Sea Patrol - Why is White (almost) always Right?

At best Sea Patrol is enjoyable, escapist nonsense (though sometimes it thinks it's better drama than it actually is!), at worst it has weak writing, variable acting and worryingly, a pretty strong xenphobic through-line...

As Season 4 draws to it's close, I felt compelled to highlight a specific issue with the show, that of it's rampant xenophobia.

Non-caucasians are almost always portrayed as 'bad guys', and when they aren't up to criminal activities on the show, then they're being saved by an entirely caucasian Royal Australian Navy - which pretty much beggers belief!

I'm a Brit and if this piece of TV drama was produced over here it would be blasted for being overtly racist, now maybe I'm missing something here, but I've been assured by Aussie friends that Australia is a progressive, forward-thinking nation, but you wouldn't think it if you judged it by an average episode of Sea Patrol...

Though the Hammersley crew themselves seem pretty ambivalent when it comes to matters of race, the Producers Hal and Di McElroy seem to have a very outdated 'vision' of their show though, and they're keeping it white!!

I read an interview with the McElroys where the issue of a lack ethnic representation onboard the Hammersley was raised and their answer was that it was because Sea Patrol reflected the overall ethnicity of the RAN itself, they went on to say that rather than bow to, as they put it, 'tokenism' they would prefer to (and I quote) 'sit on the fence'- go figure.

These might be valid points if there was a degree of balance in the way ethnic minorities are represented on the show - but as I stated at the beginning of this post, non-caucasians are usually the 'stock' villains of the week.

Personally speaking, I think the McElroys should get off the fence and lead by way of example, but methinks they're simply not wired that way...

Are Hal and Di McElroy racist? I really don't think so at all - just very backwards looking and ignorant in what they deem to portray in their output.

I can enjoy both serious and/or escapist drama on different levels, and having watched Sea Patrol from the beginning, I'd hoped that the series would grow and become more sophisticated to matters of race, sadly there doesn't seem to be any sign of that anytime soon...

Peace.

PG

''...a little whimsical in the brain-pan''