10/06/2011 – by Tatiana Christian
Tyler Perry is a fun target for a lot of black intellectuals looking to put down recent black films, while trying to demonstrate that there’s more to being black than Perry’s vision. My typical response is that people start creating their own media for their own community, instead of relying on mainstream enterprises to recognize you.
Cast of Th3m
So naturally, I was insanely happy to discover The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae, who managed to raise $44,000 via Kickstarter to help fund her project. And as her popularity has increased thanks to other black bloggers and various online magazines, Issa Rae has found a lot of success.
So then the next leap would be: Well, where are the web series for LGBT women of color?
And my search began! As you might imagine, it was hard to locate shows specifically tailored toward people of color. Many of the web series focused on white, gay men or white lesbians. There were a sprinkle of token characters in the bunch, but few were explicit about race (which normally means that it’s predominantly white).
But, after a bit of digging, I found two cool web series to check out:
1. Th3M – a predominantly black cast (out of the 7 characters, only 2 are white).
- They have a Facebook account by the same name: TH3M!
2. That’s What She Said – it’s about being Asian and Queer living in LA
- They have both a Facebook and a Twitter.
Two shows isn’t a lot, but it’s a GREAT step in the right direction: highlighting shows about women of color who are LGBT (and their Allies).
How many web series do you know? Please feel free to list them in the comments!
