By Ashley Stopperan
I have been a frequent viewer of the show, Sex and the City, and agree with many of the points that Brasfield brings up in her article.Specifically I find it interesting how, "again and again, nonwhite characters are tokenized for stereotypical story line purposes" (p 134). This is evident in many of the episodes where workers, neighbors and lovers are ethnic (in comparison to the four main characters who are white) only to enhance the conversations in the show. Brasfield brings up several examples of this, such as a stereotypical Chinese worker or a thick accented Russian man, both written into the script to make the show more interesting.
I find this to be common in many television shows and films, where the main characters are all white and the "additional" characters are not. This may work for adding diversity to the cast, but can also be extremely degrading to nonwhite viewers. I personally believe that when people are being used for their race to portray a certain image, they should be given vital roles and not just lines that revolve around their culture. (For example, Grey's Anatomy uses a very diverse cast and does not designate racial comments or story lines to the nonwhite characters).
My discussion question for the reading revolves around this topic and how people feel about the use of racial characters in shows like Sex and the City. Do you believe it is okay to include cast members such as the Russian man (who Carrie doesn't want to date because of his accent) into story lines based on their culture or would not including them be considered discrimination? Or do you believe we need to see more integration of nonwhite characters in the main story lines?
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