ased around a black family, one son whose a former NFL football player, the other who was severely injured in a car accident and their parents whom they now both live with. I don't know why but the image of a black man with a disability as the main character on a TV show caught me off guard. There aren't many people with disabilities on television to begin with. I feel like a producer would feel like giving a character a wheel chair or some other obstacle in life would be enough, they don't need to be diverse on top of that. But, that isn't real. White people aren't the only people who get into car accidents or who are disabled for any other reason. The character on Brothers inspired me a little. This isn't a guy who's sitting a home dwelling on the fact that he cant walk, or asking god "why me?". He owns and runs a restaurant, is very competitive with his athletic brother and is even good at bowling. I'm sure I put more thought into seeing this show today because of this class but I'm glad I stopped and watched it. It reminded me that race isn't the only way to view diversity, and I hope we start seeing this kind of diversity on TV more in the future.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Brothers
Has anyone else seen this show, "Brothers" on FOX? I basically spent this entire rainy Sunday in bed, which was fabulous by the way, but I watched alottt of TV (before and after the Pats game of course). This show was on back to back to back. I passed by it about 25 times in my channel surfing until something caught my eye and made me watch for a few minutes. It was a black man in a wheelchair. The show is b
ased around a black family, one son whose a former NFL football player, the other who was severely injured in a car accident and their parents whom they now both live with. I don't know why but the image of a black man with a disability as the main character on a TV show caught me off guard. There aren't many people with disabilities on television to begin with. I feel like a producer would feel like giving a character a wheel chair or some other obstacle in life would be enough, they don't need to be diverse on top of that. But, that isn't real. White people aren't the only people who get into car accidents or who are disabled for any other reason. The character on Brothers inspired me a little. This isn't a guy who's sitting a home dwelling on the fact that he cant walk, or asking god "why me?". He owns and runs a restaurant, is very competitive with his athletic brother and is even good at bowling. I'm sure I put more thought into seeing this show today because of this class but I'm glad I stopped and watched it. It reminded me that race isn't the only way to view diversity, and I hope we start seeing this kind of diversity on TV more in the future.
ased around a black family, one son whose a former NFL football player, the other who was severely injured in a car accident and their parents whom they now both live with. I don't know why but the image of a black man with a disability as the main character on a TV show caught me off guard. There aren't many people with disabilities on television to begin with. I feel like a producer would feel like giving a character a wheel chair or some other obstacle in life would be enough, they don't need to be diverse on top of that. But, that isn't real. White people aren't the only people who get into car accidents or who are disabled for any other reason. The character on Brothers inspired me a little. This isn't a guy who's sitting a home dwelling on the fact that he cant walk, or asking god "why me?". He owns and runs a restaurant, is very competitive with his athletic brother and is even good at bowling. I'm sure I put more thought into seeing this show today because of this class but I'm glad I stopped and watched it. It reminded me that race isn't the only way to view diversity, and I hope we start seeing this kind of diversity on TV more in the future.
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COMPLETELY random, but this reminds me of the american girl doll i had as a kid. josephina, the hispanic one. one christmas, my mom got me a wheelchair for it to wheel around in. and i was all what the hell mom? makes no sense. when we have a world of fiction, like both playing with dolls or a scripted sitcom, we would expect our imaginations to make things perfect. no wheelchairs. but you're right when you said that's not how life is. maybe my mother (and the producer for this show) were trying to show us a niche of people with more struggles than us, but who are people nontheless
ReplyDeleteThat's a very interesting image that the show is putting out there. It sounds like some sitcoms are making a huge difference in their storylines. Less cookie-cutter than years before. It's great that there's a show daring to be different.
ReplyDeleteThat is very surprising, ive heard about this show but did not know that
ReplyDeleteLaurie!! i didnt know you were in this class hahah
ReplyDeleteI did catch a glimps at this show and it seemed very interesting, i did not get a chance to watch it however. It is so true how that character just catches you off guard it is just something i did not expect seeing how a character like that is usually playing a minor role. I like it though more power to the show
If the producers were going for an uncommon approach, they succeeded. There is never main characters with such a visible disability as a wheelchair. There should be a better representation of the "real world" because I think people might be able to relate to it better. One of the reasons I don't think we such more disability on shows is because it might depress the viewer. A network with sad viewers is a network that will soon lose those viewers.
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