iZombie (2015) Black & Multicultural zombie debate By: Money Train
A medical student who becomes a zombie joins a Coroner’s Office in order to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat so that she can maintain her humanity. But every brain she eats, she also inherits their memories. Now she uses her abilities to solve their deaths with help from the Medical examiner and a police detective. Written by vhavnal…IMDB.com
“iZombie” is now officially the dumbest CW Network show ever created and aired. I won’t even bother to dignify “iZombie” with an official TV review until I see a Black zombie, a Hispanic zombie and an Asian zombie. And I am not protesting “iZombie” because there are not some token minority actors in the cast. The show’s Chief Medical Examiner is Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti who is played smartly by newcomer Rahul Kohli. And “iZombie’s” lead homicide detective Clive Babineaux is played by Malcom Goodwin. I really have liked Malcolm as an actor since he made a highly impressive TV debut in A&E’s limited series “Breakout Kings” (2011-2012). Shea Daniels was very complex and streetwise character that you probably had not seen a minority ex-felon character as well written or acted since “The Wire” went off the air a few years before “Breakout Kings” began. I wish Clive was bit more edgier and sharper, but this is the CW and he is playing exactly the type of slow witted and laidback police officer or detective that you would see on “The Flash”, “Arrow”, “Supernatural”, etc.,. Clive or Dr. Ravi would not be joining CBS’s “Criminal Minded” or NBC’s “SVU” unless all their law officer characters suddenly died and became zombies.
Liv Moore (Rose McIver) & Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti (Rahul Kohli) & Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin)
Nope my main criticism with “iZombie” is it’s “Abercrombie & Fitch” inspired casting of zombies who are all white already and then when they die and come back to life as pale or ghostly white and their hair magically becomes platinum white. I have seen the first three episodes of “iZombie” and I understand why Liv Moore, who is played with a fun and “tongue and cheek” swagger by Rose McIver, is a healthy looking “white” before a tragic boat party fire/explosion and becomes WWE’s Paige/Sheamus goth-white looking. But then by the second episode we are introduced to another zombie party survivor in Blain DeBeers (David Anders) who also has Casper white skin and hair. I would have let this slide as well, but then Blain decided to infect a rich middle-age white woman after their one night stand. And the next day this normal white woman becomes Casper white and her dirty blond hair now has a big white streak indicating it is going platinum-white as well. The woman also has a craving for human brains and Blain is happy to supply them to her for a hefty fee. Now after I saw this second episode of “iZombie” I had many more questions about this silly show and whether we would ever see Black zombies. I want to know if a dark skin Black actor like Malcolm, becomes a lighter zombie on “iZombie”. Does the Black person go from Sammy Sosa dark to Sammy Sosa bleached white? Or is it like when chocolaty brown Kerry Washington was photo shopped by InStyle to be as light looking as Selma’s Carmen Ejogo? And Black women wearing platinum weaves is nothing new and now quite common. But Brothas having their normally black hair suddenly becoming platinum white would be sort of weird as hell. Skin bleaching is a multi-billion dollar global business built on the myths and lies that having lighter or white skin is more desirable than darker hues.
II know this sounds beyond “cra cra” to fixate on what Black zombies would look like, but I had no choice once “iZombie” established that physical changes that happen when you are infected or get killed by a zombie. White actors can choose to get tans out in the sun or tanning salons. Or they can spray tons of bronzer to quickly simulate having a tan. But what will Hispanic, Indian or Asian actors do to become noticeable zombies on “iZombie” is beyond me. And maybe a few times when I watch “The Walking Dead” I wondered why all the standard Black zombies that attack the main cast looked like skinny crack heads, but I also knew that “The Walking Dead” have a wide variety of Black actors and if any
of them dies they would instantly become a zombie. I also have a twisted fantasy that if Liv eats the brains of a Black zombie that look like the cast of “Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta” can Liv then rap and act “ratched”. So right now I give CW’s “iZombie” $ almost TV review until I see how they portray or if they dare attempt to show Black or multicultural zombies.
David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • [email protected] • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart
