Diversity

[cadyctslover]

Kind of bizarre because i wasn't expecting it but really no more excuses H&A! Big Neighbours spoiler:

 

Hidden Content

Bloody hell, really? Yep no more excuses.

[CaptainHulk]

Hardly surprised about Steph. She was the closest thing to a Son Joe S had! (And no I haven't forgotten Jack and Oscar!)

 

[kmp1963]

On 24/12/2013 13:00:02, b2sb09 said:

I’ve been left with the impression for a long time that Home and Away has little to no interest in same-sex storylines or really representing society much at all, despite so many claiming that was the aim of the show. Their last attempt at same-sex had potential but all it just ended up being was the usual stereotypical and totally unimaginative TV lesbian storyline - straight girl falls for lesbian, freaks out, has sex with man and lesbian disappears, never to be seen of again while the bi-girl (Cameron Welsh said at the time that Charlie was bisexual from then on) having zero interest in women ever again and goes back to dating guys. In this case, Charlie ended up with a cop killer and then a violent drug dealer who treated her without an ounce of respect and little regard, yet she was made to act like he was the greatest which just made the treatment of the whole Charlie/Joey storyline even worse, because perception wise, even an utter lowlife creep like Brax who continually lied to her and humiliated her, is shown to be better than having Charlie interested in a woman again. I doubt the writers gave it much consideration, but with the way Charlie was written, when you actually look at the men in Charlie’s lives - Roman, in jail and Hugo, Angelo and Brax who should all be in jail for extremely serious offences - then Joey really was the only non criminal person in this police officer’s life. I wonder at times the way this show portrays not just gay/lesbian/bisexual characters, but also it’s female characters with the way it uses them to redeem or just fawn over men most women with an ounce of self-respect would steer clear of.

 

After Angelo, there was certainly the opportunity to explore that part of Charlie, but doubt it was even considered, despite them saying how important this issue was and the need to reflect society. At least, those were the lines they were using when promoting the Charlie/Joey storyline. Perhaps they didn't really believe that and were just spouting those words because they were trying to convince us it wasn’t just a publicity stunt for ratings when it clearly was just that. It was labelled a controversial storyline, which was just ridiculous even for 2009, they ran a Today Tonight segment on this controversial aspect of the storyline to drum up the storyline by citing those who viewed it as the wrong thing for a family show to be showing, then proceeded to treat their relationship with such contempt and inequality. While we saw Leah and Roman in bed together, all we got from Charlie and Joey was one kiss, while everything after that was hidden by ridiculously darkened rooms and little to no intimacy was allowed to be displayed between the actresses. No wonder people said they had no chemistry when they weren't even allowed to sit next to each other on the couch - there was always a distance kept between them. Then they gave us Charlie throwing herself at a man, Joey running away for three months before we had Charlie jumping into yet another guy's bed (a man she claimed she wanted nothing to do with after he killed her friend) - the 3 months weren't even up when that happened. Aside from the odd bone thrown to the audience about Charlie being into ladies (ie. throw away line during online dating, you wouldn’t have known that Joey had ever existed with the speed it was brushed under the carpet and forgotten.

 

Then to add insult onto insult, the show used the reaction to the controversy (which Channel 7 themselves deliberately stirred up), to make excuses as to why they didn't follow through with the storyline (ignoring the months when the filming would have already ended in it's entirety to when it was even shown and illicited the so-called controversy) and why there are no gay characters on the show - the public just aren’t ready for it, blah, blah, blah (pretty sure Out of the Blue with it's regular same sex couple was shown that year just before dinner time on the weekends without any controversy that I heard of) and ratings suffered. Also from memory, ratings went up for the kiss episode and ebbed and flowed throughout the storyline, just like it ebbed and flowed throughout the entire year as it always does, so that’s no excuse.

 

To make matters even worse, we had Cameron Welsh, the man who labelled Charlie as bisexual, continually brush aside any questions about whether they were going to revisit that side of Charlie, by talking up Charlie with Angelo and then later, with Brax - just another sign of the way those in charge of the show are happy to listen to some fans while being dismissive of others. We’re all fans, but only some of us have voices which is continually frustrating. For all it’s faults, at least Neighbours takes on board the opinion of those fans who are critical of the show - they wanted a gay/lesbian character, we have Chris, who is a popular character, then there were a lot of complaints about losing it’s soul, in comes Richard Jasek who takes the show back to its roots by off loading a lot of the free loading characters with no real connections to the street and bringing it back to families and the show has rated a lot better since, even for a digital channel.

