Hereos (spoliers inside)

Just in case you're planning on getting the DVD and watching the season later. Don't keep reading.




So...I'm finally catching up with my obligatory NBC lineup watching and surprise, surprise. The only black (I'll get to Micah in a second) Hero died last night. I'm sorry. Was killed. Because he was duped.




That's so like us.




I am a lukewarm heroes fan. I totally heart Adrian Pasdar. I like Hayden Pannitiere inspite of myself. I worked on a cartoon that Maclcom MacDowell did a voice for. And the sci-fi is character-based enough to keep me involved.




But watching DL die last night made me take a moment to think about NBC's love of putting show in NYC and then casting zero to few minorities to fill the roles.




Let's get Mohinder out of the way. Yeah, he's an Indian dude and a main character. BUT they gave him a more "appealing" British accent rather than a traditional Indian accent. Yes, the British were in charge there and there's a ton of Indian people in England, but would it have been so difficult to let him have a natural Indian accent? To be fair, he's so damn hot, I barely pay attention to what he says anyway. So why not give him an authentic accent.




Hiro has an "authentic" accent. Though they let it come and go to play for comedy, I think which is a wee insutling. And just to show that they grow out of their ethnicities, Hiro loses his accent in the future (and thank God, right??). And Ando dies.




There is no reason why any other the other Heroes couldn't be not white. Though Adrian Pasdar (I heart you, Mr. Natalie Maines!) is part Persian, I believe. But he's cast as just a nice upstanding white guy of supposed Italian descent.




Oh, back to DL.




So DL was killed by a white guy protecting a white woman. Is there no better cause for a black man, after all? In the scene, two white people determine his fate and he does precious little to stop them. The tableau is more uncomfortable than you might thing. Malcom holding DL at gunpoint and DL's lady at ransom. Ali Larter makes the decision that decides DL's fate. And DL just stands there. Then he kills Malcolm. But mainly to protect the white lady. Then he dies. Whew! Now the writers don't have to trouble with writing a black voice anymore.




Sadly, up until that, DL wasn't actually a bad character. They let him speak like a normal person. He was imprisoned, but falsely, I believe. So the show should be given some credit for that.




However. Things just aren't good enough here to throw away scenes like that. Even if DL had stood up for himself instead of just protecting his white bauble, that would have made a difference.




Okay, let's look at the main, shall we:
Claire - W
Hiro - Asian. Loses accent in the future.
Ando - Asian. Dies in the future.
Mr. Bennett - W
Mohinder - Indian. But speaks with British accent. While the rest of India (at least as portrayed when he went back) speaks with an Indian accent.
Jessica/Nikki - W
Peter Petrilli - W
Nathan Petrelli - W
Micah - half-black, but in servitude to white people.
Matt Parker - W
Issac Mendez - Latino, but dead. At the hands of a powerful white guy
The Hatian - Black, and powerful but in total servitude. dies in future.
Simone - half-black. now dead. accidentally killed by the latino--see, we just can't control ourselves. killed incidentally, b/c she fell in love with a white guy
Mom Petrelli - W
Elizabeth Parkman - W
Sylar - W




If you don't want to have to cast an all ethnic-family, fine. But why not Matt Parkman or his wife? Why not Jessica/Nikki. We barely see her extended famil. Why have Hiro lose his accent completely? Why whitewash Mohinder's accent? Why the minority on minority murder? Why make the Hatian nothing more than a servant?




Folks who know me know I don't walk around with a particular chip on my shoulder. At least not about this. :) But thinking critically about these things are important. The images we set up as being acceptible situations for minorities are important.




One of the worst things about the Duke/rape case recently--apart from boys being accused of a heinous crime they ostensibly did not commit--was what was caught on camera from that night. There were pictures of dozens of drunk, rich white boys watching a naked black girl writhe around on the floor. There was something so backward and horrible about that that I felt those stills were as hard to look at as photos of the rape--had it occurred--would have been.




When the media continues to put minority faces in subserviant tableaus. When the idea of a minority family being a main player on a television show still worries executives. When in a cast as big and expensive as the one I've discussed here, the minority faces are killed, subserviant or missing from main story lines...maybe I should have a bigger chip up there after all.