When I saw the preview for "Space Force," I knew it wasn't for me. It showed mostly white men and didn't seem to have innovative humor. The very next day, I saw a different preview for Space Force that displayed a diverse cast and a voice over that was so corny it was hilarious. This was more my speed! I figured people's comments made them realize they'd created a bad preview for a good show. But then the video did not end in a joke, and I realized it was in fact an advertisement to join the U.S. Space Force. They got me, fam! Indeed, people hadn't overwhelmingly commented with my same opinion. People liked the preview for the show (and I have no idea how they felt about the ad).
It's a pandemic, so I decided to watch the show. It was exactly as the preview had made it seem. Predominantly white males in major roles. Women and POC roles wrong dimensional. Like you could feel the male writer's room. I kept trying to stop watching but I'm just so bored. It's not like it's a bad show, it's just not a good show.
As I kept watching, I thought more about the intended audience. Maybe this show isn't for bleeding heart liberals such as myself. Maybe this show is for the undecided voter. Maybe the creators are smart enough to realize they don't want to alienate these hesitant folks. Ease them in to shit. They see that the government might be bad but they don't know because they're not glued to the news, or they have bad sources. This type of show will reel them in with it's semi-positive outlook on the government. It says "America is the greatest country on Earth and there are some bad men in its government."
But are people really triggered seeing women support each other? Or black people having different perspectives? Like does one of these undecided white moderate people see a black person on TV wrapping their hair before bed and think, "oh this show is definitely not for me." Or a woman not being tickled being asked out by coworkers at work, and think "too sensitive, not gonna watch that."
So is this how we reel them in, or is this just placating them? Either way, we need to view more content created by women and POC. It would help if major stars with power would demand more diversity.
