Yeah, that was my experience, too, and that in itself doesn't make me interested in a show
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way (not that I thought I was, just fringes of fandom uncertainty). I'm not against diversity/representation but it's not a particular selling point of a show; and I respond badly if I feel like people are trying to use that to guilt others into watching/reading something.
If I can insert a bit of a rant: say there are three basic categories for trying to sell such a show to me: Person 1: Hey people, did you know about show A? It has a really good mystery with interesting twists, the main characters are interesting and the dialog between them is snappy. The supporting cast contributes a lot and you're sure to love at least some of them. Person 2: Show A is awesome, I'm really enjoying it and hey it also has a really diverse cast (one of the leads is -insert something-). So you should give it a shot, I think you'll like it too. Person 3: WATCH SHOW A IF YOU SUPPORT (something) REPRESENTATION.
I respond well to person 1; person 2 I'd like to know more about what they're suggesting but if I've already heard of show A, or I know person 2 from something else so I feel confident where they're coming from, I'll count it as a mark of recommendation (much like with your claims about JMS' memoir). Person 3 has me reaching for the Life on Mars DVDs because I love that show even (and for the moment, especially) if it's the opposite of whatever person 3 wants represented.
The problem with person 2 is if you don't know them you're not sure if they're a person 3 who just uses less guilt-trip wording or a person 1 for who the representation of (something) is one of many things they like about show A. And Sense8 seemed to have a lot of persons 2&3, at least who made the most noise at the time; and the persons 2 were rarely people I knew or thought were drawn to it for the same reasons I was (the JMS factor).
(Yeah, that turned into a bit more of a ramble than I planned)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2021-01-07 07:26 am (UTC)I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way (not that I thought I was, just fringes of fandom uncertainty). I'm not against diversity/representation but it's not a particular selling point of a show; and I respond badly if I feel like people are trying to use that to guilt others into watching/reading something.
If I can insert a bit of a rant: say there are three basic categories for trying to sell such a show to me:
Person 1: Hey people, did you know about show A? It has a really good mystery with interesting twists, the main characters are interesting and the dialog between them is snappy. The supporting cast contributes a lot and you're sure to love at least some of them.
Person 2: Show A is awesome, I'm really enjoying it and hey it also has a really diverse cast (one of the leads is -insert something-). So you should give it a shot, I think you'll like it too.
Person 3: WATCH SHOW A IF YOU SUPPORT (something) REPRESENTATION.
I respond well to person 1; person 2 I'd like to know more about what they're suggesting but if I've already heard of show A, or I know person 2 from something else so I feel confident where they're coming from, I'll count it as a mark of recommendation (much like with your claims about JMS' memoir). Person 3 has me reaching for the Life on Mars DVDs because I love that show even (and for the moment, especially) if it's the opposite of whatever person 3 wants represented.
The problem with person 2 is if you don't know them you're not sure if they're a person 3 who just uses less guilt-trip wording or a person 1 for who the representation of (something) is one of many things they like about show A. And Sense8 seemed to have a lot of persons 2&3, at least who made the most noise at the time; and the persons 2 were rarely people I knew or thought were drawn to it for the same reasons I was (the JMS factor).
(Yeah, that turned into a bit more of a ramble than I planned)