SAG Confirms Lack of Media Diversity
Angry Asian Man points out that given the decade old census statistics, Asian-Americans are evenly represented, but another question to ask is what roles are they portraying?
As always, the specific roles available for a certain minority group is just as (if not more) important as the actual number of roles they have portrayed. It may be less crucial to have a large cadre of minority movie stars than it is a smaller group whose roles go beyond the stereotypes of ‘Terrorist #4′ or “Nerdy Asian Kid.”
Also of note is the preposterously low number of Native Americans represented in film and on Television:
“The diverse and multicultural world we live in today is still not accurately reflected in the portrayals we see on the screen,” SAG president Ken Howard said in a statement. “We will continue to work with producers, hiring executives and industry professionals in accurately portraying the American scene by ensuring equal access to employment opportunities for all of our members.”
The latest statistics, released Friday, showed minority performers reached a high mark in 2007, with 29.3% of total roles, and then declined last year to 27.5%.
The breakdown of film and TV roles for 2008 was 72.5% Caucasian, 13.3% African-American, 6.4% Latino-Hispanic, 3.8 Asian-Pacific Islander, 0.3% Native American and 3.8% other-unknown. SAG noted in its report that U.S. Census data from 2000 showed that the nation’s population was 73.4% Caucasian, 11.5% African-American, 10.6% Latino-Hispanic, 3.7% Asian-Pacific Islander and 0.8% Native American.
Producers who are signatory to SAG contracts are required to submit hiring data in order to examine the trends of “traditionally underemployed and disenfranchised members.”
stuff you already knew: film/tv diversity sucks [Angry Asian Man]
View Comments