SF and People of Color

[rramarr]

Incidentally this thread reminds me of something I heard from Neil Gaiman... he said the main reason why he won't let Hollywood make movies of American Gods or Anansi Boys, is that Hollywood studios told him they wanted to make the black lead white because they were convinced black people won't go see sci-fi/fantasy.

Then what does that say about leaving the character Black and still having White people come see it?

I'm writing a novel now about space but more so about humanity in space. On my crew the captain is only like a school principal where the students don't want to get in trouble by him but it's really not about the principal as much as its about the students/crew.

I struggled with changing some of my characters ethnicities because of what other people may assume about my story. While discussing it with an agent I even considered not having my picture and bio in the sleeve.

 

[OptimusPete]

Re: Have We Overcome? Not if TV Casting is an Indicator

Those jokes that had a white voice to them

What does this mean?


Also that Cardassian dude was black? I never noticed that! Which to me indicates that a lot of the problems people have with this stuff (like the stuff about Ferengi being jewish stereotypes which I also never thought about til someone brought it up on here) is it seems a like a lot of the time people are going out of their to look for stuff to be offended by

 

[Ubik]

Re: Have We Overcome? Not if TV Casting is an Indicator

Just because you were personally unaware of the stereotype doesn't mean it wasn't obvious to a lot of other people. Being Jewish, I noticed the similarities between the Ferengi culture and the stereotype of Jewishness right away. This link was only strengthened by the fact that Quark is played by Armin Shimmerman, who is so clearly Jewish in tone of voice, in inflection, in sense of humour, that I simply couldn't ignore it. I was never offended by it, I must add - Shimmerman, as I said, is Jewish himself, and he can't help sounding Jewish (nor can Seinfeld or Mel Brooks), so it was impossible to be offended by it. It was certainly there, however, whether the writers intended it to be there or not.

 

[Thrall]

Incidentally this thread reminds me of something I heard from Neil Gaiman... he said the main reason why he won't let Hollywood make movies of American Gods or Anansi Boys, is that Hollywood studios told him they wanted to make the black lead white because they were convinced black people won't go see sci-fi/fantasy.

Fat Charlie was obviously black. Or at least half-black. They never said what his mother was. Not that it mattered. So for all we know he could look Asian as well. A young Forest Whitaker would be perfect for the role.

But I always assumed Shadow was white because of the whole Norse connection.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

There've been quite a few people of color in guest starring/semi regular roles on my favorite genre show, Supernatural who were nice actors. Vancouver isn't teeming with people of color so I tend to give its PTB credit. Loretta Devine played a psychic named Missouri. TPTB wanted her back but she's been unavailable.. Sterling K. Brown played Gordon Walker, a psychotic but psychologically fascinating hunter for several guest spots. TPTB alsow wanted him for more appearances as a regular foe for the Winchester brothers but the actor was committed to another series. Charles Malik Whitfield guest starred 3 times as FBI agent Henriksen who was after the brothers. Once again the actor was wanted for more guest spots but he was cast in a film. Then there was poor Issac, the black hunter from season three's premiere who was forced to drink anti freeze by one of the seven deadly sins.

The three most popular African American characters all died, so I don't know what that says. Gordon was eventually turned into a vampire and had his head twisted off with barbed wire by Sam. The FBI agent was killed by Lilith, the current big bad. The FBI agent was portrayed as a very stand up, honorable guy and Gordon, even though he was a psycho, was given surprising depth as a character. The writers decided to send the characters out in style since the actors couldn't stay. Does diversity still count if the brothers keep dying? It's not as if the writers actually killed them because they have a beef with black characters. It just worked out that way. Every once in a while you'll read someone accusing Eric Kripke of that in a blog, which I think is ridiculous. Or they accuse him of misogyny since women die gruesomely on his show. Plenty of men die equal, if not more gruesome deaths but if he kills any women he's supposedly a misogynist. Personally, I like equal opportunity homicidal demons. Hey, Issac's wife survived. Sent some demons back to hell before she left, too. Of course there was the poor black lady who had all her teeth fall out because the witches' coven put a hex bag on her. Plenty of people of all gender and color dying gruesome deaths and suffering on my show.

