This video is sponsored by Skillshare. Also this video contains spoilers for The
Good Place. I usually wouldn’t even include a spoiler
warning for a sitcom, like ‘Spoiler: Jim and Pam end up together,'
like yeah duh but trust me, this is one you really don’t
want spoiled for you. Longtime fans of this channel know that I
am obsessed with sitcoms, and I’ve made a couple videos discussing them. Although, if I’m being honest, I’ve been
kind of out of the loop lately. I’ve spent so much time watching chess videos
and MCU fan theory videos , that I don’t have a lot of extra time to catch up on all
the good and bad sitcoms that I’ve missed out on. Yeah, I kind of even enjoy the bad ones, to
be honest. But there are so many shows out there, I don’t
understand how people keep up with all these shows. I don’t even watch really watch drama shows,
and I still can’t keep up. How do adults with jobs actually find the
time to watch all these damn shows? But I did happen to catch The Good Place after
it was released on Netflix, and I’m not really even sure what made me want to watch
it. I mean, I love Kristin Bell, just like any
other human being with a soul. And I’m sure she’ll get canceled for something
as soon as I release this video, thus making me look stupid. But beyond that, I guess it was just the unique
concept of a group of people navigating their way through the afterlife that piqued my interest. These weird offbeat type of shows are usually
very hit or miss, so I didn’t really have much in the way of expectations. And this video is not gonna be an analysis
of the entire show--The Good Place is great, you should go watch it. D’arcy Carden was robbed at the Emmys. I do, however, want to focus on the ethnic
diversity on the show and also talk about how the show deals with and avoids the topic
of race Hi, I’m T1J. [WEIRD VOICEOVER:] Follow me! [T1J:] This video, like all my videos would
not be possible without my Members and Patrons, including Homies like Lobo, nick, Joy Nash,
and Arvatos. If you want to support the channel, you can
become a Homie yourself by clicking the Join button below the video, or by checking out
my page on Patreon. Ok, so if you never seen the Good Place, here
is a brief overview for context. The show is about a group of young people
who meet untimely deaths and find themselves in Heaven, which in this universe is simply
called “The Good Place.” According to Michael, the architect of the
neighborhood our protagonists are assigned to,
all of the world’s religions got a little bit right about what the afterlife is really
like, but none of them quite nailed it. But as this is an American show, this afterlife
mostly resembles a modern, secular idea of the Christian heaven. Of course, if there’s a Good Place, that
means there’s also a Bad Place, complete with torture and fire demons and shit. And in fact, the first big twist of the series
is that the protagonists realize that they have been in The Bad Place all along, and
thinking that they were in the Good Place even though they knew they weren't supposed
to be there, was all a part of their torture. I told you there would be spoilers. There is some semblance of cohesive lore as
to how all of this works, but in true sitcom fashion, elements of this afterlife, are mostly
introduced either for a quick gag—it is a sitcom after all—or to conveniently advance
the plot. The real meat of this show is the evolution
of the main characters and their ultimate redemption. So yeah, a whole bunch of other stuff happens--
go watch the show. So that’s The Good Place. If you watch a lot of sitcoms like I have,
one of the first things you might notice is that the main cast of The Good Place is much
more diverse when compared to a lot of other sitcoms. Like, let’s take a look at the main casts
from a lot of popular sitcoms of the past 10 years or so. There are some outliers, like Brooklyn Nine-Nine
for example, which has more non-white people in than white people its main cast, which
is wild. But in general, there may be one or two minorities
but it usually looks pretty white, unless the show is specifically about minorities
like Fresh off The Boat or Black-ish. The Good Place, however has 3 people of color
in its main cast, which is 50%, not bad. On top of that, several of the major supporting
characters are also non-white. Including one of the main antagonists, and
also probably the most powerful and hilarious character in the show. Of course, all of the lead protagonists of
all these shows are still white, because you don't want the show to be perceived
by audiences as being a show FOR minorities, would you?. Gotta make sure them white folks still tune
in, am I right? But the cast diversity seems very conspicuous
and intentional, which makes sense given that this show was created by Michael Shur, who
also created the aforementioned Brooklyn Nine-Nine, as well as other shows with a very overt ‘wokeness’
