Entertainment Defaults

[jennythereader]

I was thinking about this the other day, and I realized that when it comes to TV and movies, I have a set of default assumptions I make unless something in the show contradicts it.

1) Movies are set around the year they come out. TV shows air (more or less) in real time. Obviously, this doesn't have to be explicitly contradicted. Clothing/technology/other background elements that are clearly from a different time period is enough.

2) Characters are pretty much the same age as the actor playing them.

3) Characters are the same ethnic background as the actor playing them. I think lots of people have this assumption, which is why casting white actors as non-white characters is problematic.

Those first three assumptions are fairly harmless most of the time, although the third leaves me vulnerable to stupid casting choices in productions adapted from other media. The next couple are not so harmless. I'm trying to pull them into the light and take a closer look at them.

4) Characters are straight. Given that a substantial minority (the last number I heard is 10%) of people are not straight, any show or movie with more than a dozen people should have at least one gay or bisexual character. The fact that I assume any character the writers don't come right out and say is LGBTQ (I think I got the order of the acronym wrong) is straight isn't good because it minimizes the presence of gay people in the world.

5) Characters are cis-gendered. This is a bad assumption because it minimizes the existence of trans people in the same way that assumption 4 minimizes gay people.

I could probably come up with a few others if I tried, but this seems like enough for now.

Comments

[seawasp]

My assumptions all boil down to two: Characters are me, until I'm presented with things that modify that. The world is mine, until I'm presented by things that modify that.

Most authors usually present me with things that modify these assumptions within the first sentence or two, and it goes downhill from there.

[shannon730.livejournal.com]

I usually make most of the same assumptions. Unless something makes me think otherwise. Like the all characters are straight thing...I don't need it to explicitly say they're LGBTQ, if the character's actions/characteristics seem that way (and it doesn't have to be stereotypical. I rarely consider someone Trans though. I think that's hollywood's fault though, they need to incorporate a more realistic number of LGBTQ people into movies and television.

LGBTQ (I think I got the order of the acronym wrong) You got it right. It can actually be that way or GLBTQ. It tends to just depend on who you're talking to. But both are right.

[finding_helena]

What percent of the general population is trans? I think that needs to be considered in the evaluation of stuff to see if there are enough trans characters? And also, what percent of the population is *recognizably* gay or trans? Because some trans people have a goal of "passing" and so it could be arguable that maybe a peripheral character is trans but you just can't tell. Though I imagine most of the time this does not actually happen much in Hollywood. I bet sometimes a character's sexual orientation or whether they're cis or trans is not really actually plot-relevant.