Hollywood has long been viewed as a force in the battle for social justice.
But the police killings of two black men in Louisiana and Minnesota and the subsequent murder of five police officers in Dallas last week is forcing some in the entertainment industry to take a hard look at their role in the nation’s growing racial tensions.
“It has to change,” “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner, whose show routinely tackled social issues in the 1960s, told TheWrap at a special screening of “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” on Thursday at the WGA in Beverly Hills.
“I don’t feel like race has ever been so on the forefront of the conversation until now,” adding that “Black Lives Matter is an important social movement.”
The documentary celebrates the life and work of social justice TV pioneer Lear, who produced iconic shows like “All In The Family” and “Sanford and Son.”
Kenya Barris, writer and creator of the ABC sitcom “Black-ish,” about an affluent African-American family struggling to maintain its identity, said Hollywood has a responsibility to use its influence on popular culture.
“I feel like we’re not making forward progress,” Barris said. “The point of any type of art is to have a conversation.”
Asked whether the Black Lives Matter movement might make an appearance on his show following recent tragedies, Barris said it might.
“I would not want exploit the situation,” Barris said. “We’re not ‘Law & Order.’ I don’t want to rip things from the headlines. But if the natural conversation comes up and it feels like something that that family would organically be talking about, Absolutely. I cannot stress that enough. I think that if people communicate a lot of these problems will go away.”
Over the years, the entertainment industry has been credited with changing public opinion on issues from women’s rights to gay marriage.
Some have argued that NBC’s “Will & Grace” helped change attitudes towards gay people in America. The short-lived 2005 ABC drama, “Commander in Chief,” starring Geena Davis as the first U.S. female president, experts say, helped people warm up to the idea of a woman in the Oval Office.
“‘Will & Grace’ took the shock value out of being gay,” advertising consultant and founder of the Los Angeles-based The Brand Identity Center, Chad Kawalec, told TheWrap. “It desensitizes people to the issue and allows them to see the characters as real people with the same problems they have. Hollywood has the power to humanize the issue.”
But some critics argue that Hollywood failed to shine its powerful Klieg lights on the issue of racism because it’s part of the problem. Earlier this year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was forced to announce major changes to its membership rules after it came under fire for nominating only white actors two years running.
“The image of the black male in American society as a stereotypically threatening figure is an image that Hollywood for a long time has not only represented but in many ways helped to create,” Prof. of Cinema and Media Studies at University of Southern California, Dr. Todd Boyd, told TheWrap. “There’s a perception of Hollywood being liberal, but I don’t know that that perception is true.”
To be fair, Hollywood has addressed the issues of race relations and gun violence in some of its most popular shows recently. In March, ABC’s “Scandal” aired an episode titled, “The Lawn Chair,” about the shooting of an unarmed black teen in Washington D.C..
Season 4 of Netflix’s hit show “Orange Is the New Black” includes an episode about new inexperienced prison guards using extreme brutality as they deal with inmate overpopulation.
And in April, ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” took on the issue of gun control head-on in an episode called “Trigger Happy.” The storyline centered around a young boy who accidentally shoots his friend after getting his hands on his parents’ gun.
Asked what Hollywood should be doing to help in the wake of the recent shootings, actress Justina Machado, known for her role as Vanessa Diaz on the HBO’s “Six Feet Under,” told TheWrap: “If you have something to say and you know you have this amazing platform, then you should use the platform. But I don’t think anyone should be shamed into it, or bullied into it, or pushed into it. Everybody has their journey.”
Weiner insisted Hollywood could and should do better.
“Things haven’t changed,” he said. “But I do think we have a responsibility.”
18 Real-Life Scandals That TV Ripped From the Headlines (Photos)
Ray Rice /"Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," "American Disgrace”
The October 2014 episode stars a fictional NBA player accused of raping an employee. It came complete with security camera black-and-white elevator footage.
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Benghazi/"Madame Secretary," "Another Benghazi"
The episode focuses on the American ambassador in Yemen who has to be extracted from the country after a mob gathers outside the embassy.
In the Season 5 premiere, Carrie Mathison orders an airstrike on a terrorist compound in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan. The episode borrows heavily from the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011.
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Jordan Linn Graham/ "Scandal," "Inside the Bubble"
Olivia Pope helps a bride accused of pushing her newlywed husband off a cliff, a case that had the entire country transfixed earlier this year. The bride, Jordan Linn Graham, was sentenced to 30 years after allegedly for killing her husband at Glacier National Park in July.
Instagram
Ebola Outbreak/Fox's new Ebola drama (still in development)
Fox TV is working on a new series centered entirely around the deadly pathogen. More than 6,000 people have died of the disease and 17,000 have been infected. The 2014 Ebola outbreak is by far the most widespread outbreak in history.
