11 Great Things You Only Notice Rewatching Deadwood

5. Approach To Race

Garret Dillahunt Deadwood
HBO

In a historical era so well known for its blatant racism and a genre so well known for glossing over it, Deadwood stands out as an exemplar in showing minority characters in a way that's honest about their perceived inferiority in society, and respectful in how they are persevered.

For example, Aunt Lou acts as the happy-go-lucky "Mammy" caricature as would be expected by an employer like Hearst but changes her demeanor and tone whenever Hearst isn't around. Similarly, Wu receives little to no respect from Swearengen at the start of the show and they only speak to one another because it's in both of their interests to do so.

It's rare that a show is so unflinching about their depictions of racism and still manages to present well-rounded characters that are more than mere victims of a racist time.

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Conor Spielberg is a freelance writer who has worked for various publications including CBR, Multiversity Comics, and of course WhatCulture. Armed with nothing more than a laptop and strong opinions about things of little consequence; he has managed to write about comics, film, television, tabletop games, and video games. He has even managed to trick people into paying him to do it.