Unfair portrayal of minorities

In class we discussed how Tonto was portrayed in a racist manner in The Lone Ranger TV show. We talked about how in order for this Native American to be portrayed favorably, he should be promoted to the status of hero along with the Lone Ranger himself, not just a side-kick. In this particular instance, I agree with this strategy. However, it is important to remember that making a minority a powerful character is not always the proper solution when it comes to a fair portrayal. For example, in the show Community, Britta is a strong female character. She is a former anarchist attending community college. The rest of the cast refers to her as "the worst" and she tends to be hypocritical and pretentious. She is not a "strong character" because she is a person with power, she is a strong character because her flaws give her a strong characterization. We don't necessarily need women and minorities to be portrayed as powerful, we just need them to be as dynamic and layered as possible. Another example is in the show The Wire. Omar is a black, gay character who steals from organized crime.

In the first season, his boyfriend is killed which is how the audience knows he is gay. If someone were to start watching from the second season, he would not know Omar's sexuality because it is not essential to the story from that point. He is one of the best characters on the show, neither because he is gay nor despite the fact that he is gay. However he is not a great person, he still is a criminal. I guess my point is this: regardless of a characters race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. they can play any character, good or evil, intelligent or stupid, independent or submissive, as long as they are well written and well portrayed instead of becoming a character archetype.

Allow me to play you out...