 

When you have a G rated show like Neighbours having no problem with same-sex storylines, even introducing different boyfriends for Chris so he’s not just gay in name only, I just find it disappointing that a show like Home and Away, which has been so happy to glorify characters like the Braxtons, have so much drugs, violence and crime in the show and ignore all the complaints about this, yet is too scared to introduce a gay/lesbian full time character - there’s not even a guest character in sight. Thought Rosie could have been a lesbian, but no, couldn’t even do that.

 

If they did have the courage to take on a same-sex storyline, I’d prefer they introduce a new regular character than make an existing character gay, but honestly though, with the way this show is these days, I just don’t know if I’d trust these writers to portray an honest same-sex couple. While I imagine writing for the Braxtons is easy (over the top storylines where no matter how many crimes they commit or people they hurt or get hurt because of them, everyone else is made to see them as the good guys and then you just rinse and repeat over and over and sit and back and bask in the praise from the Facebook and Twitter followers), when it comes to a same-sex couple, it would require some effort on their part to make sure the storyline avoided looking like it was just a token attempt (the character has to have a purpose in the Bay so as not to be seen as the token gay/lesbian character and not be bisexual, because the writers wouldn’t be able to resist them going back to Straightsville) and to keep it interesting without resorting to the usual stereotypes this show always falls into. I also can’t see them having the ability to keep this storyline at the forefront or being on equal footing with any of the other relationships - it’d likely be pushed to the background like Irene’s cancer storyline, another story that was sold as an important one to tell, but obviously not as important as the River Boys drug dealing and Charlie being conned so easily by Brax. Perhaps once the Braxtons start to go, other characters might get a fair go and it would be the perfect opportunity to move forward with some fresh storylines, like a same-sex one. Not hopeful of this happening though.

 

For a long time now, fans have been asking the question of TPTB and for a long time now, they clearly aren’t listening - at least to this section of their fan base. It just seems that some shows, not just in Australia, are good at listening to all sides of their fan base and take it on board, while others prefer to only listen to those who enjoy the show.

 

It will be 2014 when the next episode is shown, so isn’t it about time this show joined the 21st Century and actually started to do what it purports to do - reflect society?

Sadly, two years on and nothing has changed. Maybe Dan Bennett will realize how many interesting characters could be created with the introduction of some true diversity. Alas we seem to be stuck in the bad boy comes to town and gets redeemed by a woman bull***t merry go round. Come on Dan give us something new.

[~Lynd~]

Toadie in Neighbours has been in a wheelchair for the last 3 months or so.I fully expect him to be able to be able to walk again eventually but they've stuck with it much longer then HAA ever will.

I know we shouldn't compare the shows to much but it's really hard not to when one is so much better at diversity in all fields then the other and they're on one after the other every night.It's not that hard and HAA refusing to do anything of any real consequence wears thinner the longer it airs.We live in 2015.

[Wanderer101]

I really wish there'd be another same sex couple in Home and Away again. I remember there was one for a short time in 2009, Charlie and Joey.

[Homeandawayfan.]

LGBT characters are as rare as hens teeth in Summer Bay. One of the reasons why Neighbours is now superior, it has a number of LGBT characters and recently has had multi racial characters rather than just British Australians like H&A always seem to do. The only black character in H&A ever I can think of was Stephanie. Ther has been one or 2 Greek Australians such as Leah and her 2 brothers. The show has never had any Asian characters or more black characters. And when they do have an LGBT character they often show it for a few episodes then forget all about it. They need a few regular LGBT characters and more multi racial characters.

[Dan F]

Dan Bennett has already promised that more diversity is on the way.

[Red Ranger 1]

14 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

The only black character in H&A ever I can think of was Stephanie. Ther has been one or 2 Greek Australians such as Leah and her 2 brothers. The show has never had any Asian characters or more black characters.

Jai. Elijah. Several guest characters (Roo had an Asian boyfriend in the first season). Andy seems to be mixed race. Tiegan was too probably. Aaron definitely was. Jack Wilson supposedly was although it was hard to tell. It's not perfect but it's not quite the Anglo-Saxon only haven it's often presented as.

[sindikatas]

On 2015-11-24 01:38:30, Red Ranger 1 said:

Jai. Elijah. Several guest characters (Roo had an Asian boyfriend in the first season). Andy seems to be mixed race. Tiegan was too probably. Aaron definitely was. Jack Wilson supposedly was although it was hard to tell. It's not perfect but it's not quite the Anglo-Saxon only haven it's often presented as.

Speaking of asians, there was Kelly in 1992, Todd that Angel was briefly seeing in 1994 and Jai in 2008-2009.

[CaptainHulk]

^ Let's not forget one ep wonder  Bruce Foley! (Played by Saxon Cheng who took a totally different career path in the early 2000s, He was still considered a "star" by some news site)