Public Address | Monitor | Shortland Street

Russell Brown

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 18:12:23 +1300

Nice to see that scorching post again Tze Ming. Still, an Asian horse has just won the Melbourne Cup for the first time, which might be a small win for diversity.

Did his trainer tell him he was a good horse in Japanese? A horse that understands Japanese. Cool.

But…

Peter Cox

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 15:21:14 +1300

If it's going to be done, it needs to be done right. I think that's just a matter of wanting to be certain that the work you're doing has meaning and depth.

I don't think that drive comes from a desire to uphold the principles of the treaty, or please…

Simon Bennett

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 10:23:53 +1300

Jason Daniel ran the writers' workshop which led to the 'refreshing' of Shortland Street in 2000.

An integral outcome of this process was the introduction of the Hudson family.

So yes, Jason can take the credit for the introduction of the Hudsons to Shortland Street.

Hadyn Green

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 09:04:35 +1300

How about The Kid in Came a Hot Friday?

Good point. I was just thinking TV and completely forgot about film.

I missed the Margret Mahy series recently but I did catch some. It seemed to be quite nicely put together. White folk, brown folk sometimes speaking Maori (mostly speaking…

Andre Alessi

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 11:51:31 +1300

We haven't been guilty of this in NZ, at least that I can recall.

How about The Kid in Came a Hot Friday? He was certainly magical on some level (and it wast just Billy T.'s performance...)

OK, that was mostly a joke. I think we do tend to have…

Tze Ming Mok

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 20:39:02 +1300

Wow – Daniel also says this on his column.

Viewers often wonder why we don't have more Indian or Chinese characters, but there are very few Chinese or Indian actors in NZ.

What a load of crap. By the way, they lost Pua Magasiva as well as half the Maori…

Hadyn Green

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:36:05 +1300

Yeah, I think that's what we've got to get past. Biculturalism in TV doesn't just mean "brown characters" or a good mix of brown and white. It means having characters who freely and easily particpate in the customs* of other cultures. There's bound to be an example, but I can't…

Katie Brockie

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:07:20 +1300

<< I can just imagine TV executives saying something like: good script, can you put a Maori in there somewhere?>>

Actually – this happens in children's programming a lot.
Although I remember a kids' show I used to work on, way way back in the early 90s at TV3, which had 3 polynesian or Maori presenters, and the network felt it was "too brown".

Robyn Gallagher

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:02:31 +1300

The new and improved official Shortland Street website has an interesting column written by producer Jason Daniel on the subject of the cultural mix of characters.

He says:

This year we've been (somewhat tastelessly) accused of "ethnic cleansing" because Tama, Shannon, Li Mei and Huia all left the show. But…

Hadyn Green

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:30:38 +1300

Yes. Is my quick answer.

But, (this is how I start my long answer) which TVNZ shows are we going to see this in? Mucking In? The motorsport show on Sunday afternoons?

TVNZ doesn't seem to have many other shows that it could put good bicultural aspects into. I agree…

Russell Brown

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 11:30:03 +1300

http://www.focusonart.co.nz

How many of you keen viewers of our long running and social satire 'soap' have considered that there is a strong commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in this production – I kid you not, as apart from the carefully-placed artworks, posters (in staff cafe) and the tangihanga that…