Friday, September 14, 2001

Television, movies portraying more biracial couples
By Jordan Blum
Staff Reporter

For years, interracial relationships were forbidden on television — in dramas, comedy sitcoms and even advertisements.

But now, things are changing.

Derek Kompare, a radio-TV-film professor, said media representations of interracial relationships have improved somewhat, but not necessarily as much they should have, and not always for the right reasons.

“International relationships are not represented a whole lot in the media compared to what it could be and maybe what it should be,” Kompare said. “On top of that, the interracial representatives almost always seem to be between white people and black people only.”

Kompare said people in interracial relationships are often defined solely by their color, while personalities and the other areas of their lives are left ignored.

The decisions and investments of studios and television stations are made with money and ratings in mind and that is the reasoning for studios attempting to connect to other markets that demographers feel need to be reached, he said.

“(Studios) still think through dollar signs and demographics and that’s why a lot of those relationships are done,” Kompare said. “They’ll basically follow the money and that’s why you get these increased representations. If there’s no money, there’s no market.

“Also, to an extent, you can look back at instances and say this (increase in interracial relationships) is a calculated reaction to criticism, and warranted criticism, from groups such as the NAACP and others,” Kompare said. “But in other instances, it could be producers just wanting to expand their boundaries and think outside the box.”

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is one of several groups in the nation devoted to ending discrimination.

He said the lack of mixing of races originated from the young, upscale audience in the early 1990s and the television stations, particularly NBC, that pitched shows like “Friends,” “Seinfeld” and “Frasier” that were very successful, but all existed in a universe that rarely included color.

He said with teen movies, there have been films like “Save the Last Dance” where stereotypes are still portrayed to a degree, but the race aspect doesn’t entirely define the story line, and he said that’s where the future is.

However, Richard Allen, a radio-TV-film professor, said media representations of interracial relationships have been able to change along with society recently and become more accepting.

“I think we’ve seen more of these relationships (in the media) because it’s more the norm now,” Allen said. “Before, in a story line, people could only be paired with others of that race, but now writers have much more freedom because they don’t have to worry about that.

“Now, it’s really refreshing because actors of all races can have stories told about the characters and not just about their colors. It went from being a very touchy issue to a non-issue.”

In the time he has taught here, student productions screened on campus have illustrated the change in opinions regarding interracial relationships, he said.

Allen said that in the first student production in 1995, “Close to Home,” there were no major interracial couples at all. One interracial couple had just a few scenes together.

He said he thought there was definitely some unspoken tension between the actors when they just had a few simple pecks on the cheek.

In the spring of 2000, students produced “Studio 13” and, because of the results of the auditions, three black male leads were paired in romantic scenes with white redheads.

“No one in the production team for most of the casting even thought of that because there’s obviously a different sensibility now where students don’t even stop to think about it,” Allen said.

Allen said the show was broadcast on campus and they became concerned with possible campus reactions to the interracial relationships.

Those involved with “Studio 13” sent out a survey to determine the reactions of the audience, Allen said. “But no one responded to those questions or even noticed. It was really a colorblind sense in that they were just watching couples, and weren’t thinking in terms of color,” Allen said.

“For us, it felt like we really crossed a bridge as far as looking at things and how the student population was very open to seeing people as people and not seeing people as people of color.”

Jordan Blum
j.d.blum@student.tcu.edu