Is Australian TV Guilty of Whitewashing?
It's time to wake up Australia.
As we come to a day and age where large countries such as Australia are becoming more multicultural, you have to ask yourself whether Australian tv is behind on the times. Of course these days they are more open about showing contestants on reality shows of a more diverse background, but still Australian made dramas such as Home and Away and Neighbours have yet to catch up with the rest of the world and the current Australia.
Home and Away and Neighbours have been Australian soap opera favourites bringing the sense of drama into households since the early 80's. As Australia is transforming and becoming more diverse and multicultural, its weird to see that two Australian classics have yet to catch up in the sense of multiculturalism. Most if not all actors and actresses on the show are potentially originally light skinned (without those tans from being a show set on the beach) and come from an Australian or potentially "white" backgrounds. Many of these roles in Australian made tv shows were essentially not created for people with ethnic backgrounds and will not fit an ethnic actor or actress.
Based on this, another question that can be asked is whether these shows are a real representation of the Australia we are currently living in. The answer is, no they are not. Australia is filled with people from many different, wonderful, cultural backgrounds that have yet to be represented on Australian tv. Many countries such as America, which can still be accused of whitewashing in Hollywood, have improved on the whole diverse actors situation as many American shows now include characters of different ethical backgrounds and cultures.
So I say its time to wake up Australia and change what we see on our screens to a real representation of the current multicultural Australian lifestyle and residents.
- Jasmine
P.S
http://d1378t5yqi6qpe.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/10084523/Neighbours-Featured-Image-e1476089144367.jpg
https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/screen-shot-2017-06-20-at-15-21-54.png?w=748&h=496&crop=1
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