Interesting article. I don't follow the show, only seen the ads for it, and don't know anything about real motorcycle gangs. But this line caught my eye:
Quote:
|
For far too long, writers have been using racism a way to practice lazy characterization. It perpetuates the lie that all racists are horrible and hateful people – and not folks who happen to harbor irrational biases toward people of different racial or ethnic backgrounds. However, by using racism as a lazy way to make someone evil, writers have painted themselves into a corner. Audiences have been conditioned to see characters who hold or express racial biases as inexplicably evil. So allowing a character in a work to express or defend racist views is to automatically mark that character as irredeemable.
|
And it made me think how far we've come since All In the Family, where you could have an overtly racist protagonist, but treat him sympathetically, and come away with a show that really got you thinking about prejudice. I'm in total agreement that most everything since then has been simplistic and stifled discussion rather than promoting it.
