A New Development: Visibility
Think back to your favorite movie. Who was your favorite character in that movie? Got it? Great. Now think back to a movie with a lead character who was black. Now think about one that had a lead character who was an Indian woman, or an Asian woman, what about a transwoman or gay man?
If you could think of movies that fit all of those characteristics then kudos to you. Send me a link when you get the chance.
The point of this “exercise” so to speak is to emphasize a major problem in the media today. That issue being that people of color, POC, and those who are a part of the LGBT* community are not being cast into roles for movies or shows on television. The majority of the time POC and LGBT* members are cast as background characters that stick to the stereotypical roles that you would expect. There is a shocking lack of diversity in both the casts of actors and actresses in modern movies and in the roles they play.
But we’re entering into a new era. We’re finally making some progress. Over the past year, the amount of TV shows and movies with more diverse casts has skyrocketed. With shows like Empire, Being Mary Jane, Blackish and movies like Home and the Annie remake, the diversity onscreen has never been higher. For a while, the melting pot that is America seemed to be more of a bland bowl of soup if the media was any kind of indication of diversity.
With the increased diversity in the media, young black girls, young gay boys, and young Native American children no longer have to feel as ostracized and isolated. They are now a part of the picture. They now have people who they can relate to on television, they have role models who share some of their characteristics. The benefits of advancements like this are simple: children begin to feel a sense of community. They are better able to develop and mature because they can now see people who are just like them do the same.
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