So does diversity count if the black actors keep dying gruesomely entertaining deaths?

 

[Hermiod]

Incidentally this thread reminds me of something I heard from Neil Gaiman... he said the main reason why he won't let Hollywood make movies of American Gods or Anansi Boys, is that Hollywood studios told him they wanted to make the black lead white because they were convinced black people won't go see sci-fi/fantasy.

Yet all this time, Will Smith is one of Hollywood's biggest stars and people will flock to see a movie he's in just based on him being in it.

Many of those movies have been Science Fiction. Denzel did Sci-Fi too in Deja Vu.

As for Legate Broca, I might be the only one here who A) knew who he was when I saw the guest star credit and B) thought he did a good job.

 

[Hoshi_Mayweather]

There've been quite a few people of color in guest starring/semi regular roles on my favorite genre show, Supernatural who were nice actors. Vancouver isn't teeming with people of color so I tend to give its PTB credit. Loretta Devine played a psychic named Missouri. TPTB wanted her back but she's been unavailable.. Sterling K. Brown played Gordon Walker, a psychotic but psychologically fascinating hunter for several guest spots. TPTB alsow wanted him for more appearances as a regular foe for the Winchester brothers but the actor was committed to another series. Charles Malik Whitfield guest starred 3 times as FBI agent Henriksen who was after the brothers. Once again the actor was wanted for more guest spots but he was cast in a film. Then there was poor Issac, the black hunter from season three's premiere who was forced to drink anti freeze by one of the seven deadly sins.

The three most popular African American characters all died, so I don't know what that says. Gordon was eventually turned into a vampire and had his head twisted off with barbed wire by Sam. The FBI agent was killed by Lilith, the current big bad. The FBI agent was portrayed as a very stand up, honorable guy and Gordon, even though he was a psycho, was given surprising depth as a character. The writers decided to send the characters out in style since the actors couldn't stay. Does diversity still count if the brothers keep dying? It's not as if the writers actually killed them because they have a beef with black characters. It just worked out that way. Every once in a while you'll read someone accusing Eric Kripke of that in a blog, which I think is ridiculous. Or they accuse him of misogyny since women die gruesomely on his show. Plenty of men die equal, if not more gruesome deaths but if he kills any women he's supposedly a misogynist. Personally, I like equal opportunity homicidal demons. Hey, Issac's wife survived. Sent some demons back to hell before she left, too. Of course there was the poor black lady who had all her teeth fall out because the witches' coven put a hex bag on her. Plenty of people of all gender and color dying gruesome deaths and suffering on my show.

So does diversity count if the black actors keep dying gruesomely entertaining deaths?

So, based on your post, it just 'worked out' that the black characters all died gruesome deaths? (i.e. 'Whops! We killed all the black characters. Moving on...')

Looking at your smilies, I guess you're getting a little kick out of it....

Incidentally this thread reminds me of something I heard from Neil Gaiman... he said the main reason why he won't let Hollywood make movies of American Gods or Anansi Boys, is that Hollywood studios told him they wanted to make the black lead white because they were convinced black people won't go see sci-fi/fantasy.

Yet all this time, Will Smith is one of Hollywood's biggest stars and people will flock to see a movie he's in just based on him being in it.

Many of those movies have been Science Fiction. Denzel did Sci-Fi too in Deja Vu.

As for Legate Broca, I might be the only one here who A) knew who he was when I saw the guest star credit and B) thought he did a good job.

I understand Will Smith was considered for the role of Superman, but he felt that some whites would go crazy over a black man taking a role that white actors portrayed previously. (I guess he didn't want to do 'Wild Wild West' again, although, the problem with that film wasn't his color, it was the script.)

Kind of a double-standard since 'Dragonball' (and we Asians talk about it ) changed the ethnicity of the character...as well as 'Starship Troopers' which changed the Filipino lead to a white lead.

Anywho, I do know an acquaintance who wants to get his foot in the biz(director, actor, producer) and who would like to portray Superman...and he happens to be a black guy. (Interestingly, he said he would like to act opposite an Asian actress portraying Lois Lane).

