I do not believe that Cyberchase demonstrates racial tokenism. Jackie is African American, Inez is Hispanic, and Matt is white. The three are best friends and always work together to complete any task given to them. They each contribute, being equally intelligent.
In the cast photo (shown on the right), the three kids are equal distances from the viewer, so none of them are focused on. Jackie and Inez are dressed similarly, with skirts and boots.
Very little is known about the background of any of the characters, except that they all have families and pets. The characters' personalities are developed equally, and each of them have certain quirks and hobbies.
Cyberchase is a popular show on PBS, and has been since it began in January of 2002. Both Jackie and Inez have been on the show since it premiered. PBS is doing a good job of integrating minority characters into this show, which is watched by many kids. It is important that kids be exposed to many races on TV? Why or why not?
I used to watch cyberchase everyday when I got home from school when I was younger and I would eat thin mints or ho-hos with my best friend and talk about how cool math was... it was a great time of my life.
ReplyDeleteANYWAY I agree that this show doesn't show tokenism because none of the characters of color fall into any stereotypes shown in the standard media which I think its pretty awesome.