the character. In some ways, it is refreshing to see people of color in strong dominating roles, such as being a plastic surgeon, the chief of surgery, a lawyer, etc. When I started watching Grey's Anatomy, I admired Dr. Callie for being a Hispanic, full figured successful doctor, rather than the typical size zero white women I repeatedly watched on my favorite television shows growing up. Rhimes goal was to create diversity in television, but she did not add enough emphasis on the obscured power relations that people of color experience. It is rare for her television shows to represent the different ways people of color are oppressed in a white patriarchy society, and Rhimes had the opportunity to do so by having a diverse cast. Although some of the episodes do focus a bit on race, such as an episode where Dr. Bailey, an African-American surgeon, had to operate in a white Nazi to save his life. Dr. Bailey had to overcome the racial barrier between the two and do her job by saving the white Nazi man. That is one of the few racial barriers Dr. Bailey had to overcome, but in the real world as African-American women, there is a lot more discrimination to face than just one racist patient. Other shows that Rhimes has been a part of also have a diverse cast, such as the show How to Get Away with Murder. Similar to Grey's Anatomy, the cast is diverse in race, but also many of the characters come from a privileged background. The lead character, Annalise Keating, is an African-American successful criminal attorney who at a point was married to a white educated man. Although Keating’s success is often displayed and praised by her students, her struggles as African-American women are rarely being shown. Some problematic issues that are being demonstrated are using her race when things are not going her way by accusing others she is getting blamed because she is black and how Keating changed her name from Anna Mae to Annalise to fit in a white society. The other characters in the show are from diverse backgrounds, but it does not display the struggles minorities in college will face. Another character who has never shown the difficulties of being a minority in law school is Laurel, the daughter of a Hispanic millionaire. Laurel lives in a nice high-end apartment, not having to work or worry about how she is going to pay for school because she comes from wealth. As a Hispanic woman myself, I know very few Hispanics who live a life like Laurel does, although we share race in common, our struggles are very different. I enjoy watching Rhimes television shows, but I do believe she has the power to display the power relations of her characters and it should be emphasized in more than just one episode every season.
ReplyDelete-Joselyn G.
Amy Long’s article Diagnosing Drama: Grey’s Anatomy, Blind Casting, and the Politics of Representation dissects the racial and gender implications behind the hit show Grey’s Anatomy and the seemingly progressive strategy of its’ creator, Shonda Rhimes. The focus of Long’s argument looks at the problematic nature in Rhimes’ use of “race-blind” casting for the show, for which she claims is not nearly as socially progressive as it seems on the small screen. Although Rhimes’ casting strategy is inherently more racially inclusive than the hegemonic white-washing of roles that are racially specific, Long argues that it creates an allusion of equality amongst characters and their narratives, and thus generally fails to disrupt the discourses of systemic racism and sexism off screen. With the intention of “race-blind” casting, Rhimes inevitably writes each character from a neutral perspective that excludes issues of race from each narrative. Therefore, Long asserts that by presenting socially equal characters, Rhimes ultimately contributes to the “new racism” that claims racial inequality is a thing of the past. An example of Long’s argument that she does not use is the comparison of Rhimes’ characters Izzie Stevens and Callie Torres, wherein Izzie grew up in a trailer park with a single mom and had to model in risqué photoshoots to afford medical school and Callie grew up in a wealthy household with supportive parents and secretly has a trust fund. These characters are problematic, as Long would argue, because Izzie is played by a white woman and Callie a Latina and thus the casting of each role reverses the representation of the inequalities the majority of Latina and white women experience. Although not all Latina women come from lower class families and must work exceptionally harder than most to succeed, the demographic is much higher than white women because of the systemic oppression Latina women face. Ultimately, by “blind-casting” such a role like Izzie, Rhimes missed an opportunity to represent an intersectional experience women of color often face. Ultimately, Long believes that save a few specified episodes, Rhimes’ characters represent a society derived from a social level-playing field that is above racism, sexism, and classism and thus obscures the reality of power relations that people of color experience every day.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I found Long’s article thought-provoking and eye opening, I feel as if she failed to give Rhimes enough ‘disrupting the hegemonic discourse’ credit. While Long acknowledges that Rhimes is one of the only African American women leading contemporary network television, she does not examine the influence that fact may have on Rhimes’ characters and production choices. As we discussed in lecture, because Grey’s Anatomy was one of Rhimes’ first hit shows, the intial diversity of her cast was a ground-breaking accomplishment in and of itself; nevertheless, her rookie presence as a successful woman of color in a business dominates by white men may have kept Rhimes from pushing too many limits too soon. As the series went on, Rhimes continued to include racially and gender charged story lines for the characters and continues to much more frequently in her newer shows, as well. Despite the innate problems in “race-blind” casting, I believe that increased representation of people of color in popular culture (even if their intersectional oppression is not directly represented) is a positive and progressive step in the direction of shifting the discourse of white supremacy and systemic racism.