CDC
Vince Foster/Inspiration for death of Grayden Osborne, "Scandal" During the Clinton administration, Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster was found dead in Fort Marcy Park after an apparent suicide by gunshot. Conspiracy theorists still believe it could have been homicide, as Osborne might have had enough classified information to bring down the Clinton administration.
Chinese cyber-espionage/"House of Cards," "Chapter 18"
The show's second season covered the Chinese cyber-espionage. China is believed to have gathered information illegally to bolster its economy, as well as monitoring dissidents abroad.
Edward Snowden/"The Newsroom," Season 3
Snowden escaped the U.S. for Russia after he leaked thousands of classified NSA documents starting in 2013. In "The Newsroom," ACN blogger Neal is forced to flee to Venezuela after he gets a hold of more than 27,000 classified government documents.
The Guardian
Eliot Spitzer/"The Good Wife"
The CBS drama is based on disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer and his wife, Silda. On March 10, 2008, The New York Times reported Spitzer had been patronizing an elite escort service. The scandal led to Spitzer's resignation as Governor on March 17.
"The Vampire of Sacramento" (Richard Chase)/ "CSI," "Justice Served" The chilling episode, in which a serial-killer nutritionist harvests organs from his victims postmortem to treat a blood disorder, pales in comparison to the real story of the Vampire of Sacramento. Richard Chase was convicted of murdering six people, along with countless animals, and drinking their blood to treat a completely fabricated blood disorder.
Paula Deen/Trayvon Martin/"Law & Order: SVU," "American Tragedy" "Law & Order" capitalized on both the Trayvon Martin case and Paula Deen's "n-word" slip with this episode. The story follows a Southern celebrity chef who, fearing for her safety in a deserted area of New York, shoots an unarmed African-American teenager.
The Subway Gunman (Bernard Goetz)/ "Law & Order," "Subterranean Homeboy Blues" One of the first episodes of "Law & Order" focused on a woman who claimed she shot two men in a subway --surprisingly similar to the story of Bernard Goetz, the "Subway Gunman." In 1984, Goetz shot four men in a N.Y. subway car. And while his actions were applauded as self-defense by some, others believe they were racially motivated against his African-American attackers.
Rihanna and Chris Brown: "Law & Order: SVU," "Funny Valentine" Chris Brown's beating of Rihanna was one of the most sensationalized stories of 2009. "Law & Order" took their interpretation one step further to show the consequences of relationship abuse. Their main character, up-and-coming rapper Caleb Bryant, also abuses his girlfriend, R&B artist Micha Green, but the episode ends with Micha's body floating next to Caleb's chartered yacht.
Universal CityWalk Murders/"CSI," "35k O.B.O" On Mother's Day in 1995, two women were stabbed to death on top of a parking structure in Hollywood. The "CSI" version of this episode is fairly similar to the real story, though they changed the victims to a couple celebrating their anniversary; in both cases, a bloody handprint leads authorities to the culprit.
Father Gerald Robinson/ "CSI," "Double Cross" The "CSI" version of this case reveals a nun strangled (by rosary beads, to add to the macabre) and crucified in a Catholic church. The inspiration of the story came from the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, who was strangled and stabbed by Father Gerald Robinson. He's appealing to Ohio's Supreme Court, even though he has been convicted twice.
Gloucester, MA pregnancy pact/"Law & Order: SVU," "Babes" The 2008 discovery of a pact made between girls at a Massachusetts high school, in which they promised to get pregnant and raise their babies together, provided the storyline for "Babes." The "Law & Order" episode follows the murder of a homeless man to the discovery of the pact.
Sean Combs/Jennifer Lopez: "Law & Order," "3 Dawg Night" In this episode, Darryl "G-Trane" Collins and his girlfriend Allie Tejada are present during a nightclub shooting, and ultimately, Allie is convicted of pulling the trigger. Any resemblance to P. Diddy and J. Lo's infamous 1999 incident, in which they were also present for and implicated in a shooting at a New York nightclub, is supposedly "coincidental."
Casey Anthony/"Law & Order: SVU," "Selfish" Another case that shocked America was the 2008 trial of the mysterious death of Casey Anthony's two-year-old daughter Caylee. In the episode based on the case, the young mother in question is accused of killing her child so she could party more.
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”Law & Order: SVU’s“ Ray Rice-inspired episode and ”Madam Secretary’s“ version of Benghazi are just the latest in a long line of controversies that inspired their own TV shows
Ray Rice /"Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit," "American Disgrace”
The October 2014 episode stars a fictional NBA player accused of raping an employee. It came complete with security camera black-and-white elevator footage.
Getty Images
Getty Images
