Why are there so few people of color in Hallmark Movies?

Maybe this Hallmark guy is a horrible racist.

Maybe their target market is the “Make America White Again” demographic.

*their

thanks

I agree with @janbb that it has to do with their target market, although I’d leave off the “make America great again” part.

Okay, so who do we think is their target market or demographic?

^^White Christians.

Although, I’m a Jew and I still like watching some of that stuff.

@JLeslie: I hadn’t thought of the religious angle. Is Hallmark a Christian company?

Even so, are Christians against diversity?

@JLeslie That’s what @janbb said, the MAGA crowd.

^^No. Because many Democrats use the phrase “make America great again” as a euphemism for bring back segregation, or make America white again, and I absolutely don’t agree that the majority of white Christians are racist, or are talking about segregation when they say they want to make America great again.

I just don’t like the implications.

@cookieman Yes, it is a “Christian channel.” I don’t know the situation now, but it originally was started by some sort of evangelical Christian group I think. Maybe now it has all sorts of stockholders? I don’t know.

I googled. Here is some ownership information and history of the Hallmark channel.

The thing that is noteworthy about this is that the Hallmark channel is so identified as a pablum laden white bread affair that those missing ethnicities are in the main indifferent to their exclusion. It’s like wondering why there aren’t more incensed white or black Americans protesting their virtual exclusion from the ranks of those engaged in backbreaking farm labor. You never hear about ruthless Hispanic suppression of our persecuted Caucasion farm workers.

I’d add that there are still many parts of America that has communities where the social circles are very homogeneous—very white and Christian. Those people when watching these shows don’t probably notice an absence of diversity, because the TV shows and movies mirror their actual life, especially in the Bible Belt, and many parts of the Midwest whether part of the Bible Belt or not.

Even if they do live in a diverse place, the churches around the country are often segregated (I don’t mean forcefully, I mean the attendance just falls out that way) and even if people are with other races, ethnicities, and religions at their workplace, they tend to socialize with “their own kind.” That was my experience anyway. Although, it wasn’t 100%. My own husband was the token “minority” in most of our social circles when we lived in TN. Not that we ever felt like tokens.

Interesting. So they do have Christian roots, being formerly called the “American Christian Television System” and “Vision Interfaith Satelite Network” and “Faith & Values Network”.

Got it.

So, small town, white bread, Norman Rockwell, America.

Makes sense now.

And I like @stanleybmanly‘s take that their programming is so bland that minoroties don’t seem to mind being excluded.

It’s interesting how everyone seems to have read “make America great again” when what @janbb actually wrote was something very different…

^^ That’s pretty disgusting.

@cookieman Despite reflecting much of small town New England, Norman Rockwell portrayed a lot of diversity.

@Zaku Hey, I did read it wrong. Interesting, and kind of funny. Then I really disagree with @janbb even more on that point, because plenty of people like those schmaltzy Christmas shows and aren’t negatively obsessing about the browning of America.

@cookieman and @stanleybmanly So, is that actually a negative comment? The minorities have to have more rough and tumble, or more chaos to be interested in the show? To reflect their reality? Also, kind of funny, it reminds me of how my mom couldn’t watch Little House on the Prairie, because she found it so sickening sweet. I’m probably one of the few girls in my generation who didn’t get to watch the show until my 30’s.

My remark was intentionally sardonic but not necessarily untrue. I don’t think that everyone who likes these shows is a bigot but I do think their appeal is to those with a nostalgic view of America’s past, small town homogeniety. That doesn’t mean they’re not enjoyable to watch.

@zenvelo: Oh I know that. I studied him in art school and have been to his museum numerous times.

I was just referring to specific types of his paintings.

@JLeslie: I was thinking that the Hallmark movies are so bland that minorities can’t be bothered to get offended by them.

@cookieman I guess since it reminded me of my mom, my mind was on that track. I understand what you mean though. My mom simply didn’t identify with the prairie. She was a Jewish city girl, with a sarcastic sense of humor, think more like Seinfeld. Little House on the Prairie wasn’t offensive to her, she simply was not the target market.

