representation: how to do it right
Diversity makes stories better, plain and simple. Whether this is in the books we read, the movies or shows we watch or in the advertisements we see - the more they resemble the real world we live in every day, the more they resonate. Growing up my favourite shows (and still some of the most popular) never casted people in lead roles that looked like me: Friends, Full House, Sex and the City to name a few. And although I could laugh at the humour, I couldn’t fully relate. People often point out Raj from Big Bang Theory or Fez from That 70’s Show and even Kelly from The Office - wonderful supporting characters in a broader Caucasian storyline. Whenever I say I want another brown princess, people bring up Jasmine as if that is supposed to squash my argument. I love Jasmine. I adore her. She makes me so happy but that doesn’t mean we can’t have another Brown princess. I want another Black princess and Indigenous princess too. Representation matters and more importantly how these characters are represented. Apu from The Simpsons (accent voiced by a white male actor) is one prime example of how representation can perpetuate racist, single story stereotypes when you don’t have the people being represented co-creating their stories (on a side note, I’m glad to see that Lily Singh recently had the opportunity to voiceover a Simpsons character).
White men writing brown girls:
“She was breathtakingly beautiful. Like an exotic bird who was trapped in the cage of her oppressive culture. I could see the way her exotic brown-gold-blue-green-auburn eyes were calling me, asking me to free her, take her away from her oppressive world to my world, the land of freedom. I asked her "Have you read poems by Bukowski?" in English. She blinked her eyes exotically at me. Probably because she didn’t knew what poems or reading was since I read that her culture didn’t want any woman to read. I wished I could help her and show that such an exotic body did not deserve to be hidden behind such loose and drab clothes. But I returned home with a heavy heart and picked up my Bukowski book to read it again.”
starting pointers on how to write stories populated with people of all demographics
Research to avoid stereotypes and learn about culture for accurate representation. The thing about representation is that it isn’t as simple as putting a brown or black character in the story and having them react in a similar fashion as your white characters. People of colour go through different experiences that shape the way we go about looking at life and a lot of it comes from experiences such as racism and racial profiling that white people will likely never experience. In addition to all that, there’s still a lot of internalized emotions that we have to face, especially if you’re first or second generation. Things like mental health, conformity, homophobia, sexism, religion, etc. all come into play in a different way with communities of colour. That’s why when you write about characters of colour, it should be less about, “what can I do to make my story seem more diverse?” and more about “am I accurately representing the communities my characters are from?”
Read stories and engage with people of this community to learn how they represent themselves. Pick up books written by an authors from that community or watch movies directed by people from that community. This will give you insight on how these people tell their tales and express their culture. For example, if I wanted to learn more about Indigenous people I could watch/read Indian Horse as a starting point. And I wouldn’t stop there but continue to hear more voices of their people via blogs, non-fiction, fiction, social media, podcasts etc. Better yet as you engage with their work, find ways to support the artists and authors from those communities by leaving reviews, buying copies of their books and recommending to your public library that they carry it. Engaging directly with people is truly one of the best ways because then you are not getting your information just from pop culture.
Do not describe people of colour’s skin tone by comparing it to food. For example, comparing dark/brown skin tone to chocolate, coffee or brown sugar. It is fetishizing, dehumanizing and cliche. It can also have the unintended impact of implying oppression; one of the greatest ways to show dominance in the animal kingdom is by eating the other which is what can be interpreted when you compare one to food. Especially when only dark skin complexions are the ones being related to food-items. It’s also plain creepy.
Avoid ‘the super-crip’ narrative. This is the concept of where disabled characters are represented as possessing 'extraordinary' abilities to 'compensate' for their difference. An example of this is Bran from Game of Thrones, he gains special abilities to compensate for his disability, and as a result of his superhuman abilities he is no longer really a person. This seems to imply that people with disabilities must have amazing abilities to “make up” for their disability which is ableist and not the norm.
Avoid tokenism. Include several minority characters; if you have a full cast of non-minority characters and just one or two minorities, you might have some tokenism going on (i.e. all white characters and one black character). Make sure your minority characters have important roles that contribute to the overall story and that their interests do not revolve solely on their identity.
Write, gather feedback and write again.
some wonderful people that are paving the way
In grade 6, we had to dress like a celebrity. I wore a Beckham jersey as the actress from Bend it like Beckham because that was my only representation. Humble the Poet, Jay Shetty and Lily Singh on a late night show - I never expected an episode like this because I hadn’t been exposed to representation like this from my South Asian community on a late night NBC show. Representation matters. I wish I saw more of this growing up.
Lily is the first Indian woman to host a late night talk show. Her first guest was Mindy Kaling another Indian woman who has paved the way for so many. And not only that, but Lily has an equal number of men & women writers. Did you hear that? It was the sound of a glass ceiling shattering!
Lilly Singh breaking barriers and bringing a brand-new perspective to late night.
Whats refreshing about this is that not only is Ellen recognizing colour as opposed to having a colorblind approach, but that although there are WOC in the room, the burden of calling this out isn't solely resting on their shoulders. In Ellen's words "it's our responsibility [as white people] because we created the problem".
Many of you may recognize Ellen as a lead star in the show Grey Anatomy, a show I applaud for having:
-strong female leads
-an interracial woman-loving-woman (WLW) couple
-a detailed coming out story
-two reoccurring trans character storylines
-entire episodes on domestic abuse and police brutality
-a very diverse cast with no token black/POC characters
-women supporting women
-a veteran experiencing PTSD
-a disabled character struggling with adapting to using prosthetics and needing support from others
AND it's one of the most widely appreciated, longest running shows of all time, and a great case for why every show can benefit off embedding diversity.
