Shawn Maxam wonders why Black characters don’t speak on cable television’s most popular show.
I’m the one black guy. You realize how precarious that makes my situation?
-T-Dog (Season 2, Episode 2: Bloodletting)
First I am trying to create a coherent argument about a zombie TV show. This isn’t based on any sound logic or reality. Second there are a ton of spoilers below (from the TV show only) so read at your own peril.
Last season T-Dog barely had any lines. Half the time I didn’t even remember he was still on the damn show. Now they killed him off. I should have realized this once he started being more present in the show’s narrative. His death wouldn’t have had any emotional weight if he never spoke. I see what you are doing AMC and Glen Mazzara (the current show-runner).
The other Black male character of Morgan Jones (who with his son Duane) who assisted Rick in the beginning of the Zombie apocalypse during the show’s first season hasn’t been back, but racist redneck Merle has returned. They killed off Jacqui, the black woman from the original group, at the end of season 1. By the way, why can’t most of the Black characters have regular names? (I’m joking—sorta). Somehow Rick and the crew didn’t find any more Black people—even though they came from Atlanta—until they show up at the prison in season three. Really!
This season has introduced the fan favorite character of Michonne. On a positive note we have a dark-skinned woman of color who has natural hair on one of television’s most popular shows. I guess that’s a win. Unfortunately she barely speaks. This isn’t just a racial issue but gender too. The women on this show are poorly written and very one-note. I think everyone is distracted by the mere fact of seeing pretty women shoot guns and being “Bad-ass”.
Fan-boys are primarily by definition white men. Based on the Kevin Smith show Comic Book Men, I wouldn’t expect the non-white male characters of The Walking Dead to be nuanced and complex. My wife also noted how Michonne is functioning as a protector of Andrea (which wasn’t her role the graphic novel). Hopefully the character development will gain momentum in the upcoming episodes.
The good news is that even though T-Dog died last week, we now have Oscar (the other black guy) to replace him. Yeah for tokenism!
Enjoy tonight’s episode.
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Thanks for reading, sharing and commenting!
R.I.P. SKH
About S. Maxam
I had noticed that T was getting more lines recently. My son and I were watching it together when he got bit. Both of us started shouting at the TV.
That shit was wrong…
I was with Shawn on the T-dog getting more lines. I said, “he’s so gonna be killed off soon.”
T-dog was one of the few characters on the show who still showed compassion. Losing him sparked a discussion in my house about not watching anymore. Between losing T-dog and the precarious position of Michonne I am quickly losing interest. Michonne is way too smart to have tipped off the crazy governor the way she did. Thank you for the great article.
I totally agree with Sara. T-Dog was one of the most likable characters on the show, and it’s ridiculous that they killed him off. During the first season I asked my local TWD expert friend about the name and he said that there is a T-Dog in the comic, so I felt like maybe my anger at the producers/writers of the show only were to blame…
As far as Michonne… I keep hoping we’ll get more from her. I have to say that Carol and the brunette farm girl (the one sleeping with Glenn) have become more badass, and that farm girl was actually SO awesome in the episode where Carl got shot so thank God they made her a bit more clever and badass this season. Last season the whining and idiocy of the women was getting trying.
I don’t get it why they can’t cast these shows with “normal” amounts of Black people who are “normal” people. I mean, is it really THAT hard to just represent people accurately?
Well this show is different in the fact that EVERYONE is heavily traumatized. The only major diversity in actions are those who were trained before hand how to deal with tough stuff, Rick, Daryl n his bro, the Vet. The rest are more followers and seem to collapse more with pressure. The men were thrown more into combat and they seem less whiney than the women, maybe that combat made em realize even more what’s worth whinging about? On the flipside the men are also more aggressive n dangerous than the women who seem to take a more diplomatic route.
Overall it’s made the women look prettyyyyy damn weak tbh, though that show annoys me for it’s obvious failure in weaponary. Why oh why haven’t they made spears, more bows, etc? A spear would let them attack the head from further away. ALL of them should have multiple knives, spear and other weapons at all times, and never travel alone even to take a piss in the woods. I’m also surprised they haven’t found any leather or steel like any sane person would to create body armor to stop bites??? Or fashion shields n swords?? Soldiers 3000 years ago would have a better chance than the ones in that show. The only one who seems to have a clue is Daryl though he never has enough bolts for his crossbow, and Mihonne with her Katana. The machette is also a pretty decent choice but knives are a last ditch defense. I still can’t believe they haven’t made bows after a year or 2?
