Sometimes I think that perhaps Lewis should have put more good Calormenes in his Narnia stories.  This would have helped to keep people from criticizing him for being prejudiced against the Calormenes as a race of people. But of course the people who have criticized him for that have greatly exaggerated his portrayal of them as the villains of the story. I think it probably would have been better to have more people like Emeth, but Lewis apparently thought one good Calormene was enough.

@narnian78 Well, two good Calormenes if you count Aravis!

But as I know I've said before, the Calormenes only appear as antagonists in two out of the seven books — they're actually not the big bad ultimate evil enemy of Narnia that some critics seem to think they are. If Lewis had spent more time on developing the world of Narnia in a broader sense, he might have given us a more nuanced view of the Calormenes and shown more aspects of their lives and culture, including, I hope, some more positive portrayals of individual people among them. But that kind of extensive worldbuilding is not what he ever set out to do with Narnia, so we're left to fill in the many gaps with our own imagination.

@courtenay 

Aravis became better later in The Horse and His Boy, but she had to have Aslan teach her how to treat people properly and not be snobbish. Her arrogance was one of her faults. So she wasn’t completely good throughout the whole story, although she did a turnabout change with Aslan’s help. I still think good Calormenes were in the minority, and Lewis should probably have added some more of them to balance the good portrayal.

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Posted by: @narnian78

Aravis became better later in The Horse and His Boy, but she had to have Aslan teach her how to treat people properly and not be snobbish. So she wasn’t completely good throughout the whole story, although she did a turnabout change with Aslan’s help.

True, but nearly every "ultimately good" character in the Chronicles has flaws (sometimes worse ones than Aravis had) that they can't grow out of or leave behind without Aslan's help! Bit like real life, actually...

@courtenay 

It would be boring to have completely perfect people in a story, and the Calormenes were no exception. But I think there could have been more of the good ones even if they were only partially good.  The Narnians had their flaws too, although they were sometimes portrayed as better than some of the Calormenes.  Tashbaan had some nasty people in the city in The Horse and His Boy.  I would hope most Calormenes were not like them.

@courtenay I think personally there might be four good Calormenes mentioned in the books (Aravis' brother, and Aravis' mom), but, I also love Lasaraleen and I would not list her as a bad Calormen just a little self-centered. But, I think all of that does not really matter I think Lewis made it clear in The Last Battle where he had a new Tashbaan in new Narnia in the end. So, in essence there were several more Calormens not mentioned that made it to Aslan's Country. With this in mind, I think that the best way of portraying the Calormenes in film or tv is to show the poor people struggling to get by and in a good light while the people in charge are evil cruel and mean. Also, besides the royalty in the Archenland family and possibly some of nobles (which have blonde hair), before Ram of course, most people in Archenland are a variety of ethic backgrounds and races considering the marrying of naiads, dryads, nymphs, watergods, etc. You could also add in marrying dwarves since we know this happens in Narnia. After all, the Calormenes were originally outlaws from Archenland. 

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@narnian78 Sometimes I think that perhaps Lewis should have put more good Calormenes in his Narnia stories

When we see crowded streets & markets in Calormen, it can't be assumed they are all made up of either good or bad people. Even in the fantasy world, I think, people are just people, whether they are Calormenes or not. Nobody is perfect. Shasta's POV has been gleaned from an experience of isolation & disconnection, whilst living with Arsheesh. Much of the time he has been kept at home, & though Arsheesh did have his cronies who visited, and sometimes Shasta went with Arsheesh to the local village, I think that he was too much of an object of curiosity, himself, more than even he might have realised, when Arsheesh's cover story for his presence wasn't very convincing, & when Shasta's obviously different appearance made him stick out like a sore toe. 

 What a contrast Calormen is from Charn, in another Narnia chronicle. Yes, Charn had slaves, just like Calormen, but they, like everyone else but Jadis, were doomed to die because of the Deplorable Word, even though they had nothing to do with the feuding Jadis had with her sister. When Shasta contemplates what sort of person might buy him, he thought perhaps his then situation might even improve, until Bree, who remembered the freedom of Southern Narnia, disabuses his day-dreams. 

In a world driven by commerce & progress, ekeing out a living with a hard-fisted fisherman like Arsheesh, was hardly any better than slavery, but at least Arsheesh had saved his life & reared him. He could have just thrown Shasta back into the water, & got on with his own life. But, uneducated and avaricious though he was, he still had a shred of decency.