美国国家公共电台 NPR 'The Bachelorette' May Have A Black Star, But It's Still Set In A White World

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Our TV critic says you need to know about this season of "The Bachelorette." For the first time, a black woman is the star of ABC's dating show. And here's why Eric Deggans says last night's episode was important, even if you don't like reality TV.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE 1: As a TV critic, I've spent years complaining about how "The Bachelorette" and its parent show, "The Bachelor," present romance as a contrived 2, materialistic 3, princess fantasy. The focus on physical attributes over most everything else for both men and women has always bothered me.

So why did I find it so important to see Rachel Lindsay, the first black "Bachelorette," doing stuff like this?

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

RACHEL LINDSAY: I haven't even started this journey and I've gotten so much support from people.

You're so sweet. Thank you so much. I mean it.

Like, I feel like I'm supposed to right here, right now, in this place.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And don't sleep with all of them. (Laughter).

LINDSAY: Oh, never.

DEGGANS: Part of the show's princess fantasy involves building up the star as an archetype of beauty. She's shown being smart and personable, an all-American woman ready to pick from a bunch of guys who look like they just stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad. And this time, for the first time, that woman is black.

Check out how the guys vying 4 for her attention, known as suitors, describer her.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: She looks gorgeous.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Like, the TV does not do justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Her justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Like, oh, my God. That dress was killing 5 it, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: Yo (ph), oh, my God. That dress.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: She's wicked hot, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #6: And smart, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: And smart, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #6: It's quite a combo.

DEGGANS: Lindsay had to sort through 31 different suitors in the first episode. Previous recent editions only featured about 25 or 26 guys. About 11 of them were black men and only a few Asian-American and Hispanic guys. But given how much white men have dominated past shows, I wondered if producers offered up more guys so they could have more diversity while maintaining lots of white men in the mix to retain an audience used to seeing mostly white people.

Many of the types of guys Lindsay met in Monday's show fit into easy categories. There was the overconfident guy.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #7: I have that confidence in that it's going to be her and I, and that's exactly what it's going to be. I'm No. 1 seed in the bracket for Rachel's heart, right here, the champion.

DEGGANS: Yeah, he probably won't last long. And there was the guy with an annoying, loud catchphrase.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #8: (Shouting) Whamoo (ph).

DEGGANS: Yes. He said it about 15 times during Monday's episode. Spoiler alert - he was among the 23 guys Lindsay passed through to the next round. I guess he was just too telegenic to send home early. There was even a guy who showed up with baked goods.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #9: As you can see, I have this brownie right here.

LINDSAY: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #9: I just want to let you know the blacker the brownie, the sweeter the dude.

LINDSAY: (Laughter) Very cute.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #9: That's very cute, right?

LINDSAY: Very nice to meet you.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #9: Same. Take care.

DEGGANS: But aside from that awkward joke, what the show didn't talk about much directly was race. And for some, that might be a great development, highlighting the universality of everyone's experience in a way that seems colorblind. Lindsay, who's already said publicly she ends this season by getting engaged, has downplayed the idea that race was much of a factor for her.

But "The Bachelorette" and "The Bachelor" have always glorified 6 an ideal culture that is upper-middle-class and white. And it has rarely articulated or addressed that, in the same way we often avoid similar discussions in the general culture.

I was probably expecting too much to hope that "The Bachelorette" might change its basic messaging on culture, class and race in its very first episode with a black woman at the center. But I hope we eventually get to see a show that doesn't just paper over people's differences or mostly show black people assimilating into a predominantly white world because the real value of diversity in television is widening that world to include a range of experiences and cultures on equal footing. I'm Eric Deggans.

(SOUNDBITE OF "THE BACHELOR" TV THEME)