to them. [JAKE:] Let me paint you a picture. I'm Philip, a successful periodontist that's
become addicted to Diazepam, a sedative I take because I'm junkie scum. Also, for real, addiction is a disease--I
would be super empathetic if you hadn't murdered a man. [T1J:] But I think t’s a little more interesting
in the Good Place because the show is essentially about trying to figure out how to become a
good person. And you’d expect that if whether or not
you were a good or a bad person on Earth was the criteria for whether or not you got into
the Good Place, then the good place should be end up being extremely diverse, because
things like gender and ethnicity and race don’t have anything to do with how good
a person you are. And given that in this universe, for the convenience
of the viewers; most beings look like humans, even though many of them aren’t; the racial
makeup of the immortal beings who originate from the Good Place should also be diverse,
because racial prejudice should be non-existent in the Good Place. But you might expect something different in
the Bad Place. If you asked the average person to describe
“evil”, they might describe things like murder and torture, but also things like racism
and bigotry. Now the Good Place was a primetime sitcom
so they couldn’t get too deep into things like that, but they do touch on it a little
bit. For example, a running joke in the Good Place
is that the demons there are sexist. And the women are okay with it, it's the Bad
Place. [GAYLE:] What about John Wayne Gacy? [SHAWN:] No. [VAL:] Joseph Stalin? [SHAWN:] No! [BAMBADJAN:] Ooh, what about Joseph Stalin?! [SHAWN:]W-Wait, Val just said that. [BAMBADJAN:] Yeah, but I wasn't listening
because she's a woman. [SHAWN:] Oh, good point. Wait, why was I listening?! [T1J:] However, they still clearly give women
leadership positions and value their input, even when they joke about not doing that. It’s kind of interesting how the show’s
writers are comfortable satirizing sexism but not racism. This happens a lot of shows I think. That joke was itself made by a black guy,
whose name is “Bambadjan.” Which also happens to be the actor’s real
name, he’s from the Ivory Coast. There are multiple people of color who seem
to have equal rank with their white cohorts in the Bad Place. In fact, anytime we see a group of Bad Place
demons, they are just as diverse ethnically as the main cast. As I mentioned earlier, one of the most important
antagonists is a woman of color. And again, these people are technically not
human, they’re actually monsters in human suits – which I guess is a convoluted way
to avoid blowing the whole budget on costumes and CGI. But the human suits they have are remarkably
diverse. I don’t believe there are any jokes about
the demons being racist, even though it seems like it would fit, they’re evil creatures
from Hell. But, I guess the writers were like,
‘That racism hit different.’ Now likely, this is something that the showrunners
did not mean for people like me to pay so much attention to. People of color are getting work and being
represented in non-stereotypical ways, and maybe that’s all they were going for. And that’s great. I think one of the victories of this show
is that it kind of disproves the “Forced Diversity” narrative that comes out of the
‘anti-woke’ crowd. You know the idea that by arbitrarily forcing
diversity into media, it cheapens or distracts from the narrative. And you could argue that The Good Place has
forced diversity, I think it’s very mindful. But I don’t think you could argue that it
negatively impacts the story or characterization in any way. You barely even really notice it, unless you’re
doing research for a video essay, or you just hate looking at brown people. The “Forced Diversity” people seem to
think that anytime there's a person of color on screen, there needs to be a very good and
detailed reason for them to be there. It’s seems unbelievable to them that black
and brown people can simply exist in the universe as people without the story being specifically
about the fact that they are black and/or brown. And that’s silly of course. But I do appreciate it when shows like this
make and attempt to talk about race and ethnicity and the associated struggles, because those
things exist and are significant, and they deserve to be acknowledged and discussed from
time to time. I’ve talked about how some fictional narratives
seem to exist in some kind of post racial universe. Parks and Recreation, which was also co-created
by Michael Shur, has a few non-white characters in its main cast, but this is acknowledged
out loud almost never. Like maybe once in the first season. And by the way that’s fine, create your
art however you want to create it. The Good Place however very overtly draws
attention to its main characters’ ethnic backgrounds. Jason is Filipino, Chidi is Senegalese, and
Tahani was born in Pakistan, and I know this because these characters’ backgrounds are
