The trend of reviving old shows and recasting the lead role
with actors of colour is a poor attempt at improving diversity on television. Why not create
new roles and new shows featuring characters from different ethnic backgrounds
rather than rebooting old shows which have already had success with white
actors and have established a fan base that are completely devoted to original
versions of the character? It seems as though television executives have no
faith in both actors and creators of colour’s ability to create new and
successful shows and characters. Instead of investing in new shows they would
rather depend on successful formats from the past as a safety net. Perhaps they
think that new shows starring people of colour are somewhat risky or more
likely to fail to attract diverse audiences, which is ludicrous especially
after the record breaking success of Black Panther which introduced several
characters that were arguably unknown to the general public beforehand.
The fact that the show’s white character(s) are now people
of colour becomes the show’s main unique selling point. Buffy the Vampire
Slayer is coming back, this time as a black woman. The Charmed sisters are
returning to television, as Latinas. Though it is always fantastic to see more
cultural diversity on television, the move to use two of the biggest shows of
the 90s as a medium to increase diversity suggests a lack of confidence in
attracting audiences to fresh shows starring actresses of colour.
There’s already a lack of women of colour in science fiction
media. Casting actresses of colour in roles which have already been successful
and are “owned” by white actresses is not progressive. Originals are always
seen as “better” which actresses of colour will have to contend with. It gives
fans of the original series another excuse to bash the reboot. Why is Buffy and
Charmed returning to television? We need new roles to claim for ourselves and
are wholly ours.
The issue extends beyond culture swapping characters to
gender swapping characters in movies. In a lazy effort to give women more roles
both in front and behind the camera, Hollywood has decided to reboot old IP to
sell these movies to audiences. Again, it shows a lack of confidence in movies
having a large female cast in starring roles.
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