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When you look at the core cast of Gossip Girl, you notice a few things: they are all impossibly good looking, fashionable, young… and white. This, of course, isn’t a new revelation. But as the show’s popularity – and cast grows – the omissions are becoming more noticeable.
This issue is even more timely to me, of late. I’ve been following along with a series of reports on CNN on “Being Black in America” – the reports are in response to CNN’s recent documentary (co-produced with Essence magazine). One of the reports opens up a long-running debate about the role of minorities – specifically, black Americans - in movie and television roles.
A little perspective, first.
The first African American to win an Oscar was Hattie McDaniel in 1939 for her role as “Mammy” in Gone With the Wind. Highly criticized by the NAACP for taking roles as servants, McDaniel reportedly remarked, “I’d rather play a maid and make $700 a week than be one for $7.”
Amazingly, it would be another 24 years before another African American was once again honored in an acting role. Sidney Poitier took home the lead actor trophy for Lilies of the Field in 1963. Almost 20 years later, Louis Gossett, Jr. became the first African American man to win a best supporting actor Oscar for his work in An Officer and A Gentleman.
Just over 10 years later, Halle Berry became the first African American woman to win the best actress award for her performance in Monster’s Ball. That same year, Denzel Washington won the best actor award for Training Day. The 2002 Academy Awards was significant in that three acting Oscars were awarded to black actors (the other, an honorary award, went to Sidney Poitier).
Since those first barriers were broken, Hollywood is, it would seem, becoming more diverse. Or is it? The numbers of other minorities in major movie roles are still relatively small. Oscar winners – arguably a measure of the representation of all cultures in successful films – include Japanese-born Miyoshi Umeki for her supporting role in 1957’s Sayonara and Cambodian native Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields in 1984. Mexican born Anthony Quinn won twice as a supporting actor in Viva Zapata! and Lust for Life; Puerto Rican Rita Moreno won as supporting actress award in 1962 for West Side Story. And more recently, Puerto Rican born Benicio Del Toro won a supporting actor trophy for Traffic.
Is it any better on TV? Some say no. While there are channels which have a relatively high percentage of television shows geared towards minority audiences, some argue that the percentage of minorities on television is still too small. The CW, Gossip Girl’s home, features a mixture of programming from both UPN and The WB television networks, and is perhaps among the most representative of diversity in America with shows like Girlfriends, Everybody Hates Chris and Aliens in America. But is it enough?
Here are some statistics to chew on:
Black Americans comprise 13% of the US population. Non-Hispanic whites make up 68% of the population; 8% of the population is Latino or Hispanic. Only 4% of the American population considers themselves of Asian descent; just under 1% is Native American. Despite the fact that we view ourselves as a melting pot, overwhelmingly, the majority of Americans are white. Critics have argued (you can see some of this over at the CNN series) that to supplement the cast with token minority characters is to “over-diversify” America on television and film.
Gossip Girl is an interesting study along those lines. Most of the action in Gossip Girl takes place in the Upper East Side – those postal codes include 10022, 10021, 10028, 10065, 10075 and 10128. A check of the demographics in those areas leads to a pretty dramatic statistic: from 78% to 88% of the population is white. The average, in my analysis, worked out to a whopping 86% of white residents on the Upper East Side – almost 20% higher than the national average.
So how do those statistics compare with the portrayals on Gossip Girl?
With the departure of Nan Zhang (her character was not directly replaced), there are really only a few minority actors on the show: Zuzanna Szadkowski (Dorota, the Waldorf maid); Nicole Fiscella (Isabel Coates, Blair’s occasional sidekick), pictured left; and Yin Chang (Nelly Yuki, Blair’s academic rival).
Additionally, despite the fact that Producer Josh Schwartz is Jewish, none of the characters on the show are overtly Jewish (although a reader has previously pointed out that this is different in the books); however, Michelle Trachtenberg is Jewish as is, reportedly Jessica Szohr (though I haven’t been able to confirm this). When asked why more Jews were not included as characters, Schwartz told the NY Times:
Why are the characters uniformly white, with old-money names like Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen that hark back to a time when high society was not integrated? Why are there no Jewish characters?
It’s interesting, because on “The O.C.” I went out of my way to make those characters Jewish, not what you would expect to find in Orange County. But in New York, weirdly, I failed. I was working off of the source material.
Interesting explanation. Is it sufficient? Should we be okay with the limited representation of minorities on the show because that’s what the statistics and “source material” bears out? Or is more diversity necessarily better? It’s an interesting question. Put another way, is this a case of art merely imitating life?
