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One of the sadly brilliant things with The Wire was that it had so many great black actors given great roles. It contributes to a stellar ensemble (which also i
by moomin 9y ago
One of the sadly brilliant things with The Wire was that it had so many great black actors given great roles. It contributes to a stellar ensemble (which also includes a white Old Etonian). Seems like a lot of shows don't offer those opportunities, and the few great black roles that do exist these days are often given to... actors from The Wire.
The UK is even worse, David Harewood is on the record as saying left and went to America to find better roles.
- toyg 9y agoTo be fair, the racial composition of the UK, as multicultural as it might be in certain areas, is nowhere near the US' - it's almost 90% white, and before the 1950s it was dramatically more so. Even today, the largest minorities are Asian, not African. This composition is inevitably reflected in the stories people choose to write, read, film and watch.
- moomin 9y agoThere's truth in that, although I'd say the composition is still wrong. Famously, Midsomer Murders is way less diverse that the average Cambridgeshire village (which no-one would describe as a melting-pot). Equally, there really aren't that many decent Asian roles either (there have been some successful comedies, some good, some bad). And London... well, this isn't really about race but London rarely looks like London. As an aside, the PC Peter Grant series (aka Rivers of London) depicts London way more accurately than most fiction, despite teeming with elves and goblins.