Where am I on television?

Opinion piece by Lara Song from Korean Bulletin which seems to be a short lived Korean-Australian news site.

In my senior years of high school, I used to watch the television show ‘Beauty and the Beast’. For those not aware of the program, it was hosted by the late Stan Zemanek (who really played up the part of being the obnoxious, foul mouthed ‘Beast’), with a different panel of ‘Beauties’ every show.

Viewers would write in letters with problems of varying consequence and the bevy of ‘Beauties’ and the ‘Beast’ would give their solutions (or at least their opinions) on the matter. The more difficult challenge for the ‘Beauties’ would prove to be on dealing with the onslaught of verbal attack and put downs from Zemanek if they happened to disagree with his typically hard line right wing conservative point of view.

Needless to say, it was compelling television viewing. One of my favourite ‘Beauties’ was Dr Cindy Pan. I was always that little bit extra excited when she was on the show. She was always so poised, calm and assertive in a charming, likeable way. She had an air of authority about her when she spoke. Plus, she was Asian.

There were no other Asian Australians on television regularly at the time, not one that I was aware of at least. So to me she was an oddity, unique, and deserving of admiration. She was the closest that I could see myself on TV. Not that I necessarily wanted to be on TV you see. But she represented something that I could be if I chose, and more importantly a feeling that there was someone who seemed to reflect me in the mainstream Australian media.

Growing up in the nineties, I was desperately searching for role models - someone or a group of people I felt represented me, in the media. Someone I felt I could really relate to, perhaps by way of looking like me, maybe with a similar background, or possibly a similar upbringing. Someone who would understand me and my way of looking at the world as an Asian Australian, or even as an ethnic migrant Australian. But unfortunately, I didn’t find much.

I remember in my early teens, I went through a phase when I watched quite religiously the dramas unfold in Summer Bay and on Ramsay St (otherwise known as ‘Home and Away’ and ‘Neighbours’). Never at the same time of course (for some odd reason, there seemed to be two camps during high school, and watching one precluded you from watching the other). I relished in the drama of the shows. But over time, it slowly dawned on me that rarely did the people on these shows reflect me, my group of friends (who were and are of various ethnic backgrounds), my family or the community of people that I was a part of in suburban Sydney. I lived in a culturally diverse community; why didn’t these shows reflect that? When was the last time you saw a Korean family, a group of Lebanese girls, or Sudanese brothers on Home and Away?

Sadly and unfortunately, these ideas and images of what an ‘Australian’ is, is also broadcast to some one hundred nations around the world through these programs. I find it quite amusing (and a bit annoying) when I meet tourists from overseas who upon walking through the city are surprised at the ethnic diversity we have in Sydney.

It may seem that I’m picking on Neighbours and Home and Away, but I only mention them because they are iconic Australian programs and are accepted as such. They are meant to reflect the Australian way of life. However, in an interesting report by Britain's racial equality chief, the show Neighbours was branded “too white” by black and Asian viewers in Britain. Trevor Philips who is the Equality and Human Rights Commission Chairman said that Britain’s major broadcasters remained “hideously white” when choosing programs. Perhaps Australian broadcasters can also take heed.

I am aware that I have made no mention of SBS, the multicultural and multilingual broadcaster. Certainly as a public broadcaster set up for this purpose, they promote cultural diversity in all forms in their television and radio programs. Programs like ‘Fat Pizza’ have gained popularity beyond SBS into the cultural consciousness of the mainstream public. Hence I’m concerning myself with only what is broadcast on the commercial networks, which more accurately reflects the level at which we have embraced ethnic diversity on television.

It’s not all bad news however. I’ve observed it’s a very different story when it comes to reality programs. Shows like ‘Australian Idol’ and ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ (SYTYCD) which is based on the skill, talent and popularity of the contestants usually have a broad ethnic and cultural mix of Australian society. From Guy Sebastian and Natalie Grauci off Idol to Demi and Saramsa off SYTYCD, these shows present the personalities, the stories and the talents of the performers, and we end up falling in (or out of) love with them for who they are. I wonder if the diversity of talent on these shows is a factor in its success perhaps.

Aside from the reality shows, has Australian television embraced more diversity and difference in the ‘noughties’? I believe yes. I’ve noticed a greater range of ethnicities particularly on commercials, TV shows, the news, and other programs (think Fuzzy off Video Hits, Ahn Do the comedian, Karen Tso from Channel Nine news, Nuala Hafner from Channel Seven weather). I think if nothing else, commercials will have to reflect more accurately the consumers they hope to target their products or services if they want to be competitive, and it seems that they along with the commercial networks are slowly coming around to that idea.

I have only made mention of television so far but there are other mediums of media that are undeniably under-represented by a broad spectrum of ethnicities including talk back radio, publishing e.g. magazines, and Australian literature although we seem to be slowly progressing on all fronts (‘Growing up Asian in Australia’ is a particularly relevant and entertaining book; a collection of stories edited by Alice Pung).

I believe that if we look ahead ten years from now, we would have moved even further ahead on the road to reflecting more accurately on television and in other media, the cosmopolitan multicultural society that we are. We must, to be a more inclusive society, one that accepts and embraces a person regardless of where they are from and is happy to represent that image to the rest of Australia and to the rest of the world. That is my vision for Australian media anyway. I think it’s an inevitable change and it’s happening now as we speak. However, as citizens of this beautiful country we call home, I think we all need to question and challenge what we see more on television. And most importantly, get involved ourselves. As Gandhi’s famous quote goes, perhaps we need to first be the change that we want to see in the world.