I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this issue. Do you want to see more minority characters on the show? Is that reflective of our culture? Should it be? Sound off!
Jessica Szohr–according to wikipedia… obviously a reliable source–is African-America/Hungarian.
Is she not a series regular?
Not including her in your analysis kind of sways the outcome.
As for the lack of Jewish characters issue, I don’t see a big emphasis on Religion in the show–you know, since the show seems to focus more on sin than faith.
Rayc, thanks for the info. I don’t always trust wiki (maybe it’s too much Stephen Colbert). My normal sources (imdb.com and the like) don’t mention her ethnicity – and fan sites have her listed as everything from part Italian to part Jewish. Buddy TV says she “came from a Hungarian and Mulatto descent.” There’s so much confusion – that’s why I didn’t focus on her. Re the idea that she’s partially African-American, I think if her ethnicity were a bigger factor in her looks, I don’t know that she would have gotten the role.
Regardless of her specific race, it’s obvious that she’s diverse.
I don’t think the role hinged on ethnicity, because the Vanessa in the book is nothing like the one in the show, obviously.
(Though, the casting may have asked for something specific… maybe trying to balance the imbalance that you point out.)
The show is obviously not void of any ethnic diversity–you could still list some.
I think that by commenting on the show’s “Whiteness” is simply creating an issue that doesn’t exist–racism.
Perhaps it’s more racist to assume that the Jewish creator MUST put in a Jewish character, just because he’s Jewish.
(Though, Jedaism is not a race, it’s a religion, which is something that the show doesn’t focus on at all, so I’m not sure why it would need to be mentioned.)
The “whiteness” of the cast is social commentary itself on the frivilous activities of the white, upper-class.
Because prodominetly, kids in New York Prep schools don’t tend to be hugely diverse.
At least, the books obviously highlight this issue, but, as everyone can tell, the show lacks the mockery that he books do.
Plus, seeing as these characters were pre-made, it’s hard to change too much about them.
I’m going to disagree that commenting on the show’s whiteness is racist – I think it’s a question worth exploring. It’s the same kind of question that came up with respect to “Friends” or “Seinfeld.” I think the distinction is that I am in agreement that the make up of the UES largely controls the cast. I don’t think it’s racist to ask if other folks believe that, too.
As to Schwartz’ Jewish background, I do think it’s significant (as did the NY Times) because he did focus on it on his other show (The OC) – not to mention that the Upper East Side is hardly devoid of Jewish residents. And while Judaism is a religion, it is also an ethnicity.
And your point re the show being pre-made is exactly what I mean… The show is actually less diverse than the cast in the books. If the show had wanted to go in that direction, it would have been a breeze.
This same point was brought up by a reporter in regard to Supernatural during our press meeting at Comic Con. The concern there was that all of the diversity came in the form of villains. I don’t agree, as the show has had several significant characters of color who were on the side of good – Missouri (played by the marvelous Loretta Divine) and Cassy – who was significant in that she was part of an interracial romance with the lead character, Dean.
The writer who responded to the question says that in the majority of cases she writes “color blind” – leaving casting to come up with the best person.
My question is, should ethnic diversity be added just for the sake of diversity. If a representative NY prep school would be mostly white, should the show paint a different picture just because it’s expected or required?
Look at the reverse. If it were a TV show about a school in Africa, should an equal number of white or Asian kids be added just for balance?
Cynthia,
That’s exactly my question. The stats back up that the setting of the show has a majority white makeup – should the show represent that or is there a bigger “responsibility” (for lack of a better word) to represent more ethnicities?
That’s really interesting about Comic Con and the villain aspect – that’s definitely not the case on Gossip Girl.
Well the show is based on books… and the books did describe in a VERY detailed manner how the characters looked… i remember people complained about Jenny not having huge boobs, i don’t think they would’ve been able to stray off a lot from the books in the looks department… hope i made sense lol
i dnt even think its something people should care about, its not like there going out and saying we hate non-whites. if everyone is veiwed as equal then why r people bringing this up? its like saying howcome misha barton didnt get blake livelys role instead? to relatilvly the SAME people its not big deal…
Kelly, you bring up an interesting point. The UES isn’t very diverse, but in GG the only non-white characters we see are Blair’s sidekicks, and the occasional extra. I think that there would be more people of color (black, asian, latino) in the school. And in real life, they would be a pretty big deal and be the center on attention to a certain extent, because they aren’t white.
For example, When Halle Barry won an Academy award, she obtained a lot of attention because she was black. White people win Oscars all the time, year after year, so it doesn’t really make a difference.
