Diversity quota casting is becoming a curse for anyone who likes to watch films and series on television. You can almost guarantee that non-whites (I refuse to say ‘people of colour’ – is white not a colour?) will be incongruously overrepresented in films and programmes; not to mention the gratuitous gay sex scenes (or often just sex), which merely distract from the plot.
Courtroom dramas are overstocked with female barristers when only 21% of barristers are female, and a remarkable number of them are black when less than 5% of barristers of either sex are black. They act these roles perfectly well, and are just the kind of person I would want to represent me in court if they were real barristers. But that is the problem: none of this is real, whereas what we often admire about programs is their scrupulous attention to detail and accurate depictions of reality. Although, even reality is being forced to conform to quotas these days, judging by Adjoa Andoh’s contemptible ‘terribly white balcony’ comments re the Coronation:
You must be marinated in bile @andoh_adjoa, if your sole comment on the #Coronation is ‘a terribly white balcony’. What does it say about our great nation that we provide a constant platform to such parasites? #TerriblyWhite pic.twitter.com/HFIRPrvlcn
— Frank Haviland 🇬🇧 (@Frankhaviland) May 7, 2023
Why are certain groups of people overrepresented on screen? Are they superior actors to those who compose the majority? If that is the case then there may be good reason for this relatively recent innovation. However, we know that it has nothing to do with their individual skills as actors. They are there because they are female or black, just as gratuitous gay sex scenes, whether acted by a gay or straight actor (heaven forbid), are there for a reason too.
They are there (supposedly) to make these films and programmes more ‘relatable’ to the people who are underrepresented in society, and to right the alleged wrong of their underrepresentation in the first place. This is social engineering in the form of diversity quota casting, which sees more non-whites on the screen, and hopes to ensure that sexual minorities do not feel marginalised. In American programmes, which flood our TV screens in the UK, 2022’s quota of gay characters quadrupled to 12% on the previous year. Only 7% of Americans identify as LGBTQWERTY, while the figure for the UK is 3%.
If one were being generous, one could say that this is simply a misplaced, patronising policy designed to show little black lesbian girls (for example) that they too can be an astronaut, or whatever. While I most certainly hope I live in a world where a black lesbian woman can become an astronaut without let or hindrance, if said little girl grows up thinking that it is easy for her to become an astronaut, she may end up being sorely disappointed. We live in a cruel world and the sooner she learns that the better. Surely this cuts both ways. Seeing few role models for her ambitions, she may become even stronger in her determination to become an astronaut, against the odds?
But, if the success rate of having stupidity reversed in any field: politics; education; or the arts by simply complaining about it is anything to go by, I am wasting my time. I have devised a new tactic based on the principle that if you cannot beat them, join them. We should not only address diversity, inclusion and representation in new programmes and films, we should also be re-making some classics with reference to the same issues. Here are some examples that I hear are in the pipeline:
The Eagle Has Landed
In this fictional Second World War film a troop of renegade Nazis, posing as British soldiers, arrive in a small coastal village in England with the intention of assassinating Winston Churchill. Originally starring Michael Caine as the leader of the German soldiers, the remake will star Will Smith as the German commander and his loyal troops will be composed of Bangladeshi and Chinese actors. Winston Churchill will be played by Laurence Fishburne and his wife by Jennifer Lopez.
Zulu
Another Michael Caine classic about a tiny band of British soldiers in the Anglo-Zulu war, which sees off thousands of African warriors except that, when the Zulus appear at Rorke’s Drift en masse, speared up and good to go, fifty per cent of them will be white.
Escape To Victory
Remarkably, Michael Caine features here too in this Second World War film captaining a football team of prisoners of war which puts on a match against their German captors as a cover for a daring escape. Originally starring Pele, Bobby Moore and the Ipswich Town football club, the remake will star David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Ian Wright and the England women’s football team. They will all be lesbians of course, including David Beckham.
If you think these things cannot happen, then think again. If we can see a pair of bare buttocks being whipped in the recent BBC adaptation of Great Expectations, anything’s possible!
Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He is a columnist with Unity News Network and writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.
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