Apatow and Black People
I'm a massive fan of Apatow's work but... is Judd Apatow afraid of black people? Or even just anyone who isn't white? (yes that is a hyperbolic statement, welcome to reddit)
I don't think he's particularly racist or a xenophobe but what world does he live in? I love that his work is entirely personal but with that in mind, I have to conclude that he seems to have managed to avoid anyone who doesn't maintain an image or experience of America he must have grown up with. Am I wrong to think this? I don't want to upset anyone but it's a bit weird right?
I tried to think back to any main characters in Love who were outside of that bubble or in any of his other programmes and can't think of one. I'm not really asking for anything but I find it weird that creators like Lena Dunham get called out for not casting black actors and Apatow is just silently peddling this very white material. I kind of just allow the fact to sit uncomfortably in the part of the mind which switches off while I watch Woody Allen films which I think is why I felt I needed to get this tumour inducing stuff out of my brain and onto an internet forum...
[edit] Four episodes into season 2 and seeing maybe the backlash of the media and twitter has resulted in what's still a really really great and not strangely white tv programme. As I said before I don't think Apatow is a racist, I was just surprised at thinking back how white his past work has been. I'd still love to see him start collaborating with more diverse creators/actors given his whole reason for working with Dunham was apparently because he realised his work was too male-centered but at the same time I think my point has been made.
Posted Feb 21, 2017, 7:17 PM UTC · edited