My (Ethnic) Kitchen Rules?

Recently it has come to my attention that a local Australian production My Kitchen Rules has been labelled as incorrectly portraying ethnic contestants as the villain of the show. The show started off with two Indian contestants who were known as the Spice Girls. The Spice Girls were portrayed as very “spicy and hard to swallow”. The Spice Girls were kicked off from the show at an early stage but as with most reality game shows, there are always twists. The channel introduced two “Gate Crashers” who would be competing against the surviving groups. Drama is ensured and to make it more interesting, the two “Gate Crashers”, both Asians were advertised as down right opinionated with bad attitude. Since the airing of the show, I have received complaints about how the channel portrayed ethnic contestants.

I finally had a chance to see the promo and must admit that the way they promoted these “Gate Crashers” was pretty bad with tag lines like, “Let’s hope their food doesn’t taste like their bad attitude” I yet to see what is going to happen on the show, but with the stir this promo started among the Asian community, I could not help but try to look at what is happening here.

It is no astronomy knowledge that the current Australian screen does not necessarily provide equal opportunities for actors of all ethnicities and does not reflect the real modern Australian society. The Equity and a few established ethnic actors including Jay Laga’aia and Firass Dirani have all spoken out on this issue. When ethnic characters were portrayed, they were usually stereotyped and micro-caricatured. The situation may be slowly changing but whether the pace is too slow is another issue.

However, this is a completely different issue. It is how people see ethnic characters on screen and how much of this portrayal would affect the general public’s view of them. The Spice Girls certainly did not strike a good chord with their portrayal. They were branded as not liked by the Indian community and were a-holes for the Australians. Their portrayal was so bad that they even received death threats (which I thought was ridiculous over a cooking show). But to replace them with a pair of Asian contestants with well-publicised bad attitude did not help to improve things either. Certainly drama is needed but is the handling of these contestants tactful enough? Or the promoters do not care at all as long as they could raise eyebrows and attract viewers? As I said this part of the show has not started yet at the time of writing, but I do feel that we are walking on thin ice here. Although I do not want to jump the gun here condemning anyone, I do feel that whether this kind of “representation” on Australian TV helps to improve the society’s understanding of people from other cultures.   Some may argue that “Well if they are Anglos I am sure nobody would cry foul” and such. Yes that could be true, but the issue here is that Australia is a predominantly white country. Even the original Australians are now minorities in the society. When you are in a strong predominant position, you can portray yourself in any manner because people would not assume generalisation on you. However, when you are a minority, or in Australia, non-Anglo, due to the lack of understanding because of racial differences, there would be chances that people jumping to conclusion and generalising another ethnic group because of what they saw in one or two individuals. This happens in Anglo society or even in the Chinese society (or else where did you think the term “Gweilo” – originally means ghostly being – came from?). The current concern I have with My Kitchen Rules is that they are fuelling and unnecessary fire for the sake of ratings. That is what I consider irresponsible broadcasting. I am sure that their troops of lawyers could justify their actions from all the legal aspects, but what I am questioning is how many of these people responsible for the current show or series of promos have a conscience to think about what they are inciting?

At the time of writing, another casting note regarding a Ewan McGregor film came under fire too for the following casting call: For the hired muscle, "Australian, Italian and European gang member/ organised crime types, for prisoners, "mainly Aboriginal, Islander, Maori and Middle Eastern males" or other "tough looking guys of other ethnicities". The production company since apologised and acknowledged the inappropriateness of such casting call (while justifying certain choices), but the issue here is whether it is a “careless mistake” or a “conscious lack of awareness”.

As a non-Anglo actor in Australia, I certainly want to be given more opportunities to show what I can do, but certainly I would not want to further promote stereotypes and unjust representation of my own ethnicity. My ethnicity is supposed to be enriching the society not endangering it.