I agree with pretty much everything witchqueen wrote out. Also was just going to add that I don't know much about behind-the-scenes as well (rachelmanija has better experience than me), but that I suspect the general paucity of actors of color also hovers around the issue like a... hovering thing. I'm guessing some stay silent because they don't want to be known as the person who rocks the boat, some do because it's already hard finding roles for POC, some speak but get ignored, some speak and get listened to (Masi Oka for Heroes, whoo!). But I suspect in general they have less clout than white actors, siiiigh.
Some of the stuff we end up seeing is so glaringly *offensive* that surely someone on the creative end must have noticed, and said something. When fandom talks about race (or sexism or any other sort of prejudice), we usually talk vaguely about "the writers" or "[the show's creator]," but there are so many other people around them, and involved in the creation of a movie or tv show that surely *someone* must notice when the subtext is getting ugly.
Hrm, yeah. I dunno. Speaking as someone who used to be the token "I am colorblind and therefore have all white friends" Asian back in college, I think a lot of it may be in the atmosphere? Certainly if you've heard your peers or superiors making fun of people for being "PC" or "overly sensitive," even (or possibly especially) casually or with toss-aside comments, and you see no one standing up to it, it makes it that much more difficult to say something. Or I'm wondering if people do protest, only to be pooh-poohed as "pulling the race card" or just being a poor sport or whatnot.
I found it really, really hard speaking out about it on LJ last year, and that was among a group of people who generally prided themselves as being liberal and feminist and subversive, because of a lot of the above factors, but that's more my guess about Hollywood atmosphere than actual knowledge.
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Some of the stuff we end up seeing is so glaringly *offensive* that surely someone on the creative end must have noticed, and said something. When fandom talks about race (or sexism or any other sort of prejudice), we usually talk vaguely about "the writers" or "[the show's creator]," but there are so many other people around them, and involved in the creation of a movie or tv show that surely *someone* must notice when the subtext is getting ugly.
Hrm, yeah. I dunno. Speaking as someone who used to be the token "I am colorblind and therefore have all white friends" Asian back in college, I think a lot of it may be in the atmosphere? Certainly if you've heard your peers or superiors making fun of people for being "PC" or "overly sensitive," even (or possibly especially) casually or with toss-aside comments, and you see no one standing up to it, it makes it that much more difficult to say something. Or I'm wondering if people do protest, only to be pooh-poohed as "pulling the race card" or just being a poor sport or whatnot.
I found it really, really hard speaking out about it on LJ last year, and that was among a group of people who generally prided themselves as being liberal and feminist and subversive, because of a lot of the above factors, but that's more my guess about Hollywood atmosphere than actual knowledge.