In which I rain all over everyone's squee parade

[sholio]

... but at least I'll put it under a cut so you can avoid. :D

So the news broke today that the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show has definitely been picked up for fall. Which is very cool and made of yay!

But then I looked at the picture of the cast (at the above link) and thought, seriously?

That is just about the whitest, blandest, most boring-looking ensemble cast ever. I feel like such a wet blanket for thinking this way, but ... they're all so young and thin and Hollywood-gorgeous and pretty much interchangeable with each other and with the cast of Any Generic Show. Not a single one of those people makes me think, "Oh yay, I have to find out more about that person!" - and the equally bland, generic character descriptions don't help.

... maybe they're more interesting when they're moving and talking? I hope?

(ETA: My sister also points out that at least there are lots of women! Who will presumably get to do stuff! So there's that.)

Comments

[cantarina]

I'm excited about the casting on the sole basis of Ming-Na's being there, because she's wonderful and amazing and probably a lead character. The rest I'm inclined to agree with you on, but maybe they'll be better in action, like you say.

[sholio]

I hope so! I'm also thinking about a few times that I've thought the cast looked fascinating from the publicity photos and then the show itself dashed my hopes. (NCIS:LA comes to mind here.)

[liviapenn]

Yeah, I thought the same thing. They all look so... airbrushed. Very "college recruitment brochure." And why can't any women on TV have hair shorter than shoulder-length, why do they all have to have the same Shampoo Commercial Hair? I really liked Natasha's hair in Avengers for just that reason.

[sholio]

College recruitment brochure - ha, yeah! One of the commenters on LJ called it FBI 90210. And I very much agree with you about the hair; it bugs me too.

[scrollgirl]

See, you're not the first to say this! It was my first reaction as well, but Ming-Na is there and Chloe Bennet is bi-racial (half-Chinese, half-white). But that photo is extremely "white", very generic and same and the two Chinese women are brunettes in the photo. Now, a quick Google shows that Bennet wears her hair like this normally, but Ming-Na's hair is usually black. I really, really hope they don't get white-washed OR stereotyped. Already Ming-Na's character is the "martial arts expert".

The Asian women that really get to make it big in Hollywood (not that there are many) generally have more "white" features, e.g., Lucy Liu's nose and freckles. Many are bi-racial, a white-Asian mix that just makes them look "exotic". It's kind of annoying that we seldom see Asian actresses that look like the Asian women I actually know (including the one in my mirror).

[sholio]

Generic is a good word for it - generic and bland. It's good to know that Chloe Bennet is bi-racial but I see what you mean about whitewashing their Chinese actresses with hairstyles and makeup; I'd actually thought at first glance that the entire cast was white. I wish the publicity photos did more to make me think "ooh, I must watch this!" rather than making me go "bleh, been there, seen that." (Having said that, it IS true that preliminary publicity stuff can be misleading, and it's also impossible to tell if the cast contains invisible minorities -- queer characters or ones with mental illness or whatever.)

But ... yeah. And that is a good point about Hollywood typically rewarding minority actresses for looking white and penalizing those who don't.

[nny]

Precisely my reaction also.

[sholio]

SO BLAND. AUGH.

[siria]

I'm going to at least give it a try, but yes, that promo photo didn't do much to excite me. Clark Gregg and Ming Na are the only actors I recognised in it, but it wasn't a good sign that I could figure out the names of the rest of the cast by comparing character descriptions with outfits. You're right, it seems very white and bland and boring. A show about SHIELD shouldn't be any of those things! If for nothing other than operational reasons, SHIELD should surely be a very diverse organisation. Your field operatives can't all be white folks!

[sholio]

Yeah, it's just such a blah-looking cast in the publicity pix. Though it's always possible that I'll be eating my words six months from now.

And I can also think of a few cases where I've thought the cast looked really interesting and then the show itself turned out to be blah. NCIS:LA comes to mind here. So a diverse and interesting cast is absolutely no guarantee of a good show ...

I still wish they'd done better, though. And you're right that a show about spies and field operatives ought to include something other than a ton of white people ...

[lotesse]

Yeah, I noticed that looking at the group promo shot they just recently put out - we got some pale faces up in here. And especially because Maria Hill is a white girl in the MCU, well, I am disappoint.

[sholio]

So white! So bland! So young! ... aargh.

But you never know. Maybe the show will rock and I'll be laughing at myself six months from now.

[cyanne]

That was my exact reaction. Wow, that's really white, what the hell, but yay women. I don't know why it has to be an either/or thing.

[sholio]

I know! Can't we have both? *snivels*

I like your icon though. :D