I never really care about ‘Neighbours’ as a show. I never felt related to it and never felt the logic of it. But without a doubt it gave us some great legacy like Kylie Minoque, Delta Goodrem, Russell Crowe, Luke Mitchell, Naomi Watts, Heath Ledger, Margot Robbie etc.
I said I don’t care about ‘Neighbours’ doesn’t meant that I haven’t thought of wanting to be on it. I think regardless of the quality of the show, for start out actors, it is a huge platform for a lot of them. And at the end of the day it is kind of a corner stone for the Australian media culture. However, ‘Neighbours’ is mostly about White Australians, and from my limited exposure of it, when it has non-White characters imported into the show, it feels more about reminding viewers about the good old White days of a secluded Australian neighbourhood. Ridiculous storylines of Chinese neighbours suspected of barbequing a neighbour’s dog or an Indian woman got blown up and come back as a ghost felt like lip services for diversity instead of treating them as real people. But at least they gave these actors a chance to be seen both locally and in UK, giving them good exposure. A necessary but pretty evil evil for some.
However, recent revelations about the hostile and racist working environments on set and during the production revealed a deeper issue with this show.
We don’t expect everyone to get along well with everyone in a working environment. That holds truth for all working environments. If you are in one that everyone loves everyone and supports everyone, I congratulate you. This is also true for the media industry. And for the media industry, it is even harder as, as artists, we are all very subjective about our work. We will at times fail to see other people’s view in the creative process because we had invested so much into the artistic direction, the framing of the shot, the character, the story etc. So at times, it will be inevitable that sparks will fly. However, that is for the work, not for being who you are.
I consider myself lucky as in most of the working environments in the industry, I had very supportive cast and crews working with me. Most people who have met me knew that I am not a very social person (yeah contrary to most people thinking), I feel uncomfortable in networking environments. But I will do my best to do that as the media industry is a very relationship based industry. So for me I really consider myself very blessed, especially as an Asian / Chinese Australian actor to feel support when I get to work on set or on stage. Does that mean I was immune? No.
I had experience in casting or work that people told me to speak more like that and act more like that because it will be funnier, as I look Asian / Chinese. I have been told that I was not Chinese enough to be a Chinese, and I have been told that I should only write Chinese stories because I will never be Australian enough, despite being an Australian, to write Australian stories. But those were individual occasions that I just bit the bullet. As a start out actor with dreams, you just need to take those things like a champ right?
If I felt bad enough during those individual encounters, I could not imagine what Shareena Clanton and Sharon Johal went through for months or even years. The Australian media landscape is changing, but old establishments are still around. Considering these two actors needed to endure days after days, and months after months, or even year after year of abuse on set by other people, but then still trying to continue to work professionally to deliver their employers’ expectations is no easy task. People often seen the glamourous side of acting jobs, but it is only the actors who know. We put on a smile in front of the press or the camera because that’s our job. What we endured most would not know because it is our job to create that fantasy of a great life for others.
Personally I think the situation is even worse for women. I luckily am a man, and people would only take it so far with me. And that’s similar for other people who came out to talk about it. But for a woman of colour in the industry, when you ran into this kind of situation, I personally believe that it would be even worse. As women, for a lot of old establishments, were not equal already. When you are woman of colour, you really got moved to the bottom of food chain for these establishments. And if you are just starting out or you are waiting for this big break (which may or may not come with the show), the abuse and exploitation could be imagined.
I utterly applaud these actors for speaking up. It is sad to see that ‘Neighbours’ is not just White Australia on screen but also perpetually so behind the scene. What is worse is that speaking up or raising the issue to the management invited more hostility and worse treatment. It is true that the management cannot monitor day to day operations on set as there are so many concurrent pieces of work going on. However, my question is, if the complaints are about a consistent set of establishments on the show, why were these establishments not being stood down but were able to continue to behave the way they do? Cultural sensitivity training is no training for these people if they don’t have a heart for change. And if these kind of complaints have been filed for years already, what are the signals the management giving to the establishments on set, when there were no actual consequences but just losing a few hours of their lives for training they didn’t care about?
As I said, I considered myself lucky despite individual encounters, but no actor, ethnic or not, male or female should be put through this kind of ordeal. ‘Neighbours’ might want to perpetuate a White legacy on screen with a few bits of ethnic flavours sprinkled here and there, but Australia has changed. Whether Ramsay Street is still relevant is up the audience, but as a modern Australian workplace, every one of us will expect respect, open-mindedness and real collaboration.
I hope the Union will be able to help fix this and I wish all actors of colour in our country all the best, as every one of us is trying to put out the best works possible in our career for our audience.