The Christmas shows, and even the Christian oriented TV series shows, that run on Hallmark aren’t offensive to me, I’m just not represented much in them. I could care less. It would bother me if all of TV was like that, but it isn’t, it never has been in my view.

Seriously, since I was a young child from my point of view there has always been diversity in TV. I realize I was a white kid if we go back 35 years, and so I would be less aware than some minority groups, but Welcome Back Kotter had a black guy, Italian, Hispanic Jew, etc. All in the Family has guest appearance by many different races and ethnicities and the Jeffersons, which spun off, and I watched that show too. MASH had Koreans and some other minorities at times. SOAP had a gay guy and a lesbian and a black butler that spun off to his own show. Different Strokes, Nel, 227, Sanford and Son, Cosby, I watched all of them. Those shows spoke to me, and made me laugh, but for some reason many of the newer “black shows” don’t.

@JLeslie: I see where you’re coming from.

Of course, there was a character on MASH nicknamed “Spear Chucker”.

@cookieman That character was in the original movie, not in the TV series. And that was his nickname because he was a quarterback and threw javelin on the college track team.

@zenvelo: You’re half right…

Link

“Captain Oliver Harmon “Spearchucker” Jones originally appears in the novel MASH, and was portrayed by Fred Williamson in the movie and Timothy Brown in the television series.”

“In each, the Spearchucker character is a superior surgeon who was also a stand-out collegiate athlete (“Spearchucker,” a common racial slur, is said to refer in this case to his javelin-throwing prowess). Initially, he is transferred to the 4077th to help them win a football game against a rival outfit.”

And, I only half buy the athlete story as it seems like a convenient excuse to refer to the only black surgeon on base as “spearchucker”.

Racism… I guess…

Ask Hallmark. That would seem to be the smart thing to do if you are so bothered. Of course you also need to have your TV service disconnected and find a plan that doesn’t carry that evil transmission.

You came to this conclusion watching three Christmas movies. Wow!

Evil makes itself obvious very quickly.

@MollyMcGuire: I don’t recall saying they were evil, just overwhelmingly pale in their representation of humanity.

And, I thought of this question after seeing a few movies in a row on a particular day. Overall, I’ve seen a couple dozen Hallmark movies over the years.

Geez @mollymcguire, it was a question about something the OP observed. Nothing evil about it, no evil intent towards hallmark.

It’s “Christmas in July” on Hallmark this month.

@chyna I think evil comes up, because some of the loudest liberals have spent a lot of time the last year attacking white Christians as racist, uneducated, hateful, people. It’s exactly what I have complained about many times on fluther about the election and the horrible tone I hear coming from so many Democrats in the last year. Christians were already defensive the last 15 years, now it’s at a fever pitch. It’s exactly why I was critical of what @janbb wrote. People really aren’t thinking about how what they say comes across.

^^ yes @JLeslie!

@jleslie. What? I asked mollymcguire why she brought up that she thought the question was about evil and you bring up the election and ignorant white Christians!?

@JLeslie, I’m surprised you recognize @janbb‘s first post as the sardonic humor quip that it was. It was so much her style, after all these years on here together, how did you miss that?

Oops “didn’t” recognize…

@canidmajor But, I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about the white Christians. You just proved my point.

Thank you jleslie for speaking for me, a white Christian.~

@chyna I’m not speaking for you, I’m speaking for people like @snowberry.

@JLeslie ”...Christians were already defensive the last 15 years, now it’s at a fever pitch”

But people don’t go around criticizing White Christians for their belief in Christ. People get upset because White Christians started a “culture war” in 1992!

Since the 1980s, white Christians have forced the Republican party to attack women’s rights, attached minority rights and minority voting, attack women’s healthcare, demonized LGBTQ people, worked hard to deny help to HIV+/AIDS patients, and tried to impose draconian anti-abortion laws. People would be fine with White Christians practicing Jesus’ beliefs and going to Church whenever they want, if they weren’t trying to impose their beliefs on everyone else.

