An article about Heroes
Channel Changer: Heroes' Asian flavour a bold, welcome step Blaine Kyllo for mytelus.com The first thing that struck me about Heroes, the new genre-ish drama that airs on Monday nights, is how colourful it is. I'm not talking about the photography, because the show is actually shot in muted tones, perhaps to counteract the obvious comparison to comic books. I'm referring to the fact that, in the premiere episode, four of the main characters are people of colour. More than half of the characters introduced in the pilot have a skin tone that is something other than white. Heroes, more than any other show coming from the U.S., is multicultural. In fact, the nexus of the show's ensemble cast is Sendhil Ramamurthy (who is from Chicago, although his family hails from South India), who plays Indian scientist Mohinder Suresh. At the beginning of Heroes, Suresh is accused of following in his father's footsteps, only to learn that his father has been killed. Suresh decides to literally trace those footsteps, to complete the work his father had started. Suresh's father, also a scientist, had left India after being fired from his position at a university for his research into genetic mutations. He become a cab driver in New York, which afforded him the opportunity to start searching for the humans he suspected already existed: genetic mutations that gave people what could only be called super powers. So Heroes opens in India by introducing a South Asian man as our main character. This is a significant step for American television, where Caucasians have dominated credit rolls since the invention of the medium. Black and Hispanic actors have recently been getting many more opportunities to play lead roles in the U.S. industry, but until the success of programs such as Lost and Grey's Anatomy, the same could not be said of South and East Asian talent. In addition to the character of Mohinder Suresh is Japanese salaryman Hiro Nakamura. Played by Masi Oka, Nakamura lives in Tokyo and speaks Japanese almost exclusively in the first episode, which means subtitles, and lots of them, another oddity for prime time American television. Thus far, Nakamura is my favourite character. Oka plays him as a classic otaku, brimming with an infectious excitement about the possibility he might have a unique ability. Nakamura - Hiro - yearns to be a superhero and believes he has the power to affect the space-time continuum. He's not content with being just like everyone else. He's decided to be special. Hiro will be the character that genre fans - those of us who know that the central idea of Heroes, that of superheroes without capes, is not new - identify with. He's a nerd, a geek, he's someone that shares the same interests and weird ideas as us. Because of this, he's the one who articulates the central concept behind Heroes: "Every hero must learn his purpose. Then he'll be -*test*-('")ed and called to greatness." Unlike shows such as Battlestar Galactica (for which, it should be noted, the concept of a multicultural cast is not as groundbreaking), Heroes wasn't created for fans of science fiction and fantasy. Genre shows appeal to a small, specific and loyal audience, but Heroes, as a product of one of the big three U.S. networks, is reaching a much broader If there's anything about Heroes that feels a bit off, it's that the producers, in an attempt to a ppeal to the masses, have tried to get all the boxes on their quota sheet checked off. Single mother? Tick. All-American cheerleader? Tick. Well-meaning but under-achieving cop? Tick. Type-A politician who learns that there is more to life? Tick. But how many television shows would have an influential and central character be a heroin addict? Heroes does, in the form of the artist Isaac Mendez, played manically by Santiago Cabrera. Mendez is the stereotypical tortured artist, but the twist here is that when he shoots up he creates dramatic artwork that is prescient. He foretells the coming of the heroes - and the big bad they must ultimately face - in his art. Heroes is a brave step for an American broadcaster. I'll be watching to see how else the show is able to break new ground for television viewers. Heroes airs on Monday nights on Global in Canada, and NBC.
Channel Changer: Heroes' Asian flavour a bold, welcome step Blaine Kyllo for mytelus.com The first thing that struck me about Heroes, the new genre-ish drama that airs on Monday nights, is how colourful it is. I'm not talking about the photography, because the show is actually shot in muted tones, perhaps to counteract the obvious comparison to comic books. I'm referring to the fact that, in the premiere episode, four of the main characters are people of colour. More than half of the characters introduced in the pilot have a skin tone that is something other than white. Heroes, more than any other show coming from the U.S., is multicultural. In fact, the nexus of the show's ensemble cast is Sendhil Ramamurthy (who is from Chicago, although his family hails from South India), who plays Indian scientist Mohinder Suresh. At the beginning of Heroes, Suresh is accused of following in his father's footsteps, only to learn that his father has been killed. Suresh decides to literally trace those footsteps, to complete the work his father had started. Suresh's father, also a scientist, had left India after being fired from his position at a university for his research into genetic mutations. He become a cab driver in New York, which afforded him the opportunity to start searching for the humans he suspected already existed: genetic mutations that gave people what could only be called super powers. So Heroes opens in India by introducing a South Asian man as our main character. This is a significant step for American television, where Caucasians have dominated credit rolls since the invention of the medium. Black and Hispanic actors have recently been getting many more opportunities to play lead roles in the U.S. industry, but until the success of programs such as Lost and Grey's Anatomy, the same could not be said of South and East Asian talent. In addition to the character of Mohinder Suresh is Japanese salaryman Hiro Nakamura. Played by Masi Oka, Nakamura lives in Tokyo and speaks Japanese almost exclusively in the first episode, which means subtitles, and lots of them, another oddity for prime time American television. Thus far, Nakamura is my favourite character. Oka plays him as a classic otaku, brimming with an infectious excitement about the possibility he might have a unique ability. Nakamura - Hiro - yearns to be a superhero and believes he has the power to affect the space-time continuum. He's not content with being just like everyone else. He's decided to be special. Hiro will be the character that genre fans - those of us who know that the central idea of Heroes, that of superheroes without capes, is not new - identify with. He's a nerd, a geek, he's someone that shares the same interests and weird ideas as us. Because of this, he's the one who articulates the central concept behind Heroes: "Every hero must learn his purpose. Then he'll be -*test*-('")ed and called to greatness." Unlike shows such as Battlestar Galactica (for which, it should be noted, the concept of a multicultural cast is not as groundbreaking), Heroes wasn't created for fans of science fiction and fantasy. Genre shows appeal to a small, specific and loyal audience, but Heroes, as a product of one of the big three U.S. networks, is reaching a much broader If there's anything about Heroes that feels a bit off, it's that the producers, in an attempt to a ppeal to the masses, have tried to get all the boxes on their quota sheet checked off. Single mother? Tick. All-American cheerleader? Tick. Well-meaning but under-achieving cop? Tick. Type-A politician who learns that there is more to life? Tick. But how many television shows would have an influential and central character be a heroin addict? Heroes does, in the form of the artist Isaac Mendez, played manically by Santiago Cabrera. Mendez is the stereotypical tortured artist, but the twist here is that when he shoots up he creates dramatic artwork that is prescient. He foretells the coming of the heroes - and the big bad they must ultimately face - in his art. Heroes is a brave step for an American broadcaster. I'll be watching to see how else the show is able to break new ground for television viewers. Heroes airs on Monday nights on Global in Canada, and NBC.