MovieChat Forums > Outcasts (2011) Discussion > Needed more racial diversity

Needed more racial diversity

posted 13 years ago by Valjean24601
26 replies | jump to latest

I know this is an unfashionable view but hear me out. I think it contributed to the twee, old-fashioned feel of the show, particularly the first episode in which Jack only had a small part. I don't remember seeing any Asians in Forthaven at all.

I don't have a problem with the fact that they were nearly all British. We knew there were other space ships, and although it was never explained it seemed reasonable that the ship that had brought them here had rescued people from the British Isles and the others had rescued people from other countries.

However Forthaven should have at least reflected the racial diversity of the UK. Global migration means that in future we will be even more ethnically mixed than we are now. It made the show feel unrealistic. It was like the BNP had been in charge of who got to go.

[–] RbSnedlap 13 years ago

For all we know they could have been in charge and the Britain of the immediate post-holocaust period was something like what is depicted in "V for Vendetta".
The time periods (in the film) seem to be a close match.
It seems to me that, even if whatever governments still survived still claimed to be democratic they would, in any case tend to get progressively more authoritarian as time passed as the long-term effects of the war became more apparent.
Fleur did say something in episode 1 about spending her younger years in a teen-age labour battalion.

The casting in this appears to suggest a straight Black(African)/White(European) split in the population.
This might just be coincidence but it also might be an attempt to suggest that some ethnic groups did better than others in the post-war period and that fewer Asians (of all groups) made it on to the ships.
If the main combatants in the war were, as suggested the USA and China then that argues that the greatest amount of devestation might be concentrated in the Pacific Rim area.
Europe, Russia and Africa perhaps faring a bit better and retaining enough of the infrastructure needed to build the ships.

"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan.""

[–] Valjean24601 13 years ago

That's a possible explanation but if there they are trying to make that sort of statement, they should explain what it is they are saying, otherwise it just looks like a mistake. There's only one episode left and they still haven't done it.

The extras would have been South Africans. There is a large Asian minority in South Africa and they could easily had some in Forthaven. It just seems sloppy.

[–] snowqueen51 13 years ago

Another possibility is that most people realized that Forthaven sucked and are living somewhere else.

"Just becuase you're paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't still out to get you!"

[–] gtbarker 13 years ago

I'm all for more racial diversity, but not if it just means yet more mockney street gangstas whose lines delivery go through my brain me like nails down a blackboard.

[–] GandulGandul 13 years ago

Interesting, so racial diversity for you = The black thug cliché ? How narrow.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] fluffybunnyrainbow 13 years ago

There were plenty in the pilot and the episode "Safe".

[–] footballwomenvodka 13 years ago

I'm sick of hearing "more diversity needed"!! Let's not forget one of the main characters is black. Had there been Asians we would have heard "it needs more gay characters". It is quite feasible that a small group of Earth refugees DOESN'T contain Asians. There are lots of small English villages with no ethnic minorities whatsoever, yet the producer of Midsomer Murders has just been suspended for saying that's why the village in the show has none - his comment "It's the last bastion of Englishness" is deemed offensive - yet replace "Englishness" with "Scottishness" and it would be ok!

PC and equal opportunities loonies are ruining this world - let's at least keep them out of TV.

How long before we hear - (show) "needs more ugly people"?

I'm an atheist. I point and laugh at religious people.

[–] Prismark10 13 years ago

'PC and equal opportunities loonies are ruining this world - let's at least keep them out of TV'

Does that mean you do not want black or asian people on tv?

I was never of the opinion 'the last bastion of Englishness' meant that an asian actor born in England would not be able to get a part on that show.

The producer of that show broke the law, I repeat broke the law, its nothing to do with being PC.

British born, ethnic minority actors failed to get a part in that show and deprived of income, even if it was just the man in the pub, or third assistant in the shop, because of one person's antiquated views.

Its that man again!!

[–] LocoHero 13 years ago

I agree - Outcasts was very racist.

A lot of white actors' careers have been ruined after appearing in it.

[–] Prismark10 13 years ago

'A lot of white actors careers have been ruined after appearing in it.'

Come to think of it. One of the directors of the series was Asian. Maybe his revenge for never getting to direct Midsomers Murder!

Its that man again!!

[–] footballwomenvodka 13 years ago

I've no problem with black/Asian characters on TV, my point was the fact that people look for racism where there is none. Why is it racist to have no ethnics in Midsomer? The producer said it represented many English villages that have none. Does this mean the residents of those villages are racist? NO! I've been in many supermarkets and seen no blacks/Asians on the checkouts - are these stores racist? NO! As I mentioned, if people aren't calling for more ethnics they are calling for more gays, or more disabled. There's too many people in highly-paid jobs who do nothing other than looking for non-existent racism or sexism.

Take Parliament - we often hear it's sexist because too many of the MP's are men, yet I never hear that it's sexist to have nearly every airline cabin crew women. I've seen music videos where the artist is black and all the dancers etc. are black - no-one classes this as racist. But if it was all white they would.

The UK has the MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) Awards. No problem, but if someone came up with MOWO (W for White) there would be an outcry. We have a Black Police Officers Association - again ok, but if it was a white one.....

That to me is racism against whites. But that's ok, because racism is only against non-whites. Isn't it?

I'm an atheist. I point and laugh at religious people.

[–] Valjean24601 13 years ago

I can't help having a tiny amount of sympathy for the director of Midsomers Murders despite thinking that what he did was wrong. The reason is because his rationale is the same as mine. By having an all-white cast he was deliberately creating an old-fashioned, sleepy feel for his show.