So in the adult world even, non-whites receive a lot of attention becuase they’re non-white.
I think its also great to keep in mind, that in the real world, to put forth some sort of diversity, there’s almost always a token person of a different race.
So, I’m not surprised that there aren’t any non white main characters on GG, but I’m also not surprised or alarmed since I’m used to it, because, well, with 66% of the US population being white, we’re still the minority.
So, I’d like to see a token main character of color, but I’m also an actor, so I’d like to be that token.
And I agree, if Jessica Szohr looked more “diverse” (as in if she didnt look pretty white) I don’t think she’d have gotten the role.
I also wanna say that say that since White are the majority, there’s a double standard. If there were a show about blacks school kids, white kids wouldn’t be added so make it more diverse, since it’s a show with people of color. EX. Bernie Mac, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, The Cosby show, etc etc.
It’s how black people can say “nigga, nigger, etc” all they want, but if a white person or, any non- black person says it they’re in trouble.
So, to make sure my main point got across I think more people of color should be in the show, because even though the UES is MAINLY white, there are more people of color than are being represented, and they would be very important in the real world, because they’re people of color in the UES( a white majority).
Yes, diversify! True that old money in New York generally belongs to the white folks. Nevertheless let us not forget that they are in freaking new york city, of which the demographics is definitely, definitely not 4% Asian (you must have forgotten the Indians and I’m not referring to the 1% Native Americans), 13% black, and the rest white folks. I do not believe that.
Also, the education America needs right now is not ‘How to be more accepting of the all-american white folks’ but ‘How to accept and coexist with immigrants (who by the way, are here to stay whether you like it or not)’. So what the hell is the point of keeping an all-white cast (the 1% ethnic minority cast does not even count) besides imitating statistics?
To Gossipluver
While I find your innocence heart-warming and honestly hate to burst your bubble, this idea that “if we don’t have racism in our minds, things would not appear racist, and thus no one would be complaining” is just not good enough to fix the real problem in the real world. It’s good in theory, but not in practice. This idea was actually used in an episode of South Park. Anyway.
What I’m trying to say is, just because it’s quiet, doesn’t mean it’s not saying something or that the message is weak. Call me paranoid, but if the producer of this mainstream TV series directed at young adults were a white-supremacist and wanted to slowly brainwash America’s next generation by quietly but steadily confirming stereotypes and prejudices (which is how racism is learned in real life), he could totally do it through Gossip Girl. No one would notice or say anything precisely because it is so quiet.
LLC you are 100% CORRECT!!!!!
wow LLC you are so RIGHT!!!
actually,many different sources and even jessica szohr herself have comfirmed that she is in fact of african-american,and hungarian decent.she is a beautiful example of how people of color come in all different shades and just because you may not be able to see her ethnicity dosn’t take away from the fact that she is just as diverse as nicole fiscella,michelle trachtenberg(who is actually half jewish,and half mexican-american)or any other actor of color.even though hollywood has a very long way to go before they stamp out sterotypical casting completly, color blind casting has become more ,and more popular and diversifying with casting actors of all types of shade of skin.growing up as a child of mixed race was difficult in itself. not seeing any characthers or actors on tv who looked like me or looked like they were clearly white or clearly black made it difficult to find anyone who i could relate to.i totally disagree with the comment that if jessica szohr didn’t look pretty white she wouldn’t have got the role.first off all she didn’t audtion for the role of vanessa,she went to a party thrown by friend josh schwartz who basicly was like”hey wanna be on gossip girl?secondly she looks “light but not white”last time i checked latte colored skin was hardly a shade of white and frankly, how the hell did nicole fiscella get hired in the first place if it was about looking white or skin color?i do want tv shows like gossip girl to start portraying real life and have more actors of different skin colors and races on their shows (especially asian actors who probably make up less than 1%on t.v)without casting them in sterotypical roles (you know the ones i’m talking about)if our families and friends now come in all shade,races,colors and creeds then why can’t art imitate life and throw some color in the mix?
Nikki is probably addressing Aydin instead of me, however I would like to reiterate and point out (on behalf of Aydin and Eliza perhaps) that, just like you, we wish to see a more diverse cast, and just like you, we recognize that it is an issue that Hollywood is still working on. So, we urge them but we don’t blame them. However, what is more disconcerting than being under-represented, is HOW ethnic minorities are being portrayed. From the list of actresses that you named, are any of their characters popular???Jessica Szohr plays poor Vanessa whose family we never see, Nicole Fiscella–Isabel who is a silent stuckup follower, Michelle Trachtenberg–evil Georgina, and might I add, Nan Zhang–Kati, another silent stuckup follower, Yin Chang–Nelly Yuki, straight up nerd, Michelle Hurd–Laurel the stuckup Intern supervisor at Eleanor’s, Amanda Setton–Penelope, another stuckup follower, Zuzanna Szadkowski (obvious accent)–poor, poor Dorota enslaved by Blair.