I have read the OP and the thread.

I am white and middle class, but I am not Christian. I am also gay, so I don’t fit the heterosexual majority.

I grew up in a very white area in the South, and in my first year of elementary school, I lived in a segregated town. From the second grade, minority children were bussed to my school.

Also, my mother and my aunt owned Hallmark stores.

Hallmark movies are blatantly pandering to a nostalgic, white-washed America that quite likely never really existed anywhere except in fictional representations that are meant to appeal to emotions.

I will state categorically that there is a great deal of racism among white Christians. I know this for a fact, because I’ve seen it too many times to dismiss as an expression of a small number of individuals. I believe we can all agree that the years with the Obama presidency showed us how glaringly racist our country still is.

Hallmark movies are produced to appeal to a segment of the population who watch television. These people represent consumers. These consumers spend money in ways that enrich advertisers on the Hallmark Channel. There is no other reason these movies are created. These movies exist to provide a vehicle for advertisers to entice white people who have more disposable income to open their wallets and buy the goods and services being sold.

@zenvelo It’s just not all of them. I to say that I don’t like “Christians” trying to make laws that are pushing their agenda, and I know there are still racist white Christians out there, and I don’t understand how Christians can talk negatively about the Muslim theocracies in the Middle East, and then turn around and basically want a Christian theocracy in the US. How some of them literally rewrite the history of the US to satisfy their Christian goals. Pisses me off too.

However, many of them, most of them, most Christians, are not racist, and their point of views are different on certain topics from mine/ours, because their experience is different.

The only analogy I can think of now is think about the upset about the Washington Redskins. There are native Americans who are not bothered by it, but enough are, that we should seriously consider changing the mascot, even if our intention is no harm with the name redskin. Enough Christians are taking offense, who are not racist, don’t hate immigrants, and are fine with schools and public places being secular that maybe we should stop making fun of white Christians as a group of all horrible people, and show some respect.

The ones who are awful are awful, but many many aren’t, and they feel on the defensive. Many churches promote and intensify these feelings among them, which is horrible, but we help give them the fuel. I don’t want to supply them with fuel, because I don’t want the racist, homophobic, pro-life, America is a Christian nation crowd to gain more strength. If they feel attacked and disrespected, and like the number of people against them is growing, they will push harder to do crazy shit.

Too many of my friends who aren’t deplorable felt they were being called that. That’s how they hear it, whether it’s valid for them to feel that way or not.

I have talked until I’m blue in the face about this, and I don’t know why I still bother. It seems like an inability for people to put themselves in the other person’s shows. It baffles me.

@JLeslie Christ spoke up for the disadvantaged, the marginalized, those who were different. If your Christian friends don’t agree with the majority of evangelical political stances, they need to speak up and be counted.

Silence is assent.

@zenvelo Many of them do. Even if they don’t I’m not going to be so critical. My only point is they often don’t have a sense of humor or the ability to know that when people say “Christians are doing terrible things” that the person saying it only means the Christians who are doing the terrible things, not all Christians. They feel under fire. Shit, here on fluther if I say “blacks have a higher than average high school drop out rate” I get attacked. How dare I imply blacks are less competent, or it’s their fault, I better also say how everything society does to make it harder for them if I’m going to say any such thing, whether the stat be true or not. Christians are just as sensitive as other groups, if not more sometimes so we can take the time to try to be more careful with our words, and not so sarcastic maybe.

I never said Christians in my post
.

Geez, @JLeslie, what point did I prove? That I was surprised that you didn’t recognize @janbb‘s sardonic wit? That was literally the entire content of my post!
Geez

Does anybody else appreciate the irony of the bland, whitewashed, Hallmark stuff giving rise to such passion? ;-)

^^ Yup.

@janbb I realize that.