 

[3D Master]

I just finished watching the finale of Atlantis and decided to go out to the website, as I was feeling a bit saddened by the news...and then it hit me.

All of the regular Earth-born characters on both SG-1 and Atlantis are Caucasian. And all the People of Color on the show, Ronin, Teyla, Teal'C, are off- worlders. The one regular character of color on the first season of Atlantis, Lt. Ford, was not on very long.

Then I remembered how, on Enterprise, Shran referred to Humans as "Pink Skins," though most humans are brown-skinned, even in the 21st Century!

Actually, most humans are yellow-skinned. The population of China and India alone are a third of the world's population.

Then I noticed that BSG has NO black regular characters, unless you count Dualla, who is hardly ever on screen.

I am reminded of the story told by Nichelle Nichols, about how she was so frustrated with her character that she was going to quit after the first season until she was admonished to remain by none other than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; he felt that her being on television would present a positive image of black people for the whole world to see.

Call me a Commie or whatever you like, but isn't variety a good thing? Whatever happened to Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations? Doesn't saying you "don't see color" just mean that you can't see anything but white? What's wrong with intentionally casting a strong, African American male in a position of leadership, or a beautiful Afro-French femme fatale (France has the largest population of Blacks in Europe, by the way, which is why I used this example)?

So, what you're saying is, you don't mind blacks, as long as they've been trained to be white in culture. Leave the ACTUAL Africans at home?

Why not take it a step further by casting a young, urban male, for example, to appeal to young black males and females? Isn't this a potential growth market? And don't give me that "a white person can't write authentically for a black character" crap. That's like saying a man can't write for a woman.

??? So what you're saying is, the only blacks allowed is a gangsta style "urban" black guy, because a successful black guy is not allowed, and most blacks aren't successful anyway, so they can identify better and thus sell more products to them?

How many Alfre Woodards, Will Smiths, and Denzil Washingtons (all Oscar- nominated actors who got their starts on television) are out there, waiting for their chance to shine? Or maybe the folks who make these shows are just too insecure to cast more people of color for fear that they might be diminished in the comparison. Maybe it's all just back-lash (or should I say Black-lash) for the successful blacks who went on to greater heights.

I'm sensing a black-lash racism alright, but isn't from show-runners.

Kind of a double-standard since 'Dragonball' (and we Asians talk about it ) changed the ethnicity of the character...

??? Huh?

How so. I'm pretty sure Son Goku looks damn caucasian in the manga and anime. White/pink skin, large eyes. The guy's also an alien from space, born with a tail; in fact, the character he's based upon is literallly a monkey - so how does that equal Asian? The guy who played Son Goku was chosen to resemble the drawn character, and he indeed looks quite a bit like Son Goku.

In fact, the only character in Dragon Ball that looks somewhat Asian is Vegeta; he's got slanted eyes, because he's evil. His skin, however, is clearly white.

It's the schizophrenic part of Japanese culture. Slanted, thin eyes, even more so than with us, are heavily considered trademarks of evil people. And wide open eyes the true hallmarks of a good person. Result being, not a single manga and anime character EVER looks genuinely Asian, ALL of them look caucasian. The only ones who might look somewhat Asian, are ALL evil.

Fact is; Chi-Chi is Asian and that's pretty impressive and something you should consider yourself lucky for. If they had casted someone who looked like the drawn character she wouldn't be Asian either.

And it's compounded when a show is supposed to be global in its storytelling, like Heroes or Lost, or set in the future, like Star Trek or Babylon 5. A particuarly egregious example was Firefly -- set in a future that's supposedly dominated by a mix of Western and Chinese culture, but almost totally devoid of Asian faces. And Trek's not much better; it's supposedly a unified Earth of the future, which one would expect to be about half-Asian, but the majority of the characters are of European ancestry and fully 60% of the character names are of British or Irish derivation.

