Diversity

[cadyctslover]

^ Good point. Also I would bring up the example of Brendan Austin who was played by an actor who didn't suffer the disabilities of the character he portrayed, side-stepping some of the limitations that posed.

I would also like to point out that lesbian/gay characters/actors wouldn't have issues with studio cables!

[H&Alover]

Didn't Brendan's girlfriend have Down's Syndrome?

As some have mentioned disabled/ethnic/gay/bisexual characters shouldn't be bought into just so TPTB can be seen to ticking the right boxes to please certain groups. If the storyline is right then their character is right. Seeing how big Australia is ii is not that surprising that a small town like the bay doesn't have many ethnic characters, most of the residents would have lived there for generations. Wouldn't it be logical that any emigrants would live in the city where the jobs are? I have heard Brits tend to go and live where there are other Brits as in Queensland so would it not follow it would be the same for other ethnic groups.

Not wanting to assume but I'm guessing the actor who plays Andy is of aboriginal descent all I see is that he has darker colouring than Josh explained by the fact they have different fathers.

[Dan F]

Yeah...if they really did use the cables as an excuse, which I don't recall hearing before and I'd be surprised about, then as someone who's worked in studios I don't buy it for a second.

Standard practice has clear access from the studio door, with a perimeter around the set (a 'fire lane') where any cables should be ramped anyway. You don't generally have cables running through the action area on a set, and any in-between can simply be lifted up by a cable-basher, or anyone else on set for that matter.

Obviously locations can be a bit more awkward, with scenes on the beach itself likely a no-no, but neither something that should realistically be given as a reason when other productions manage just fine.

[beau_t]

Yeah...if they really did use the cables as an excuse, which I don't recall hearing before and I'd be surprised about, then as someone who's worked in studios I don't buy it for a second.

I'm also sure I remember reading that excuse from a writer or producer or somebody in an interview, and I'm sure it was on this site or forum, though I guess I could be wrong. I remember thinking at the time I read it, that it was a nonsense excuse, as other shows manage it. Coral Drouyn rings a bell, though I could be way off.

[Psychic Wombat]

Unless they were handicapped lesbians or gays presumably.

^ Good point. Also I would bring up the example of Brendan Austin who was played by an actor who didn't suffer the disabilities of the character he portrayed, side-stepping some of the limitations that posed.

I would also like to point out that lesbian/gay characters/actors wouldn't have issues with studio cables!

[chels24]

I think Eastenders has more actors of ethnic extraction than most soaps, if it was to truly reflect the east end of London it would need subtitles. What amuses me is how everyone appears to get along fine together and racism is ignored like it doesn't exist, which is ingenuous.

I guess the soaps reflect their viewers demographic (and writers!) which I'm guessing is mainly white hetro-sexual, so I'm not surprised there are no Asian actors in H&A. I think there was one a while back who played young Annies love interest but that's all I can think of. Last thing I'd want to see is tokenism which just patronises those it's supposed to help, but since even hetro-sexual activity between young white people in H&A seems to be frowned upon I don't think there's any danger of that.

Edit:

I am surprised soaps don't have regular handicapped characters - now that is pretty poor.

We have the same problem in England with our soaps, in particular Eastenders which has been under fire for having very few characters of ethnic minorities - despite the fact that it is set in East London where there is an absolutely enormous amount of Black, Pakistani, Indian and Eastern European people living. I am also led to believe that in Sydney there are a lot of people of Middle Eastern and Meditteranian descent. I feel like Home and Away is one of those shows that just adds a 'token' person of a different minority every so often so as not to be accused of racism, yet they don't really want to.

As for the Lesbian/Gay/Bi-Sexual thing - the year is 2014 and being gay is not a big deal. Every soap I watch seems to have handled having gay characters very well with the exception of H&A. I definately think the soap should involve a gay couple in the near future. I'd also like to see them tackle bi-sexuality as I feel it is more difficult to write a bi-sexual character then a straight or gay one - too many times on tv sexuality is made out to be black and white when it is not.

yeah I think your right and even in eastenders there arent that many now and corrie has some with Dev and kal and his family tbh our soaps are pretty poor at exploring diversity and disability the only character with a disability currently being Janet I think.

