Reverse Tokenism

I'm a big Tyler Perry fan, despite not fitting into his typical demographic. Nonetheless, I love both this comedic and dramatic movies. I recently went to his newest movie, "Good Deeds", a drama about a highly successful black CEO, Wesley Deeds, who finds himself living the dreams of his family rather than his own. He gets wrapped into the saga of a single mom who recently got evicted for failing to pay rent and restores both her life and his own in the process.

In class, we recently discussed "TV Tokenism", which is defined as (within the context of a network prime-time drama) when the main character is white or white-looking, the center of the story line, morally complex, and receives most of the screen time. The supporting role is a "token" minority, maybe in a prestigious and/or "buddy" position, rarely complicated and with little screen time.

With that definition in mind, I found it hilarious that in a movie dominated by black characters, there were two white friends of Mr. Deed's fiancé and one white executive character that worked alongside Mr. Deeds.

We talk about how networks feel the need to have token black characters to satisfy the "diversity quota" but if the ratio of whites to blacks is so easily flip flopped with films like those of Tyler Perry, who's to say what really constitutes diversity? Can it be measured and calculated to appeal to all types of audiences or should some types of entertainment stay within a certain demographic?