Melissa Harris-Perry tackled the angry black woman stereotype on Sunday with a twist — what if television’s white guys were positioned as angry white men?
Kissing off Alessandra Stanley's deeply flawed New York Times piece, Harris-Perry questioned: what if all of writer Aaron Sorkin’s characters were dismissed as furious instead of complex?
The MSNBC host asked a great question, which my colleague Kara touched on when she noted that black women have all the emotions of a regular person, much like most humans, but often we’re reduced to several stereotypes. Meanwhile characters of other colors can deliver self-important monologues and annoying diatribes — like Sorkin's Will McAvoy on HBO's The Newsroom — and be described as “multi-faceted” or “nuanced.”
Image via MSNBC.
DISCUSSION
Being a black man, I've NEVER seen McAvoy as being anything but angry. He's very much a liberal(ish) reflection of Bill O'Reilly - angry and offended at every damned thing.
And why doesn't the Times talk about Angry White Man Central - FOX News? Those people are scary and dangerous.