Well, to be fair to Trek; the Eugenics warlords ruled over Asia, and Colonel Green the Ethnic cleanser of the Third (nuclear) World War seems to be tied in with this, as the Eugenics wars were considered the Third World War. As thus, it seems, that in Star Trek's future, Asians, and especially Asian Asians, were all but wiped out, large swaths of Asia reduced to nuclear wastelands.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, there's the weird anime thing with whether or not characters are white or Japanese/Asian.

That said, I'll say that anime makes an interesting case study for this "question" simply because the norms are all switched. On a show like Aria, which is essentially set in a future version of Venice, there's Japanese normativity taking place in a "Western" space. So characters kneel and bow all the time, among other things.

I guess the "problem" will really be solved when other cultures begin producing science fiction that will be seen around the world and even if these cultures have been influenced by the American media, they'll inevitably inject their own cultural biases into the mix.
Imagine a Firefly made in China? The whole concept of the Sino-American fused culture would be treated differently. You probably wouldn't have a Christian priest character and most likely, the cast would be all Chinese. Instead of speaking English with broken incomprehensible Mandarin, it'd be the other way around.
It's still probably years away - mostly because it feels like Science Fiction is linked to economic development (mostly because it's expensive to produce) but it's almost inevitable. I mean, there's a market with more than a billion people that remains untapped and all it will take is the Chinese George Lucas or Joss Whedon or whomever to come along and start a new "form" of SF.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

There've been quite a few people of color in guest starring/semi regular roles on my favorite genre show, Supernatural who were nice actors. Vancouver isn't teeming with people of color so I tend to give its PTB credit.

It's not impossible to lure actors from the LA talent pool to Vancouver - there are plenty of examples - so that's really not an excuse. I'd imagine they need to pay them a bit more, but the reason they're in Vancouver in the first place is to save money, so they can't use money as an excuse.

There are plenty of nonwhite actors I'd like to see in important roles. How about Christopher Judge doing something more interesting than the Noble Savage archetype? How about Harry Lennix (the only worthwhile part of soon-to-be-canned Dollhouse) getting a lead role? How about Heroes kills off Ando, since he's nothing but second-banana comic relief, and letting James Kyson Lee try something a bit more interesting?

The problem is that there are so few interesting sci fi TV shows on the horizon, and too many good actors who I'd like to see cast in something.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

It's not impossible to lure actors from the LA talent pool to Vancouver - there are plenty of examples - so that's really not an excuse. I'd imagine they need to pay them a bit more, but the reason they're in Vancouver in the first place is to save money, so they can't use money as an excuse.

Well, they can, because usually the reason they need to save money is because they have a small budget... Why waste money bringing in an ethnic actor from LA, when you can get a decent enough actor out of the local talent pool, at a low price?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

It's not impossible to lure actors from the LA talent pool to Vancouver - there are plenty of examples - so that's really not an excuse. I'd imagine they need to pay them a bit more, but the reason they're in Vancouver in the first place is to save money, so they can't use money as an excuse.

Well, they can, because usually the reason they need to save money is because they have a small budget... Why waste money bringing in an ethnic actor from LA, when you can get a decent enough actor out of the local talent pool, at a low price?

Because the glare of the whiteness will blind the audience. The premise of this thread is that there is some value to diversity in casting, and that it might actually be worth paying a bit more for?

I've watched enough Stargate to see the effects of cheapo casting for either regular or guest actors - there are a lot of "actors" in Vancouver who better not try their luck in LA, because they'd be laughed out of auditions.

But it all depends on the show's philosophy. There are some shows, like Stargate, quality of acting (or anything else) takes a back seat to budgetary concerns. But Caprica made the effort to lure several outstanding actors to Vancouver, probably because the BSG audience notices stuff like people being able to act their way out of a paper bag. If that cost them more money, and I'd imagine it did, then it was money well spent.

I did notice that SG:U hired mainly non-Canadians for the major roles, except for the two young female roles, probably because they figure they need no actual talent to pass muster as long as their costumes are skimpy enough. Call it the Teyla Effect.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

It's not impossible to lure actors from the LA talent pool to Vancouver - there are plenty of examples - so that's really not an excuse. I'd imagine they need to pay them a bit more, but the reason they're in Vancouver in the first place is to save money, so they can't use money as an excuse.