Oh and Ben with his hearing but he never seems to struggle, as for Home and Away I think the whole story with Brendan was handled and acted pretty well but Charlie was the worst 5 minute lesbian. I cannot remember Shannon and Mandy that well, I don't think I would trust the current producers to effectively and handle these topics it would just feel it was thrown in just for the token sake of it and with being australian they could have aboriginal or pacific islander characters to add that other dimension but it wont happen

[Therese K]

I think it's time that we "bring back" this thread, because it is such an important discussion. And new year, new opportunities to get it right!

A few weeks ago I saw this info-map (not sure of the words), where every country was the color of the average skin tone of that country. On there, Australia was one of the darkest countries. I'm not from Australia, and I've never been there, so for me it actually really surprising, because that's not at all what I was expecting. I'm mainly exposed to Australia through Home and Away. I already knew that Home and Away were a misrepresenting the people of Australia, because obviously the natives of Australia aren't white, but I feel like that map really opened my eyes to how wide the gap is between what the show presents and what australians actually look like.

It's a shame. Home and Away producers, or whoever cast actors for the show, should be ashamed of themselves. It's 2015, and there is no reason, especially when you have such a big cast, to more or less never have more than one person of color at the time, if even that.

I know that this doesn't add anything new to this discussion, but I felt like it's wrong to let it disappear under heaps of other threads, so I hope nobody minds, because again, it needs to be talked about.

(And I haven't even touched upon how bad they are at representing different sexual orientations, different gender expressions, disabilities, etc.)

[cadyctslover]

^ You are absolutely right to bump this thread to the top of the discussion as it is an issue that continues to be ignored by the producers.

[gutterboy]

I think it's time that we "bring back" this thread, because it is such an important discussion. And new year, new opportunities to get it right!

A few weeks ago I saw this info-map (not sure of the words), where every country was the color of the average skin tone of that country. On there, Australia was one of the darkest countries. I'm not from Australia, and I've never been there, so for me it actually really surprising, because that's not at all what I was expecting. I'm mainly exposed to Australia through Home and Away. I already knew that Home and Away were a misrepresenting the people of Australia, because obviously the natives of Australia aren't white, but I feel like that map really opened my eyes to how wide the gap is between what the show presents and what australians actually look like.

It's a shame. Home and Away producers, or whoever cast actors for the show, should be ashamed of themselves. It's 2015, and there is no reason, especially when you have such a big cast, to more or less never have more than one person of color at the time, if even that.

I know that this doesn't add anything new to this discussion, but I felt like it's wrong to let it disappear under heaps of other threads, so I hope nobody minds, because again, it needs to be talked about.

(And I haven't even touched upon how bad they are at representing different sexual orientations, different gender expressions, disabilities, etc.)

Great post mate. Would be very interested at seeing that "color map" if you have the link handy.

[John]

Diversity is an interesting subject. The first question I would ask is are we trying to reflect the diversity in Australian society or are we attempting some kind of "social engineering"where we try to promote an idealized view of the society that some would like to see.

Australia is a very diverse society and that diversity is not uniform across society. Cities and larger regional towns tend, in general terms to be more culturally diverse than really rural areas. That difference is quite wide.

Where Summer Bay would fit into that I'm not real sure.

In regional Victoria where I live we have a large representation of Italian, Greek, Maltese etc origin who originally migrated here after World War 2 and are now a valued part of our society. In more recent times our Regional University campus has brought us many students from Asia. China, Korea, The Philippines, Malaysia. Also refugees have arrived from Africa, Nigeria, Sudan etc.

My feeling is that Home and Away should reflect Australian society and it's diversity. In the future I would like to see the cast and/or extras at least acknowledge the presence of Asian and African members of our society. Australians of European origin are already represented.

I can't see any reason why people with disabilities shouldn't at least be a part of the show for periods of time.