The cast of the first season of Married At First Sight NZ has left us with snow blindness, writes Leonie Hayden.
Diversity in media is important. It’s so important. The Emmys gave out their first ever gongs for comedy writing and directing to black artists this year. A fair reflection of who we are as a society leads us away from the marginalisation of cultures, lifestyles and experiences and creates a stronger sense of identity for everyone.
Quite a few people noticed that the cast (what are they? Contestants? Subjects?) of New Zealand’s first season of Married At First Sight New Zealand – introduced on Sunday at the end of the dramatic and devastating finale of The Block NZ – had nary a gram of melanin between them.
It’s a show where strangers get married on national telly. One of the grooms, Luke (he’s an Aries), has a tattoo of a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a shark fin, wearing an eyepatch and a sombrero, and another on his foot that says, “I love peanut butter.” Dominic (Sagittarius) is currently restoring a vintage caravan in his front garden. Vickie (Virgo) is a real girl’s girl who loves “all things Disney”…
Diversity is so important, very important.
Um.
But maybe in this case we’re OK with just leaving white folks to it?
There could be many reasons why there’s no chocolate fountain at this dessert buffet.
Maybe the producers nixed Samoan contestants cos the umu was too hard to figure out. Maybe the budget didn’t stretch to a three-day Hindu celebration (although cultures with arranged marriage have been doing this for centuries so presumably to them it’s just a show about… marriage).
Maybe it just didn’t occur to any brown people to apply for a show where every person they’ve ever met will watch them try to form an emotional attachment to a stranger and then casually pass comment on their ‘bedroom’ moves, and actual whole entire life and personality.
I dunno. But best of luck to all of them and honestly, no hard feelings. You don’t have to include us in everything. It’s totally fine.