Is WM/BW interracial on tv replacing BM/WW relationships?

Started watching that new show on FOX almost human and noticed the main character's (Bones from Star Trek) girlfriend is black. My sister's favorite show is Scandal starring Kerry Washington as a black chick sleeping with a white POTUS. Spock and Uhura are a couple on the new Star Trek. It seems interracial has finally gone mainstream in America but in the opposite spectrum. What happened to BM/WW relationships on TV? Will Smith can't get a white costar in a movie as a love interest but Scandal is the most popular show in America? Am i missing something? Is this some white male power fantasy driven agenda or is America just more accepting of WM/BW relations on TV?

Am I missing something?

 

America is more accepting of WM/BW relationships. It doesn't ruffles as many feathers. Hollywood wants to change with the times. But they don't want doing so to impact their business. If you didn't live in America you'd think WM/BW were far more common based on tv. But what we really lack is mixed race couples with kids on tv. It's still quite uncommon. And you see what happens when they threaded that way. Cheerios.

 

Bm/ ww was never popular on tv, most of the time they were either friends or subtly in love. There's a lot of commercials and background characters on tv shows that are ww/ bm couples but rarely are they starring characters.

Just as Regina pointed out, BW/ WM is a lot more tame and doesn't spark as big of an uproar as the other way around. That's how the cookie crumbles...

 

Your post is all over the place.

How are you going to include a mention of Spock and Uhura in the current Trek TV films or even bring up who Will Smith hooks up with in films when the title of your thread claims the topic is supposed to be about TV?


Haven't seen much of Almost Human but as far as I am aware of the white lead doesn't have a girlfriend, black or otherwise. But his character does seem to be interested in the woman played by Minka Kelly who is white. Perhaps you are referring to another show.

As for Scandal....did you just start watching? Yes, Kerry's character is hooked up primarily with white guys, especially the married white POTUS. This has been the case for awhile. The good news however is that it is far from being the most popular show on TV.

That being said what we see a trend of on TV are shows with black female leads (or co-leads) in which their love interests are white males. This included Hawthorne and that Megan Goode show and the one with Thandie Newton on Starz and of course Scandal. It may possibly even include, eventually, Sleepy Hollow since a lot of fans are shipping the white guy lead and the black female lead. With the exception of the Megan Goode shows all the other series were successful enough to be renewed for multiple seasons (Sleepy Hollow got a second season order after the airing of its second or third epiosde). That means network execs have examples of hour long shows with black female leads that click with mainstream audiences. Thus that may mean the networks will create more of these (one with Halle Berry backed by Spielberg is already on the way). Those same execs will also notice that those black women have been paired with white men and not only did it not harm ratings it also apparently didn't generate racist backlash from viewers. Thus that may mean the networks may continue to keep going down that road too. And why not? The TV executives may already be down on the idea of pairing a black woman and a black man on a TV hour long show because they might feel that it would cause the mainstream audience to think it was a black show. Having a white guy takes care of that and we already know that Hollywood can't get enough of giving work to white guys anyway.

So the question to me is why do black male viewers treat Scandal like it is must see viewing. I go into the office and all the black dudes watch the show; they come across like a bunch of soap opera addicts. They don't seem to mind that it has a black woman who sleeps around only with white men. Maybe that says something about how more tolerant and secure black guys are. Nevertheless what's the point if the same open-mindedness isn't displayed whenever there is that rare show with a black male lead who is having love affairs with white women or non-black women in general? There is always tons of more hate mail and negative backlash when you put a black man and a white woman in the forefront like that, ant not just from white male viewers. Black women are often very loud in their disapproval too. Black chicks were hating on those Taye Diggs' shows Daybreak and Kevin Hill because his character was involved with non-black women. Those shows were not successful and not renewed which means TV execs weren't in any hurry to try such a thing again. TV execs are safe individuals who like to follow patterns rather than take a chance by going against the status quo. So in their minds hour shows with black men don't work. Ad hour-long shows starring blacks guys who are paired with women who aren't black, really don't work. Which means you won't be getting much or any more of that for the time being. But hour shows with black women who hook up with white men? That has already been proven to be a successful formula.

 

You're correct in your thinking I've seen it on so many shows like The Vampire Diaries, Merlin where Guenivere is a black chick, Misfits where they've had two wm/bw couples from main characters, even the new movie Best Man Wedding 2. My chick pointed out had it been any of the dudes in the movie, most of which have non black wives in real life, people would have lost their minds.
I truly don't get why our couplings some how make a statement where as everyone across the gambit in "ir" relationships just seem to two people in love.

 

I completely disagree. How often do they even try the black guy white woman formula to say whether its a success or not? And he's right in Almost Human the white cop's girlfriend who disappeared was black. And be fair one could easily infer he meant entertainment not just tv so I don't think his post is all over the place.