Amy Long’s article talks about Shonda Rhimes, a show writer, who uses “race-blind” casting. The idea of this type of casting, is to write the script of the characters beforehand, only including “gender, location of origin, and individual merit or personality traits” (1069). When it comes to casting the character, to cast someone to fits perfectly into the role without looking at race. Long expresses how she sees “race-blind” casting “ignores the intersectional specificities among groups of men and women” (1079). Race is a big part in some people’s lives and we all have different stories of how we got to where we are today. In the article, it compares Christina and Burke’s relationship, to Meredith and Derek’s relationship. It analyzes how Christina and Burke’s relationship doesn’t work out because of the stress and conflict between them and it leads to a break up. As Christina and Burke, the interracial couple suffered, Meredith and Derek, who are both the same race, portray a “fairytale” relationship, rarely having conflict.
ReplyDeleteAs I watch the show now, I never realized how race was never involved. I mostly just focused of the stories that each character told. Yet, now I can see how some people may be taken back because of the gaps that are not filled. For example, in a recent season a character named Jo Wilson is a woman who was a foster child growing up. She later married someone who was abusive so she ran away, changed her name and now works at the hospital. From looking at her character I have always wondered how could she have gone through so much and not really say anything about it. Long makes a good point about the problems with “race-blind” casting. It makes you think about other shows Rhimes has written for. However, I think sometimes, it is good to focus on the stories that are happening currently and living in the moment of each character so the viewers get more involved.
Kaitlyn A.
I didn’t watch Grey’s Anatomy until recently and I was hooked from the very first episode. I liked the fact that it was a very diverse mix group of doctors with a black man being the chief of surgery. I related to these black, accomplished men in the show and aspired to be just like them someday. The more I continued to watch the show however, I realized that Seattle Grace is an incubator isolated from the harsh realities of the real world. Throughout its twelve seasons, Rhimes has done an exceptional job of hiring a “color-blind” cast to play these different characters, which in turn hides reality. Rhimes’ show lacks the everyday common assumptions we make about people such as the black guy being the janitor and doctors being all white or Indian. Moreover, although the integrity of the characters and what they did to reach the plateaus they have reached isn’t being questioned, aside from one episode where a white supremacist refuses to be treated by Dr. Bailey, we don’t really see much doubt and uncertainty in the eyes of the patients and families that come through the doors of the hospital as to who would be treating them. As Long notes, “These sorts of displacements and transferals do more than simply obscure actual, structural barriers to racial equality.” The show completely ignores the constant marginalization that happens to black people due to presupposition held in the eyes of the masses concerning the levels of accomplishments African Americans are capable of reaching. Another example noted in the article is how in the pilot episode, when Merideth and Yang are looking around to see who the “Nazi” was and eventually realize that it was Dr. Bailey, Izzy stepped in to support Bailey by saying that it might be due to her accomplishment and brilliance that she is called a “Nazi” and not because she is evil, which portrayed Izzy not only standing up for the African American woman but relating to her in some way, which is very unlikely outside the production set of Grey’s Anatomy.
ReplyDeleteShewakena K.
In her article “Diagnosing Drama: Grey’s Anatomy, Blind Casting, and the Politics of Representation, Amy Long argues that although the TV show Grey’s Anatomy seems to be progressive because of its diverse cast, it actually ignores a lot of issues those characters would face in reality. Long goes on to describe how Shonda Rhimes “race-blind” casted Grey’s Anatomy. Rhimes wanted to have actors who best fit the role of the character regardless of their skin color, hair color, eye color, shape etc. While this led to one of the most diverse casts on screen, it did not create realistic depictions of how these characters would have interacted with each other based on power relations, systems of oppression, and systemic racism in society.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure whether or not this was intentional, but it could be argued that Shonda Rhimes wanted to race-blind cast Grey’s Anatomy just to get visual racial diversity on peoples’ televisions. After Grey’s Anatomy became a huge ratings success, Rhimes was able to get more of her shows picked up by ABC. Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder, which came from Shondaland productions after Grey’s Anatomy, have diverse casts that are more than just topically diverse. The characters on her newer TV series have stories that do depict issues that they would face in the real world based on their identities.
In Scandal, whose main character Olivia Pope is a black woman, there are many instances where her identity as a black woman in America affects her life. In one episode her father tells her why he sent her to the top boarding schools in the world. He explained that she would have to work twice as hard to get half as much as everyone else. In later seasons, she starts dating the POTUS after he divorces his wife and even though she is extremely successful and well known on her own, the media portrays her as just the president’s mistress.
