I just scanned the most recent issue of “14 y medio”, a banned / clandestine news digest from Cuba.
You won’t be surprised that the stories are about struggle.
It reminded me of feedback I got recently about a TV pilot I’m writing, set in a Cuban island, with a Cuban protagonist.
The advice came from a good friend, with experience: “There’s so much struggle. You have to give the protagonist some success earlier on.”
I did. But it’s worth noting that middle-class Americans (the idealized audience for TV entertainment) simply don’t understand what life is like for most everyone else.
Moreover, struggle is not depressing, per se. Struggle is not a defeat. Struggle is the baseline – the foundation for comedy, desire, nostalgia, hope, frustration, etc
The extent to which TV is cast from the perspective of people who expect the glass to be full is remarkable. Even when the show depicts suffering, this bias colors the tone: the pain is tragic, all-consuming, debilitating.
In reality, the pain is constant but so is the perseverance. And ingenuity. And passion.