 

His ex girlfriend who set him up in the pilot is/was black. I sort of threw in Star Trek as a random observation but the point still stands. I also should have mentioned Sleepy Hallow as well. It's sad, I came of age in the 90's and there were way more BM/WW pairings back then. Now? Not so much. Thank insecure WM and BW who must catered to now by Hollywood.

As least in the real world, we all know different.

 

The WM/BW relationships you see are as comfortable as the mainstream gets when it comes to "love" stories between whites and blacks. Since white male privilege lets white men love any race they want without any kind of serious backlash.

The operative word is love. the mainstream audience is strangely OK with the idea of loveless sex between BM/WW, but a love affair like you see on Scandal, no way.

 

Well, there hasn't been that many with a black female as the lead who has white male love interests either. The examples of these have only popped up recently. But despite their small sampling the difference is those shows have been more of a success than the ones with black men with non-black love interest (such as that Vign Rhames Kojak remake).

I stand corrected. That is just on emore example of network TV execs who don't blink or think twice at pairing a white man and a black woman prominently on TV. And why not if they get no negative backlash against it? Are black male viewers going to voice their complaints? Hell no. We will go along with it.

Meanwhile on tha same show the white guy, being human, will get all the love interests. Meanwhile the black guy plays an android so despite all of his good looks he is effectively neutured. You could see that coming a mile away as soon as the roles were cast.

Maybe but still if one puts the word "TV" in the thread I am going to assume he wanted to discuss what was happening on TV.

 

I can't recall much of that on TV in the 90s either.

That ain't enough. If it continues to not be allowed to be portrayed on TV or in major motion pictures it is a problem. Gays don't accept not seeing themselves on the screen (TV and film). They DEMAND to be represented. As a result you see gay characters everywhere now when just ten years ago they were only in the background. When do black men gain such balls. Black men are nothing but a bunch of pussies if they accept not having Hollywood portray their romantic interactions with anyone other than black women all the while being okay with seeing black women get far more opportunities at being shown with non-black men. It is as if society and the industry are trying to promote what they feel is acceptable. It is only acceptable if as a black man you support this limited view without complaint. That's why I don't go around wasting time watching Scandal. I'lll watch a show like that only when the allow black men to have such freedoms on the screen as well.

 

TV and film are just like society; they won't accdept drastic change until you force it upon them by demanding to be heard. The reason why I was attrcated to this site years ago because it was the only place I could find with numerous black dudes who WANTED to see black male characters get that type of freedom in their portrayal by Hollywood. The vast majority of black men I come across don't care about this agenda or see to be timid in regards to addressing it. They accept the status quo that is thrust upon them. Hell, to be real black guys typically are more vocal when it comes to standing up and complaining about seeing black men being paired with white women on TV/film than they are about seeing black women hooked up with white men in movies and TV shows. I'm serious about that. It is as if they are conditioned.

 

True Colors was a show in the 90's with a interracial family: black dad, white mom. Benson on ER was paired up with the white English doctor for a while. The Practice had a BM/WW pairing. Gunn and Fred on Angel. Someone mentioned Kevin Hill with Taye Diggs. Worf and Troy on Star Trek:TNG and Worf and Dax on DS9. It's quite the list. Now,I'm not sure when I've last seen a BM/WW pairing on Network tv recently.

 

It IS conditioning. My mother has a bigger problem with me dating white women than my sister dating white men. It's insecurities from the home.

 

WW/BM relationships were never there on TV to be replaced. What's getting replaced is the black male character as a love interest for BW characters.

The default love interest for a female character of any race these days is a white male.

BM are getting moved into the same box in pop culture as totally nonsexual beings that Asian men used to occupy by themselves.

 

Well the differences between gays bm, and bw in entertainment is that bm are the only ones shackled by a sense of hyper masculine ideals that won't allow them to "demand" to be seen as romantic interests because it would come across as complaining which doesn't go with the self/societal imposed notion of being hyper masculine. Alpha males shouldn't have to beg for things and begging to be seen as a romantic interest over a sexual one doesn't go with the ideal either. Bw and gay men don't have those self/societal imposed restraints. They can for lack of a better term complain all they want.

 

Yeah even in the show Almost Human i recall the white dude asking the android what he was going to do with his big android dick. And replied with a laugh nothing.
So not only do they play to the whole bm big dick stereotype its coupled with being completely neutered and not being able to use it.

 

Merlin was just ridiculous. A black Gwen? Ridiculous. But that show like Misfits are made in England and I'll give it a pass since British shows are also just as wiling to show black men with white women. Vampire Diaries is cancelled out by the Originals so that makes things even as far as that show is concerned.

But it is that Best Man shit that really ticks me off. The lone white dude dating a black chick in these black romantic ensembles has become a cliche (and it always seemed to be played by that same dude, eddie Chaibain?). What is more irritating is that it ignores the reality that black guys in America date white women in the real world more so than black girls date white men. Yet you would think otherwise when it comes to these films. They all seem to be about appeasing their black female base.