Well, they can, because usually the reason they need to save money is because they have a small budget... Why waste money bringing in an ethnic actor from LA, when you can get a decent enough actor out of the local talent pool, at a low price?

Because the glare of the whiteness will blind the audience. The premise of this thread is that there is some value to diversity in casting, and that it might actually be worth paying a bit more for?

I've watched enough Stargate to see the effects of cheapo casting for either regular or guest actors - there are a lot of "actors" in Vancouver who better not try their luck in LA, because they'd be laughed out of auditions.

But it all depends on the show's philosophy. There are some shows, like Stargate, quality of acting (or anything else) takes a back seat to budgetary concerns. But Caprica made the effort to lure several outstanding actors to Vancouver, probably because the BSG audience notices stuff like people being able to act their way out of a paper bag.

I did notice that SG:U hired mainly non-Canadians for the major roles, except for the two young female roles, probably because they figure they need no actual talent to pass muster as long as their costumes are skimpy enough. Call it the Teyla Effect.

But budgetary concerns can't be over looked in a lot of cases. What do you sacrifice from the budget in order to get that black guy from LA, as opposed to this cheap dayplayer fron Vancouver?

I'm not saying you're wrong about quality, or lack of diversity. But it's disingenuous to say budget concerns take a back seat of budget isn't an excuse, when in most cases you're talking about cheap arse shows which are already luck to look as good as they do without adding extra budgetary concerns in there.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

So, based on your post, it just 'worked out' that the black characters all died gruesome deaths? (i.e. 'Whops! We killed all the black characters. Moving on...')

Looking at your smilies, I guess you're getting a little kick out of it....

That's it. I get off on black people dying. You got me figured out. I'm a Grand Wizard in hiding. Yeah, it did pretty much work out that the black characters (and no, not all of them) died. Circumstances dictated it. If Sterling Brown didn't already have series work, he'd have lived but they couldn't keep him so they killed off the character to create story. They also wanted to keep Charles Malik Whitfield, but he had a film role so they also killed him off in a blast by Lilith to create story since he wasn't available and they thought a death would serve the story better. When are we going to start thinking past race? That the characters happened to be cast with black actors was completely incidental. That so many were cast with black actors shows that the casting department of SPN is, in fact,color blind.

And yes, I laughed when they died. I also laughed when the white guy tripped over the beer bottle and landed throat first on a skewering fork drying tines up next to his sink because of the cursed rabbit's foot he stole; it tickled me pink when the white guy got tricked by the changeling and landed chest first on the moving chain saw in his garage, and I really got off on it when Dean pushed the white vampire's head under the moving chainsaw and sawed it right off. I guess I hate white guys, too. That's the point of SPN. Everybody dies, and isn't it great that Eric Kripke invites people of all genders and races to the party?

 

[Neopeius]

Well, there's the weird anime thing with whether or not characters are white or Japanese/Asian.

The harder the SF, the more clear it is.

To wit, UC Gundam has characters from Puerto Rico, Japan, Argentina, England and France (and space).

The American in Macross is pretty hard to miss, and his fiancee is likely African-American. Captain Grobal is Russian. Min Mei is Yokohama-Chinese.

From their names, I'd have to guess Misa and Hikaru are Japanese.

Of course, in far future anime like Toward the Terra, ethnicity becomes meaningless and you just have a hodgepodge of skin tones and hair colors.

 

[StarTrek1701]

If minorities want to be on sci-fi shows forcefully, then they should make their own.

 

[Praetorian]

How so. I'm pretty sure Son Goku looks damn caucasian in the manga and anime. White/pink skin, large eyes. The guy's also an alien from space, born with a tail; in fact, the character he's based upon is literallly a monkey - so how does that equal Asian? The guy who played Son Goku was chosen to resemble the drawn character, and he indeed looks quite a bit like Son Goku.

In fact, the only character in Dragon Ball that looks somewhat Asian is Vegeta; he's got slanted eyes, because he's evil. His skin, however, is clearly white.

