Today in American Studies we were talking about Tokenism. This immediately made me think about a character on the show, and my guilty pleasure, South Park. The only black character on the show is named Token. Token Black actually. I never really realized this little joke until today in 
class.

Token from South Park

It seems to me that children's television is the worst when it comes to tokenism. For example, just look at some shows playing on the widely popular Disney Channel. On The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, London is the token asian and Mr. Moseby is the token Black. Even on the mega hit Hannah Montana, Oliver is the only Jewish person. Of course the channel is taking strides to become more diverse. For example the show Wizards of Weaverly Place was the first Disney show to showcase a latino family. But you can still feel Disney pushing for diversity.

The other big children's network is Nickelodeon. Their show Victorious has a token black character Andre, but another show of theirs, ICarly, does not have a token character. None of the main characters on ICarly are black, but rather they are all caucasian. Is this something good or should the show be ridiculed for this? It really makes me think if tokenism is a necessarily bad thing.

I also wonder how this tokenism effects a generation if it does at all. In the movie, The Holiday, Kate Winslet's character says,"You're supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for God's sake!" I wonder if minorities don't feel like the leading character. As kids they learn from watching TV that they are  just a side character there to give color to an otherwise bland cast.

So is tokenism bad? Would you praise a show like ICarly for having all the main characters be the same race or would you rather praise a show like The Suite Life of Zack and Cody which has a more colorful cast, pushed as it may seem?