discussed in the show. But the thing about it is, that’s kind of
where it ends. Jason Mendoza the dim-witted stoner goes out
of his way to complain about people calling him Taiwainese, when he’s really Filipino,
[JASON:] Heaven is so racist! [T1J:] --but beyond that, his ethnic heritage
really doesn’t inform his character at all. Chidi Anagonye, is a Senegalese resident of
Australia who was born in Nigeria and can speak 5 languages, but most of this incredibly
detailed backstory is never really explored on the show, nor does it seem to affect anything
that happens to Chidi. I read somewhere that Chidi’s character
was originally gonna be called “Chris,” And this might be because there was a lot
of secrecy about the true nature of the show before it aired, to prevent leaks,
and also to preserve spoiling the many twists that occur throughout the show. Like apparently most of the actors didn’t
even know what the show was about when they auditioned. And I’m not sure if the casting call originally
requested a black actor, but it seems to me that they already already knew Chris’s story
and Chris's traits, and just changed him to Chidi after the fact. Before his death, Chidi was a philosophy professor
and his knowledge of ethics and moral philosophy plays a large role on the show. He frequently quotes and namedrops famous
philosophers like Immaunel Kant and Plato. But given his incredibly cultured background
it is kind of weird that he almost never mentions any black or brown philosophers at all throughout
the series. He briefly references Eastern philosophy a
couple of times, but that’s about it. Now I understand they want the show to be
accessible and not too esoteric, and perhaps this is even a commentary on how Eurocentric
academic philosophy and, well, everything else can be. But come on! Like, Frederick Douglass, Cornel West. You don’t have to dig that deep. But again, I suspect that all this is because
Chidi is really just Chris with a fancy backstory. You could argue that the characterization
of Tahani, the Pakistani-English model/philanthropist is a little more informed by her upbringing. She is the child of overbearing and strict
parents, which is a story we hear from the children of immigrants all the time. And her relationship with her parents is a
large part of her character arc. So maybe that part’s a little true to life,
but beyond that it’s the same story as Chidi. And in fact, Tahani had a different name in
the beginning, as well. It was “Tessa.” And listen, no offense to anyone named Tessa
or Chris, but I’m very glad they changed these names. Again, this is not a problem, make your art
however you want to make it. It's just a thing. At the end of the day, the show must be congratulated
for its diverse characters who are depicted as unique and complex, while at the same time
avoiding harmful stereotypes. Racial and ethnic diversity was clearly a
goal for the creators of The Good Place, and I’d say they achieved it. The show even has one of the few successful
interracial romances I’ve seen on a sitcom. Especially when you’re talking about one
specifically between a black man and a white woman. But despite these successes, I still think
it would have been interesting for them to do more to explore the racial and cultural
differences between the characters on the show. I'm not saying they have to have to make the
show about racism but doing more to acknowledge and celebrate diversity, rather fulfilling
a casting quota, would have been pretty cool. Like I said, this show is great, just thought
it was possible missed opportunity. DAS JUS ME DOE. What do you think? Big shoutouts to the sponsor of this video,
Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning community
for creative and curious types, offering thousands of amazing classes on topics ranging from
illustration, photography, business, and much more. There are classes on Skillshare that work
for any skill level, whether you’re a complete beginner, or a long time master looking to
hone their skills. Skillshare is all about helping you learn,
that means the video classes are well-produced and ad-free. And they always launching new classes, so
you can stay focused and follow wherever your creativity takes you. One of my favorite creators on Skillshare
is fellow YouTuber Thomas Frank. And he has a new class called Productivity
for Creatives: Build a System that Brings Out Your Best. As a naturally unorganized person, I’ve
picked up a lot of great tips from this class on productivity and professionalism. Skillshare is less than $10 a month with an
annual subscription, however, the first 1000 people to join using the link in the description
below, will get a free trial of a Skillshare Premium Membership. So go ahead and click that link below to start
learning today. And remember, by supporting sponsors like
SkillShare, you not only get access to a great service, but you also support me and help
me take my content to the next level.
