I Have Questions About British Tv.

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I definitely don't want to come off as racist, so please, don't think that.

We watch a lot of British TV and cannot help but notice that, in nearly every program, interracial relationships are common as are POC playing the role of executives and managers of white underlings.

I've been wondering, is this representative of British society in the second decade of the 21st century? Or, is it a deliberare attempt at social engineering by "normalizing" these situations?
 

Rutherruther

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Sometimes when it comes to historical accuracy, to accurately portray that, Winston Churchill would have to be an older caucasian male. However sometimes people shirk authenticity or historical accuracy and a film or television show will throw in races without portraying historical context or lack thereof other races while a production like Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella movie ignored what might have been what a European monarchy would have been racially. There are some shows one could allege throw people in and show inclusivity while in actuality some races might not have been so favourable. I would say there are some shows where you could become fed up with because people were not that easily accepted or portrayed as having equal footing. A huge departing from showing discrimination received and observed discrimination. While it can be historically inaccurate at times to make everything right as rain and represented for all when it isn’t or wasn’t the case. One may say there is merit in showing people acceptance and tolerance. There may well be “the ends justify the needs” of showing people not discriminated again, function, it maybe a noble cause in showing interracial relationships and representation when there could otherwise be a decision made not to.
 

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I definitely don't want to come off as racist, so please, don't think that.

We watch a lot of British TV and cannot help but notice that, in nearly every program, interracial relationships are common as are POC playing the role of executives and managers of white underlings.

I've been wondering, is this representative of British society in the second decade of the 21st century? Or, is it a deliberare attempt at social engineering by "normalizing" these situations?
It depends on what you're watching, of course, but the BBC has definitely tried to up its game in terms of showing not only greater diversity but also of busting stereotypes. That goes for many groups and minorities - from having the first ever female Dr Who in 2017 to a noticeable shift in children's shows.

This does reflect a greater diversity within the UK (BAME's only 13% of the total UK population although that rises in cities to as much as 40%) and it also reflects active policies on the part of broadcasters.

Now, whilst the % of "other-than-White-British" drops away in the countryside - such as where I live - the social change/the ethnic mix has still happened although to a lesser extent. Change is a fact of life and, as far as I'm concerned, no biggie.

Britain went through many centuries of sailing to other parts of the world and sticking flags in them. In the C.21st parts of the world have come back to see what all the fuss is about. Britain has a long, if often troubled, relationship with newcomers, immigrants and refugees.

However, Britain remains a racist and divided country and while we might point to on-screen diversity heralding greater opportunity the annoying truth is that behind scenes jobs - directors, commissioners, writers, lighting and make up and blah blah - are still overwhelmingly white.

There's much more to overcoming racism than simply presenting a multi-cultural version of the country on TV screens.

What the UK's mixed-race population want you to know
 
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I definitely don't want to come off as racist, so please, don't think that.

We watch a lot of British TV and cannot help but notice that, in nearly every program, interracial relationships are common as are POC playing the role of executives and managers of white underlings.

I've been wondering, is this representative of British society in the second decade of the 21st century? Or, is it a deliberare attempt at social engineering by "normalizing" these situations?
Her definitely the latter...its become an obsession.
 

Freddie53

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Sometimes when it comes to historical accuracy, to accurately portray that, Winston Churchill would have to be an older caucasian male. However sometimes people shirk authenticity or historical accuracy and a film or television show will throw in races without portraying historical context or lack thereof other races while a production like Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella movie ignored what might have been what a European monarchy would have been racially. There are some shows one could allege throw people in and show inclusivity while in actuality some races might not have been so favourable. I would say there are some shows where you could become fed up with because people were not that easily accepted or portrayed as having equal footing. A huge departing from showing discrimination received and observed discrimination. While it can be historically inaccurate at times to make everything right as rain and represented for all when it isn’t or wasn’t the case. One may say there is merit in showing people acceptance and tolerance. There may well be “the ends justify the needs” of showing people not discriminated again, function, it maybe a noble cause in showing interracial relationships and representation when there could otherwise be a decision made not to.
There should be an effort to portray shows whose setting are historical to try to show things as they were about in years past.

However, most commercial TV from both US and the UK are shows whose setting is in the present. A show set in the 1700s might have black slaves as that is how it was in the 1700s. The writer might be trying to show how wrong that was back then.

A show set in the third decade of the 21st century will show lots of things that were "just not done" 50 years ago! Interracial marriages and gay marriages are not rare in today's world. Shows that are honest in portraying shows set in the present are going to have interracial couples as well as gay couples. There needs to be some couples where both are white as well as some couples where both are black. etc. Shows need some honesty to get people to tune in.