My point is that having no Asians on the show creates a similar feel for Outcasts which is completely inappropriate for science fiction and is also unrealistic.

I find your claim to be sick of hearing about diversity a bit hard to believe seeing how quick you were to jump into a argument about racism that didn't exist.

If people like you are so sick of hearing about political correctness why is it that the right wing papers are always making up fictional stories about political correctness to feed their readers daily need for outrage?

[–] footballwomenvodka 13 years ago

I jumped into a conversation BECAUSE somebody was going on about racism where there was none!

And why do the media get blamed for making up these stories? There ARE people, usually working for a council, who, for example, have a sign removed because it may offend someone. It's because they're scared of getting sued that they run around interfering and removing this or that.

For years the BNP (who I didn't vote for by the way, I voted UKIP), said that Asians were grooming young white girls for sex. The police, media, MP's etc. accused them of racist propaganda and lies. But guess what, not so long ago an Asian gang was sentenced for doing just that and it was subsequently revealed by a top copper that police forces had deliberately not investigated claims of grooming against Asians because they didn't want to be seen as racist.

Which is the whole point I'm making - racism/sexism/ageism etc. has to be tackled BOTH ways or not at all.

I'm an atheist. I point and laugh at religious people.

[–] Valjean24601 13 years ago

"I jumped into a conversation BECAUSE somebody was going on about racism where there was none!"

I haven't accused anyone of racism. I'm not the one obsessed with it.

"for example, have a sign removed because it may offend someone."

Do you mean like the "Welome to the Black Country" sign which according to the tabloids was taken down because the council thought it was racist? Whereas in fact local businessmen asked for it be taken down because they were worried that the connotations of economic deprivation were scaring away investment into the area. You would have to be a moron to believe a story like that.

"Asians were grooming young white girls for sex."

Great, a provocative story about Asians which has nothing to do with the thread. Of course if the PC-gone-mad brigade didn't love making up these sorts of stories so that they could have good old hyperventilate, then the allegations would have been taken much more seriously from the start. Anyway, it doesn't follow because that story was true that all stories in the tabloids are true or the BNP are a good source of information about Asians, or whatever point you were trying to make if you had one.

[–] zen0x 13 years ago

Quite frankly diversity is a fairytale sold to us by Labour right before they let 5 million people through the flood gates. Now before you go off on one... I don't vote for any of them because they're all as bad as each other and the only paper that's worth reading is the Telegraph, the news might not be sexy, but for the most part it's accurate and unadulterated.

Thing is if you were going to go for diversity you should have said people of different nationalities and accents and I would have agreed with you, but you went straight in with a comment about race. I, like this other guy find it absurd that a TV series should have a quoter on people of various ethnic persuasions.

I would also like to know why it is that half the cast sound like London Barrow boys/cockney whippets? This is fine in Lockstock or Essex boys, but I wasn't aware that it was mandate for NEDS (non-educated-delinquents) to be shipped into space.

[–] Valjean24601 13 years ago

Well the guy you're agreeing with is trolling.

Nobody is talking about quotas so calm down. It was simply pointing out something that was unrealistic like all the other people who have made comments about finicky little things they thought were unrealistic. I thought it was interesting given all the rubbish people talk about BBC tokenism, etc.

There were lots of different nationalities and accents in the show, posh English, cockney, Irish, posh Irish, Scottish, American, South African. If you mean why weren't there more people from outside the British Isles then I've already explained why I don't think that matters.

[–] zen0x 13 years ago

So you thought that the ethnic composition was worth commenting on, but not the fact they've been travelling at the speed of light for 5 years, which means they got as far as Alpha Centauri, the closest system to us which has no sustainable planets in?

Oh and I don't call regional dialects of the British isles a diverse selection. I'm talking about French, Spanish, German etc etc.

[–] Valjean24601 13 years ago

"So you thought that the ethnic composition was worth commenting on, but not the fact they've been travelling at the speed of light for 5 years"

Actually I commented on interstellar travel in another thread and I don't remember them saying that they were travelling at the speed of light anyway.

"Oh and I don't call regional dialects of the British isles a diverse selection. I'm talking about French, Spanish, German etc etc."

So you would have agreed with me if my complaint had been that there weren't enough French, Spanish and Germans, etc? So does that mean that you've decided that the people in Forthaven should have come from Western Europe instead of the UK some perverse reason?

[–] sat-elite 13 years ago

When an object travels close to the speed of light, observation by others of the craft is that it does not reach that speed. To those on the craft, events and objects outside it accelerate forward in time.

Like the premise of Heinlein's Time for the Stars, it's a bit of a bummer to find your expedition to a far off planet has been superceded by designs back home that get there before you.

[–] PapaMihel 13 years ago

The Chinese have one of the capital core planets in the Core. So maybe they prefer to stay there. Its not like we see too many Chinese tourists in our world.

[–] PapaMihel 13 years ago

Is this really what people do while watching a movie or a TV show? Count black faces?

[–] Valjean24601 13 years ago

I didn't have to count. There were no Asian faces at all.

To be honest I have become hypersensitised to this issue by reading IMDB. Whenever there is a brown face on any BBC program, you can be sure that someone will be complaining about tokenism. So I tend to take notice of this stuff now in a way I didn't used to.

[–] sat-elite 13 years ago

One alien pod hatching within Carpathia would have sorted the whole racial diversity thing out.

[–] bobr549 13 years ago

Asians are too clannish and xenophobic .However just like the new world groups of people would go togather...

[–] malcolm-smith 10 years ago

I didn't even detect even one Welsh speaker in this lot of sorry refugees...