IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 24

A Critical Look at our TV
Virginia Paz
Havana, Cuba

C

uba is a country with various races
and cultures, resulting from the migratory phenomenon in the New
World. Our music, ways of expressing ourselves, way of walking, as well as our dances, fully reflect a miscegenation that includes African, Spanish, Asian and Arab
influences. It is from the array of colors that
we are made; we can see that on our streets,
and in our neighborhoods and cities. TV
continues serving as the primary source of
entertainment for Cubans, although it is not
the only one, nor the most popular. Technological advancement brought with it new
options for what to watch: a DVD on your
computer, or simply buying what we call
“the weekly package,” which allows you to
select various shows, soap operas, documentaries, movies and series from different parts
of the globe. Despite this, Cubans like to see
their own reality reflected on the screen, for
which reason they still like Cuban films,
Cuban soap operas (even with their problems), Cuban humor, and sport, this last one
essential. But do most people think that this
reality and diversity is reflected on television? One day while zapping (a popular
term now in Cuba that means channel surfing with a remote), I stopped on Cubavisión,
Cuban television’s most important channel,
which is on the air 24 hours a day from Sunday to Saturday. Its programming includes
informational, cultural, musical, children’s
and dramatic shows. Almost all of them

have one or two hosts or presenters. One
Sunday on Cubavisión offers approximately
26 slots. If we take away foreign movies and
series, we’re left with 12; white people host
8 of them, while 4 are by white, blacks or
mestizos. More or less the same thing happens with sports commentators: there is only
one mestizo (Ebián Guerra) and, occasionally, a very good radio commentator, as a
guest, who is black and offers his take and
predictions on baseball. By contrast, all the
sports players are black, as if whites didn’t
have same abilities. But that’s a whole other
story. What I am curious about is racial diversity on our TV screen In Cuban dramas—call them soap operas, stories, and
plays—blacks have always gotten the worst
part of them. For years, the only roles black
actors could interpret were as slaves or servants. The reader could well imagine the
number of roles and the complexity of their
characters. In just one soap opera that became famous (Sol de batey, 1985), some
black actors had leading roles, as slaves. The
situation hasn’t changed much, except that
now there are few dramas with servant or
slave roles being produced. Blacks could
have the possibility of interpreting roles
more in keeping with their acting skills, but
few manage to get them. The TV drama that
is currently being shown proves what I am
saying. Standing right in front of the set, I
ask myself if I’ve made a mistake and am
watching television programming from

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