It's the schizophrenic part of Japanese culture. Slanted, thin eyes, even more so than with us, are heavily considered trademarks of evil people. And wide open eyes the true hallmarks of a good person. Result being, not a single manga and anime character EVER looks genuinely Asian, ALL of them look caucasian. The only ones who might look somewhat Asian, are ALL evil.

Hum...no.

Son Goku is not based on a simple monkey...but on a Chinese monkey from a Chinese Legend.
Fair skin? So what? Plenty of Asians have fair skin specially Japanese. Many are fairer than some Europeans even.
Wide eyes? A trait that most Japanese cartoons have because they originally got their style for old Western Cartoons like Disney movies and Betty Boop.
It also allows them to express emotion easier.
Never mind his name..which is the Japanese version of a Chinese name.
He only became an alien many years after the manga started too..

If you can't see he's supposed to be Asian then I don't know...
In fact most of the characters in Dragonball are Asians, either because they look like it (in the limited way that anime characters tend to "look Asian) or because of their name!
The exceptions are people like Bulma and her parents..and Trunks, or Lunch for those who remember her. Or some of the coleagues of Son Gohan...

Also it's not true that there aren't any "Asian looking" (Asian looking being quite subgective specially in cartoons) characters in Manga/Anime, I've seen some where the characters look quite Asian and they're not evil or anything. It just depends on the style of the animator.
If he chooses a more realistic approach as opposed to a more cartoonish one then the Asian characters will "look more Asian".

 

[3D Master]

How so. I'm pretty sure Son Goku looks damn caucasian in the manga and anime. White/pink skin, large eyes. The guy's also an alien from space, born with a tail; in fact, the character he's based upon is literallly a monkey - so how does that equal Asian? The guy who played Son Goku was chosen to resemble the drawn character, and he indeed looks quite a bit like Son Goku.

In fact, the only character in Dragon Ball that looks somewhat Asian is Vegeta; he's got slanted eyes, because he's evil. His skin, however, is clearly white.

It's the schizophrenic part of Japanese culture. Slanted, thin eyes, even more so than with us, are heavily considered trademarks of evil people. And wide open eyes the true hallmarks of a good person. Result being, not a single manga and anime character EVER looks genuinely Asian, ALL of them look caucasian. The only ones who might look somewhat Asian, are ALL evil.

Hum...no.

Son Goku is not based on a simple monkey...but on a Chinese monkey from a Chinese Legend.

Yes, the Monkey King, from the legend Journey to the West. And I've actually READ the FULL 100 chapter narrative, four books each containing 25 chapters. And trust me, Sun Wu-k'ung is a MONKEY. Not a human-looking monkey, but an actual monkey. You're only used to him looking human, because he's been played by humans in plays and live-action shows, and many animated efforts are based upon those depictions (not to mention there's that we like to make him look more like us in our vanity), but really - he's a monkey. Three-quarters up to your middle, fur, brow ridges, a tail as long as body is tall - a MONKEY. The only thing different about him, is that he wears clothes, uses weapons, can talk, and that he has red diamond-hard eyes that he gained after heaven trying disintegrate him but it only made him stronger.

Fair skin? So what? Plenty of Asians have fair skin specially Japanese. Many are fairer than some Europeans even.

Not fair, WHITE. You can put any Asian and Japanese guy next to any caucasian person, and even a tanned caucasian has instantly visually different skin tone and colar than an Asian. And what's animated is the caucasian skin.

Wide eyes? A trait that most Japanese cartoons have because they originally got their style for old Western Cartoons like Disney movies and Betty Boop.
It also allows them to express emotion easier.

THAT, and for the reason that I gave you above, but it means that what's drawn, is not an Asian person at all. Strictily speaking the eyes are odd enough to not be caucasian either, but it comes a lot closer to a caucasian than an Asian person.

Never mind his name..which is the Japanese version of a Chinese name.

Actually, it is not much of a name.

(Hu-)Sun Wu-k'ung means Monkey Awake to Vacuity.