Need I say more? Sure there are some ethnic minorities playing important roles on this show but that’s not the point. The point is, can you name one that is not obviously flawed in some way? Or inspire admiration like their white co-stars do? That, is what is wrong with this show.
I hope the issues discussed here find their way to the producers of Hollywood TV-land. This is very wrong and it needs to change!
The idea that Gossip Girl is “too white” is silly. It’s a story set in the world of elite UES prep schools. If anything, the show isn’t white enough. The Jewish question is fair one though. Just for clarification, Jessica Szohr is mulatto. Her character on the show seems to be mulatto too, but her white contribution is likely Jewish as evidenced by her last name on the show (Abrahms). She also mentioned pierogies once on the show. But yeah, about 1 out of every 3 people in the upper east side is Jewish, so the lack of Jews on the show really stands out. As has been noted, the show made Michelle Trachtenberg’s character Christian and Amanda Setton’s Arabic. So even when Jews get cast they don’t let them be Jews. Stella Maeve’s ethnicity hasn’t been revealed yet. Hopefully they’ll let her stay true to her roots.
[...] “Is Gossip Girl ‘Too White’?” asks the blog Gossip Girl Report. The issue of race on Gossip Girl can get more complicated than the more reactionary writers are willing to see (though I love Jen, and you should check out her blog). But Gossip Girl Report looks at demographics for the area the show is set in and clarifies that its racial makeup is alarmingly accurate. Which certainly goes back to my belief that Gossip Girl is of course not about race per se but the colour of its characters are definitely an integral part of the picture it is painting. Decide for yourself; the point is that there’s a valid discussion there and you can totally act familiar when people confront you about your new catchphrase, “I’m Chuck Bass.” [...]
First of all I would like to say I adore Gossip Girl as a show it is extremely entertaining and the sexual tension definitely adds to the appeal. Anyway, I am Cuban Irish black and Indian and I would like to point out that the true problem at hand is the stereotypes that the world has of people because of their ethnicity.
Majority rules! In the real world black people allow themselves to be racially inferior by our everyday actions. We call each other the ”N” word, though our fore fathers fought for the right to be called otherwise, the majority of our men don’t want real jobs they try to find the easy way out and try to be an athlete or rapper or whatever, so we are naturally portrayed in other aspects of life in these ways because the MAJORITY of our race is seen in this light if you want our characters to change in movie roles then the people in the real world have to change first!
It is the same for all races chinese are seen as smart, Indians own corner stores, Whites are uptight, whatever the stereotype is, it is because the majority of people classified in that race have similar characteristics or traits. I listen to rock and the majority of my friends are white so people tend to say I want to be a white girl. When that’s not the case at all, the music I listen to is my preference and the people I associate myself with relate to me.
America is the most powerful country in the world right now, but unfortunately the races in our country act a certain way that is different form the same race in another country. Blacks in Jamaica don’t like baggy pants and don’t call each other the ”N” word but when they come to America they are automatically written off as having those preferences in their attire or attitude.
My point is that the roles in movies and shows on television are a heightened sense of reality so there has to be some sense of ”real life ” we cannot adjust the shows to be what we want because then they won’t be relatable. Unfortunately in the upper east side there are VERY few minorities and whose fault is that? Some would say the minorities don’t work enough money to make it in those communities or society others would disagree and say whites won’t allow them to reach there but I think the second reason is an excuse. If we look in the ghettos of America Minorities are unfortunately the Majority so to change what we watch we have to change what we live.
Thank you and goodnight lmao I hope I made sense! AND CHACE CRAWFORD IS G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S!
Vannessa’s mother is black. She’s played by Gina Torres. And it looks as though Rufus is going to have an affair with a really hot black woman. The wife of a UES Mogul.
There are number of recurring characters of different ethnicities, Dorota and Vanya, Harry, Chuck’s mentor who runs the Gimlet (Chuck’s Speakeasy) and Sawyer, Jenny’s latest rival at school. Chuck’s mother seems to be of European Descent from the little we saw of her at Bart’s grave. And there seemed to be two black girls as queens from rival prep schools.