Week 11

Prior to this week, I never really knew a lot about Aziz Ansari or his work. I knew who he was, but I was not aware of any of his television shows or movies. He recently released Master of None on Netflix, which features a ton of diversity and also explores the significance of identity. Though I have not yet watched the show, I’ve heard a lot of great comments about it, from people in my classes to reviews I’ve read online. I had the chance to get to know Aziz better after reading his piece in the New York Times about race in Hollywood. In this article, he made excellent points about the lack of diversity in Hollywood and the fact that those behind the camera are not trying hard enough.

Aziz begins the article talking about Fisher Stevens, an actor who he contacted over the phone. In a movie called Short Circuit 2, Stevens, a Caucasian man, used brownface to portray the role of an Indian man. Growing up, Aziz always admired this role because it featured an Indian man as the lead, but once he learned the truth about Stevens, Aziz was exposed to the harsh reality that his ethnicity was being mocked. After speaking with Stevens, Aziz learned that he is not a bad guy, but at the time, he was a struggling actor looking for a big break. Stevens said that he would never take on such a role today, and while this mindset seems progressive, there are still so many cases in which actors of other ethnicities are playing Indians.

Aziz mentions that he is trying to understand where the creators behind the production are coming from, but he can never get a straight answer. He acknowledges the fact that sometimes it is difficult to find a minority actor because they may have the look but not the skillset to play the part; however it seems that this is where the filmmakers may not be trying hard enough. Although there has been some progress in TV and film, it’s not enough to say that everyone is equal.

One quote that stands out to me in his piece is, “Even at a time when minorities account for almost 40 percent of the American population, when Hollywood wants an “everyman,” what it really wants is a straight white guy. But a straight white guy is not every man. The “everyman” is everybody.” Just as we discussed in class, when we picture the main characters of a romantic comedy, our minds will automatically go to an image of a white male and female. After years and years of perpetuating stereotypes of minorities in TV and film, filmmakers have a difficult time taking a step in the right direction and considering non-white actors for lead roles. As Aziz demonstrates, Arnold Schwarzenegger played a robot in Terminator using his Austrian accent and no one cared about the fact that he was not American. At the end of the day, there should be no reason for the lack of minority actors in lead roles because they’re equally as talented, capable, and deserving of every opportunity.