Son in Japanese means nothing, and Goku closest thing comes to sky - as in awakening, rising to the vaccuous sky. However, if you ask a Japanese person what "Son Goku" means, they'll answer you, "We don't know, ask the Chinese, they're the ones who named him."

"Son Goku" therefor is less of a name, and more a legendary iconograph.

Even the Chinese name is less of a name than a badge of honor. Sun Wu-k'ung is his Buddhist name; which people get a description of who they are in important Buddhist iconagraphy when they achieved something in a Buddhist order - it was given to him by his trainer. Monkey thus, doesn't actually have a real given name.

He only became an alien many years after the manga started too..

But had a tail from the very first moment we saw him. Thus whether he was only later explicitly named an alien matters not, he's really an alien from the get-go.

If you can't see he's supposed to be Asian then I don't know...
In fact most of the characters in Dragonball are Asians, either because they look like it (in the limited way that anime characters tend to "look Asian) or because of their name!
The exceptions are people like Bulma and her parents..and Trunks, or Lunch for those who remember her. Or some of the coleagues of Son Gohan...

Their name!? Their names are ALL puns.

Gohan means "rice" and is not a name at all.

Chi-chi means "breasts" and is not a name at all.

Goten means very closely to his his father "heaven/sky".

The Saiya-jins ("vegetable people") are all vegetables or sound like vegetables.

The Briefs aka the underwear family you already mentioned.

Mr. Satan and Videl (anagram of Devil) are devilishly inspired.

Etc. etc. etc.

Also it's not true that there aren't any "Asian looking" (Asian looking being quite subgective specially in cartoons) characters in Manga/Anime, I've seen some where the characters look quite Asian and they're not evil or anything. It just depends on the style of the animator.
If he chooses a more realistic approach as opposed to a more cartoonish one then the Asian characters will "look more Asian".

It IS true. I've seen lots and lots of anime, and read lots and lots of manga, and I've never seen any character that even remotely looks Asian. Well, maybe Tetsuo from Akira, but it's a major motion picture and very serious; and even then I have to stretch my imagination - he's more ethnically neutral than any real ethnic traits.

I suppose next you'll be telling me that Mr Blond Blue-eyes Naruto is also supposed to look Asian. And Ms. Blond Blue-eyes Tsukino Usagi and the main character of the fore-runner show equally blond with blue eyes Sailor V(enus) Aino Minako is also really supposed to look Asian, because they both live in Tokyo?

 

[Maurice]

If minorities want to be on sci-fi shows forcefully, then they should make their own.

Forcefully?

Let's not go back to the era of a separate cinema, please.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

I've been thinking and the OP has at least a point when it comes to "minority" lead characters.

Genre shows where the lead character is portrayed by an actor who's from an ethnic minority:

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Black
Re-imagined Battlestar Galactica - Hispanic
Dark Angel - (half-)Hispanic
M.A.N.T.I.S. - Black

That's it. At least as far as I could tell.

Considering the total number of genre shows produced, minority lead actors are certainly disproportionally underrepresentated. Black lead characters on sci-fi shows are nearly as (un)common as Black U.S. presidents. This still makes DS9 a really groundbreaking show, I guess.

But what's the cause? Are television producers assuming that the members of a majority white viewership will only identify themselves with a white hero? Well, I certainly could identify with Captain Sisko, but one should never underestimate the stupidity of TV execs.

Maybe the comparison with the U.S. presidency isn't that far-fetched. One argument against nominating black presidential candidates (and also against nominating Obama) was the concern that not all voters would accept or vote for a black candidate. So better be on the safe side and go for a white guy (or Hillary ). This concern was unfounded in the 2008 election and it was also unfounded when casting the lead role for DS9. But then again: Never underestimate the stupidity of TV execs (or representatives of political parties).

It's also noteworthy that female lead characters aren't that uncommon anymore: Star Trek: Voyager, the afore-mentioned Dark Angel, Alias, Earth 2, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Threshold, Fringe etc. You could perhaps make an argument that most female lead characters also happen to be very attractive. But I'd say that this aspect also plays a role in casting male roles nowadays.