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Featured on SistersTalk Radio
Feb
22
She Said, She Said is a podcast featuring lesbian couple Genia and Andrea. Genia is the host of SistersTalk Radio and Andrea is the assistant producer.
In this segment:
*We REALLY don’t like what Venice does with its Black characters (or the Latina maid in episode 2)
*Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins – heated lesbian custody case
*Facebook therapy
*Using Facebook to get back at an exgirlfriend
*We want a Grindr for lesbians!
*Staying in a relationship for material reasons
Featured indie musicians Kin4Life and Coyote Grace
Comments
10 Responses to “Venice Web Series Perpetuates Racial Stereotypes”
Leave a Reply
Haven’t listened to it yet, but it’s cued.
And yet, Jessica Leccia (Ani) is Latina (Puerto Rican), and a positive out character.
That’s because ANI is one of the characters used to lure people into even watching the show. She’s half of Otalia and they used the popularity of Otalia to get GL fans to help them raise money for the series.
After you listen to the episode and our reasoning behind our annoyance, let me know what you think.
My partner and I feel those two Black characters could be completely written out of the series and you’d never know they were missing because their characters are so insignificant. There’s no reason why they couldn’t have given them more meaningful roles.
And all these excuses about how the episodes are only 8 minutes long so there’s no time to make those characters significant is bullshit. Anyone But Me (http://anyonebutmeseries.com) has significant Black characters, their roles are important, they do more than just appear to serve someone, and the episodes are about 8 minutes long.
AND, what’s with the Latina maid in episode 2? They didn’t even need a maid to answer that door. Tossing in a Latina maid – that’s just perpetuating a stereotype about Latina women.
I get what you are saying about stereotypes in Venice, but Michelle’s character albeit an assistants position she is protrayed as hard working dedicated to her job. Would there be any comments made if the assisstant was white?
Mr Harrisson Whites character owns and runs a club, is that stereoptypical?
The webseries is not perfect I don’t have blinkers on. I do believe it is improving as they go further in to the series. Perhaps there is too much expectation from one single show. Perfect lives protrayed of lesbian centric characters would not be interesting to the viewer drama is needed. (sorry off topic)
Karen: Have you listened to the show and our reasons behind why we’re annoyed? If not, please do. Then come back and let me know if your opinion is the same.
Oh, and we should be happy because – even though her character is the HELP – she’s portrayed as the hard-working help!
That’s the way Mammies were portrayed in slave movies. They were hardworking, dedicated and committed to their slave owners – especially the women.
The black characters on Venice are just this side of step-n-fetchit, and it’s clear they’re only there so that the nonsense about how “diverse” Venice could be bandied about in the press. The idiots who write this show and manage the website even described both characters as “sassy.” If these characters actually start having meaningful dialogue and dimension, will they be described as “uppity”?
As for the hispanic maid? Don’t make the laugh.
But, hey, why should we expect this mess of a show to be any better about portraying minorities than it is about portraying lesbians? In the world of Venice, lesbians are co-dependent, manipulative, maladjusted dysfunctional people with serious boundary issues.
Lana: that was our complaint. The characters really don’t engage in any meaningful dialogue. They’re obviously there so they can claim they’re “diverse.” Pfft!
They’re described as “sassy?” See, I hate that shit – especially because people always describe me as sassy because I’m a Black woman who speaks her mind. I can’t be intelligent, instead of sassy? Confident, instead of sassy?
All they have to do now is have both characters start rollin’ their neck, shakin’ their index finger, and talking with one of their hands on their hip – might as well play that stereotype all the way out and get it over with.
You don’t offer any opinions on how Venice can fix the situation. And it’s true, those answers are only obvious, I’m not stupid, but it seems like it’s better for you to argue and address the negatives than to suggest a solution.
As far as past Venice episodes go and what they have or have not done is moot. Are you going to continue watching just to denounce the creative individuals who play a part in this web series and attempt to boost your listener numbers? Or, watch and offer your genuine critiques on what can be done to address and correct the “diversity” issue.
This is the first time I’ve listened to your show. And, I’m not gonna lie, the only reason was to hear what you had to say about Venice. And yet, I listened and I enjoyed your “Facebook Therapy” piece and ESPECIALLY enjoyed the “grindr for lesbians” bit (ps…They SHOULD have an app like that for the ladies). But, calling someone an idiot because they did something that you don’t agree with doesn’t seem like a solution to me. Especially when you’re an outlet geared toward lesbian issues/entertainment that’s critiquing another lesbian series. It seems disadvantageous and the exact opposite of what we, as gay, ethnic, minority, women should be doing to bring about actual positive change.
I will continue to listen to your show. I’m interested in your comments on further Venice episodes…and other topics of course.
I also love Genia’s laugh
Thank you,
Denise
Denise:
We did make suggestions about how she could improve. We both stated she could have easily had her Black characters participate in some of the meaningful conversations that happened on the show, instead of making them appear only when they were serving Gina.
Besides, we’re not the writers, Kimmy is. She’s the “expert,” why does she need US to suggest how to improve her writing? When someone claims they’re an expert writer and they make a mistake as insulting as that one, she’s an idiot. That’s my opinion, and I’m sticking to it. Besides, she’s plenty old enough to know better than to write such stereotypical characters. Where’s she living? Under a rock?
And yes, I have A LOT of fun ridiculing folks who obviously think we’re too damn stupid to notice they’re playing into racial stereotypes. Or, they think we’re so desperate to see Black faces that we’ll take any bone they throw us.
Denise: BTW, glad you like my laugh. I do it a lot when I’m annoyed by something.