Kareem Abdul-Jabar knows a thing or two about great writing and great performances, so who better to critique Golden Globe winner / “Girls” creator Lena Dunham? Kareem has measured praise for the HBO comedy (“the contrast of the generation that’s been taught that pretty much anything goes sexually trying to act cool while struggling with their vulnerabilities is generally fresh and original and insightful about this generation”), but takes a dim view of what we’ll call (for argument’s sake, anyway), (Nearly) All-White Brooklyn. From the Huffington Post :
Last season the show was criticized for being too white. Watching a full season could leave a viewer snow blind. This season that white ghetto was breached by a black character who is introduced as some jungle fever lover, with just enough screen time to have sex and mutter a couple of lines about wanting more of a relationship. A black dildo would have sufficed and cost less.
I don’t believe that people of color, sexual preference, or gender need to be shaken indiscriminately into every series like some sort of exotic seasoning. If the story calls for a black character, great. A story about a black neighborhood doesn’t necessarily need white characters just to balance the racial profile. But this really seemed like an effort was made to add some color — and it came across as forced.