- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
heather, you ask, "Isn't it more than a little creepy how often black people are kicked off reality shows?"
actually, it isn't 'creepy'; it's predictable. why? because reality TV producers compulsively exploit stereotypes in their casting choices, and, just like we can always count on jerry springer's 'guests' to start throwing punches and taking their clothes off on cue, the low-rent, dingbat-idiot black people who are so often cast solely because they can be counted upon to create tension do exactly what they feel is expected of them, and then are summarily dismissed, with a lot of faux-guilty hand-wringing and post-game PC apologism in the pop culture media.
the cream of the reality crop usually transcend this kind of casting ('the amazing race' is the clear standout here, though 'survivor' and even 'the apprentice'--disregarding omarosa--have also had success casting minorities who aren't edited as caricatures, and all 3 shows have been won by various minorities). but second-rate shows without the inherent drama of wilderness survival or a race around the world tend to make up for it by casting wackos who will act out on cue. we've seen just this sort of thing unfold recently on the UK 'celebrity' Big Brother, where a white woman--whose sole claim to celebrity, incidentally, was a previous appearance on--yep--UK Big Brother--started taunting an Indian houseguest with racial slurs, sparking a national controversy. the show had been tanking in the ratings before the confrontation, and has since experienced a considerable spike in viewership.
the guiltiest reality TV race-baiters, of course, are the producers of MTV's Real World, who have an incredible knack for casting angry black men (and, occasionally, women) who can be relied upon at some point to get drunk, start a fight, make an inappropriate sexual advance, violently overreact to a perceived racial slight or insult, etc.--all the stereotypical 'uncontrollable black man' behaviors that have permeated white culture since the days of Jim Crow minstrel shows. the housemates then solemnly gather to decide the brother's fate, equivocating endlessly (or, at least, for the full 30 minutes of the episode) because, hey, they're not racists, BUT . . .
most reality TV contestants are vapid and terrifyingly lacking in self-consciousness, but only the minorities are examined and dissected as token representatives of their race/culture/sexual orientation, etc., and, time and again, they witlessly set themselves up to be exploited by shameless, unscrupulous producers.
assholes come in all colors and sizes, including big and black. smart, judicious, self-conscious people don't go on reality TV unless there's a million dollar prize involved, and, even then, they are rarely cast unless they're exceptionally telegenic. who wants to watch a bunch of polite, sensitive, respectful people? nobody--that is, unless the nice people are outnumbered by abusive, belligerent goons.
cliff delivered exactly what he was cast for. what's 'creepy' is that you seem implicitly willing to use reality TV as a litmus test for race relations--a subject just a teensy bit too complex to be packaged into clips and sound-bytes between soap commercials.