In another Shondaland show, How To Get Away With Murder, the main character, Annalise, is a queer black female lawyer. In the first season, she is married to a wealthy and educated white man. She discusses the difficulties they had faced in their relationship because people judged her (but not her husband *shocker*) and told her that she did not deserve to be with him. Annalise also constantly fights against discrimination she is faced with as a lawyer who is a black woman. In addition, one of Annalise’s law students named Connor is in a relationship with a man named Oliver. Just as their relationship begins to get serious, Oliver finds out that he is HIV positive and kind of goes through how the couple worked through that diagnosis. Oliver is not shunned by anyone on the show and his partner is very accepting and caring as Oliver comes to terms with being HIV positive.
While it is true that the race blind casting in Grey’s Anatomy ignores a lot of power relations that would exist in that scenario in real life, I think it is important that there are examples of people of color, women, and LGBT individuals on television. Especially when these characters being portrayed are in positions of power and are successful at their highly-skilled professions.
Shonda Rhimes decision to enact “race-blind” casting was done to focus on merits of the actor, rather than color of their skin. In doing so, she was establishing more diversity in the casting. However, as mentioned by Long, Rhimes “race-blind” casting creates a problem: ignoring systematic and institutional racism, as well as the differences in life experiences faced by people of color. As stated by Long, Rhimes’ “Grey’s Anatomy” does not tackle the components that exist in the characters’ lives: racial and gender inequality that are paramount in reality. Most of the characters, if not all, are closely related in terms of tenacity, the sheer effort, it took to get to their positions. This characteristic that is associated among the cast of characters hinders racial and gender boundaries that are still existent in everyday life. People of all color have struggled and tenacity alone is not enough to group all races as single unit. There are some races that still are oppressed and tenacity get them so far in hierarchy of “people of color.” Even at the individual level, a black woman juxtaposed with a white woman may have similar struggles, but two couldn’t be more different. A perfect example of this can be seen with Jo Wilson (a white woman) and Stephanie Edwards (a black woman). In one of the episodes, Jo learns that Stephanie was born with Sickle-Cell Disease, so her childhood was tough. Jo feels that she can relate to Stephanie, as she also had a tough upbringing since she was put into foster care and could only rely on herself growing up. Jo believes that puts her on equal footing in terms of past struggles. However, Stephanie puts JO in her place by saying, “You understand me more because I was sick? You can't even wrap your mind around it, can you? That I might be better at this than you are, that I might be stronger or smarter or more savvy. […] . Stop trying to make us even, Jo, cause we’re not even.” Stephanie’s statement towards Jo subtly represents the reality of our society: that every struggle is unique to the individual. Though we may have all struggled with something, it still doesn’t put an individual on par with another. In conclusion, Shonda Rhimes has accomplished racial and gender diversity in her shows and still continues to strive for diversity, albeit minor points not being addressed in terms systematic and institutional racism.
ReplyDeleteJonathan M.
Although Miss Rhimes had great intentions when doing “race-blind” casting, the effects of it are definitely apparent in a lot of her earlier works. Casting people based on their talents and skills instead of their physical appearance sounds amazing and seems like something straight of a happily-ever-after type of story. However, problems arise when specific racial issues aren’t addressed and everyone in one of Rhime’s shows is treated the same. Although I do agree that Rhimes’ race-blind casting was destructive back when Long had her work published, I believe that Shonda Rhimes has definitely gotten better in giving her characters real life struggles. How to get Away with Murder is riddled with characters exploring different social issues, either subtly or an in-your-face sort of way. There are several scenes where the viewers are asked to accept Annalise’s blackness, queerness, and womanhood. In a specific scene, Annalise is seen taking of her wig, makeup, and everything that makes her look “professional”. That scene shows the intersection between her blackness (having to wear a wig to seem “acceptable”) and womanhood (having to wear makeup). The whole first season of the show is Annalise and the others trying to figure out what happened to Annalise’s husband, who had cheated on her. Another example of improvement would be Connor, on of Annalise’s students, being gay and the topic being constantly looked into throughout the show. At times Connor is seen as promiscuous but he’s also seen as loyal and loving when he ends up in a relationship and finds out his partner is HIV positive. By putting Connor in a relationship with someone who’s HIV positive, she makes him more than just a sex seeking gay guy, disproving this stereotype about gay men while also forcing people to think about HIV and how it’s still very real and didn’t stay in the 80s. The critique Long made about race-blind casting might have been true before but it certainly isn’t anymore.
ReplyDelete-Hector B