One in six of all on-screen BBC roles must go to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender or disabled people by 2020, the corporation’s new diversity targets state.
In a bid to deter criticism that it has been failing to reflect its audience, the BBC has pledged that LGBT and disabled people will each make up eight per cent of all on-air and on-screen roles.
So imagine if James Bond movies don’t get watched much by black lesbians in wheelchairs. Is the solution having a wheelchair-bound black lesbian playing the iconic role? Well, yes, the people who identify with the portrayal of the character will be more likely to watch it. And the middle-aged white male will be less likely. So then we need to fix that and get a James Bond who wears tracksuits and drinks lager… And so it goes.
It can never be fixed, because people want to identify with who they see in a starring role, and that means the most common type of person. Quotes lead to token characters (hey, South Park). I’ve seen so many white cops have black superiors that I fully expect that to the the reality in America, and of course it isn’t.
At BBC, show creators will draw straws and some will have to compromise their vision by including characters that fulfil the quota. Meanwhile the entertainment industry is doing just fine without quotas. The Walking Dead has lesbians, gays, blacks, asians, and a guy without a leg. Game of Thrones has lesbians, gays, eunuchs, blacks, asians and perverts. Louis CK’s show has a man who wanks in front of women. We are already there!
Read More