A shame they didn’t make Glenn a stereotypical Asian. Imagine the damage one can do if they had a staff or arnis and the knowledge to utilize it. I’m fairly sure I’d pee by myself unless there was a kid I had to watch or the other person was just too afraid to stay by themselves. In a large group where they could stay with someone else, I don’t see a problem.
A naganata would come in handy, or just attach blades to a spear and use it to do beyondarmslength decapitation. First thing I’d be doing is getting a bow, spear, machette/sword, shield, (diff weapons for diff times), push bike + trailer, and make an armored suit. Hell some plastics would be tough enough to stop a bite.
Problem with peeing alone is that they’re always being ambushed, so many deaths were from stupidity. I dunno why they don’t have whistles either in case of emergency, if you see a group of walkers coming for you then you mgiht as well do a whistle communication to warn others. Or..you know, get solar panels n walkie talkies like anyone with half a brain:P
Your friend might be referring to the Tyrese character in the comic book, who was killed off. My friends never considered him T-Dog because of the impact he made on the group and of course the name. I’m pretty sure they even died differently, under different circumstances. Does your TWD expert consider T-Dog to be the Tyrese character in the comic book?
How do we define “normal” amounts of black people?
I, for one, am still damn angry about overrepresentation of Italian Americans on “The Sopranos.”
Seriously, with all the real problems facing a disproportionate share of the black community – you know, things like violence, unequal educational opportunities, poverty – doesn’t it seem a tad bit silly to be complaining about representation on a zombie television show?
Well normal representation on this show would be the % of people in the area of Atlanta who are black, and then adjust for the various families who tend to be similar race (eg 3 of them are rick’s family, white, then there is the farm family which is white). For instance if you filmed it here you’d have the majority of stars being white, Mediterranean as this area is one of the main areas Mediterraneans immigrated to in Australia.
The Sopranos however is about an italian-american crime organization so of course it’ll be mostly italians, just like movies on mexican gangs have mainly mexicans, etc. Being that there are only 9, now 6 in their main group on the walking dead the population ratio will be harder to account for every race but the town area in season 3 should be able to have much more diversity.
And it matters because people growing up need to see characters that represent their race, gender, beliefs etc to help build a diverse view of their group.
T-Dog went out like a hero. He got the gate shut, even though he was bitten, then slammed 2 walkers into a wall and held them off so Carol could get away. His was the most heroic death so far.
It feels like Michonne is silent from something bad, I think her 2 walkers were family members and she’s silent from all the damn horror. They’re also a minority so I wonder if their silence is partly because they feel like they don’t fully belong?
Friends of mine who have read the comic book, which the series is (extremely loosely based on what guys who read the comics told me) based on, tell me there was a black character named Tyrese who was extremely beneficial to the group. They think T-Dog might have been Tyrese, but he was basically an invisible character. If that’s the case, the shows treatment of the black characters is even worse.
For those who might want to read the graphic novel, I hear it isn’t just different from the TV series as far as the story time line and what happens to the characters. I heard that it is extremely brutal.
I also find T-Dog under utiliced, I wonder if he will get replaced by another black actor now as I can read he is dead, or how about natives? do we get to see them in the show? I wonder how they takle the situation?
I never liked T-Dog because I saw him as a token character who was a walking stereotype (token, was named “T-Dog”, spoke predominantly in slang, and even spouted other stereotypical comments such as the season 2 line quoted above). I found his character annoying since I find Tyreese, the black character in the group in the comics, to be a much stronger and deeper character.
Michonne doesn’t have many lines, but that doesn’t bug me as much. In the early parts of her introduction in the comics, she was a fairly stoic figure. Yes, her being a protector of Andrea is different from her role in the comics, but her character is still that of a strong independent woman who was taking care of herself just fine without the group or a separate group of her own (if you don’t count her zombie chain-gang). I’ve always viewed her as a good strong character.
Of course as a white male, my opinion on these characters is not representative of the population they belong to.
My son made the observation immediately that T-Dog was replaced by another black man, so tokenism remained…..Michonne’s lack of dialogue really irks me. She may be angry and skeptical, but let her speak! Sheesh.