I've written about this stuff dozens of times on these boards; maybe too many. There always are a bunch of guys who agree but those same dudes will then go out and keep supporting shows like Scandal and movies like The Best Man's Wedding. I'll end it on this example. Asian guys have been going through this shit longer than us black men. But now Asian guys, when given the opportunity, are changing that around. The Asian director who has taken over the Fast and Furious franchise made sure that he was going to keep using an Asian male character who was cool and slick (Han); a leading man type. He also made sure to give that character a love interest, a female who was going to be a regular member of the ensemble. That same woman he chose was white. If white directors weren't going to do that it left him as an Asian director to do it. Meanwhile when black men get opportunities to open up the options of the love interests of black males they chicken out. Guys like Tim Story and Malcolm Lee instead come up with the idea to be "bold" by pairing a black female character with a white guy.

Recently one black director was given the reigns on a story about a black male who loves blaxploitation flicks which he use as a model when dating women. This character also happens to date three women who are named Sharon. The director could have easily cast a black male and cast one or two non-black women as the love interests. Instead he decided to make the male lead white (as if there are not enough roles for white men in the first place). Gutless. And as much as I love Steve McQueen it is disappointing that when he decided to do Shame he made a decision to make the main love interest of the white guy a black woman when she wasn't black in the script. Where is that boldness in regards to anything involving a black male characters and a white female? McQueen is black Brit who is married to a white woman. He of all people should be immune to that mentality that it is wrong to portray such a BM/WW pairing. But if black directors like him aren't going to take that stance, who will?

Nothing is going to change until black male directors and black actors make that change. Blair Underwood realized that years ago when he observed that while he was conscious of portraying black relationships on screen, black actresses were frequently being paired with white men on screen. Will Smith, about eight years ago, was quoted as saying that the public didn't support black men-white women pairings on screen and indicated that was why he and other black actors didn't have white love interests. He actedc like he had no choice but to accept that reality. Cut to 2013 and Smith is finally not allowing bigots (the black or white kind) to determine who he can woo in a movie (no "Hancock" does not count since that movie really toned down the relationship between him and Charlize that was originally in the script). Wish it didn't take him that long but better late than never.

The same could be said with Denzel in "Flight". Took that dude forever to figure it out and stop being cowardly in regards to white chicks. I wrote about Denzel's shying away from being paired with white women (most famously in Virtuosity when he pointed out he didn't want to offend white male moviegoers). And every time I brought it up people on this site rushed to his defense and claimed he was making a good business decision. Okay. He was also being careful. And being careful led him to declining good roles in very good movies (Se7en, Michael Clayton and, according to one recent article, Basic Instinct) for an eternity. That playing it safe also meant he had an unofficial "no white woman" clause to boot. Insteaad of breaking down barriers he was happy to not rock the boat. Of course Flight not only ended up being one of his best movies but one of his most successful too. And it was successful even though he had a love scene with a naked Hispanic actress and a love story with a white female. Instead of worrying all these years about alienating his black female base or upsetting white dudes he should have been more interested in expanding his fanbase. Again, better late than never.

 

The guy on ER (Eric LaSalle) asked the producers of the ER to break up his popular relationship with the British doc because he thought it would send a bad sign that a black man could have a functioning relationship with white women when he could not have such a relationship with black women. That was generous of him but also stupid because it suggested society needed to be told that healthy black relationships existed. Besides I can't imagine a black actress in his position doing what he did if the shoe was on the other foot. Thus that relationship didn't last long. And even more importantly it was an ensemble show and it was only one of many relationships on the show. This is totally different from shows like Scandal in which the PRIMARY relationship is a black woman and her non-black man. There are still TV shows in our modern day in which you have a black male and white female involved as a subplot to the larger ensemble storylines. That hasn't gone away.

Gunn and Fred lasted for a short time too and was doomed since she always had a thing for the Brit. They way their relationship came to an end was insulting too. And again it falls under the category of a subplot romance, those characters were never driving the primary story anyway.

I mentioned Kevin Hill which DOES fit the criteria of our topic of discussion. But as I pointed out unlike the shows starring black women, Kevin Hill was cancelled after one season.

Worf is a freakin' Klingon. That doesn't count even if the actor playing him was black. And, once more, it is not the same because his relationshisp were not part of the primary storylines of those shows and he was not the lead of any of those shows.

 

There you go. You had a first hand and upclose example of the problem. It is that type of hypocrisy that is rampant amongst black American women IMO.

 

A lot of truth in what you wrote. Only thing I'd argue is that black male character being replaced as the love interest for black women characters. Truth is in as far as the hour long shows were concerned, Hollywood was never that interested in really portraying a substantial black relationship at all. So often those black characters, male or female, didn't have any love interests or had love interests that were mostly kept off screen.