Diverse Casts on Television

So we're switching gears from talking about representation of gender and now we are beginning to discuss representation of race in the media. And for me, something that immediately pops into my mind is the thought of casts of TV that feature multiple ethnicities. Two that I think of instantly are the casts from Lost and Heroes.

My immediate reaction is- Wow. This is a great thing. Finally popular TV shows are featuring people other than white men and women. Featuring African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, etc. is a good thing, right? Right? Well, not to be a downer BUT I feel like with the good comes the bad. It seems like yes these representations are helpful because let's face it we live in a diverse country. When you walk down the street in Philly you see a variety of races so it only makes sense to see that variety on TV. But the downside to shows featuring people of multiple ethnicities is that it may reinforce race stereotypes. The Asian that is really studious and good at science. The Hispanic who loves cooking and spending time with her family. The African-American who is a former gang member and whose brother was shot. Get my point? And I am not trying to be rude or insensitive by giving those examples, I am just trying to express my frustration with what seems like a step forward. I guess these multi-race casts are a step forward, but maybe not as big of a step as I thought.

Lost image from http://www.clear-lake-reflections.com/2008/04/lost_amidst_imovie_parcels.html
Heroes image from http://www.dmitrylinkov.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/heroes-cast-3.jpg