Gone are the days of glamorous Hollywood starlets and their suave leading men. Modern film and television shy away from tired, old clichés and archetypal characters. As society becomes more aware—more conscious—we see these attitudes reflected in our media. Today’s narratives have evolved to be increasingly down-to-earth, depicting raw struggles and inciting thoughtful reflection. Even our fantasy and superhero movies now adopt a more genuine style, with relatable heroes, witty conversational banter, and hyper-realistic special effects filling in gaps in legitimacy. We praise authenticity. We crave real stories.
Yet in some areas, we lag behind. Despite continuing on a trend towards equality, our popular media has not fully caught up.
This is not to say we haven’t made any progress at all. We’ve come a long way. For example, when I was growing up, the only Indian women I ever saw on screen were Bollywood actresses, who nonsensically broke out into dance routines, spoke a language I didn’t understand, and were too far away to have any relevance in my world. Now, there certainly are more famous brown faces than before—Kal Penn, Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, among others. Film and television overall have become more diverse. Female representation ranges from powerful professionals to hopeless romantics, with women in main character roles showing complex character development. Gay and lesbian representation is better today than ever before, with prominent performers like Neil Patrick Harris and Ellen Degeneres achieving household name status, with the viral popularity of public support campaigns like “It Gets Better, ” and with celebrity support for marriage equality. Gay media representation now includes honest storylines and fully fleshed out characters. Although the gay rights movement still has many hurdles to cross, media has helped “normalize” homosexuality to an extent that it hasn’t done for most other queer groups.
Representation in media is important because it gives children role models they can relate to. We want young girls to emulate smart and capable women, kids of color to strive for success, and queer youth to see happy and confident queer adults. Children should feel that they can belong anywhere, and seeing others like themselves in those positions validates their dreams.
But media has a much larger societal impact than simply providing celebrity role models. Media shapes our thoughts.
As technology allows media to be more deeply incorporated into our lives than ever before, this generation, and the generations to come, will be raised on TV shows, movies, and the Internet. The virtual world is a huge part of our reality. This is why it is so important to have characters of all ethnicities, sexualities, body types, and backgrounds represented. Not to give kids role models or to help strengthen their identities (although those are good too), but more importantly, to foster a positive attitude towards diversity. Kids will see situations and environments play out on a screen before they encounter them in real life. And when they do meet their first wheelchair-bound, transgender, or even overweight peer, they shouldn’t be painfully aware of their differences.
Media has the power to humanize people of all sizes, sexualities, and ethnicities by giving them real storylines. We need more unique characters. Especially the ones we may not run into on a daily basis. Tiny minority populations like the transgender community, the handicapped, and asexuals are the ones that would benefit most from representation. These are the people we are least familiar with, which makes it even more important that we hear their stories.
So how do we do this?
Quality, not quantity. It is not enough to have a diverse cast of flat, background characters. Shows like “Orange is the New Black” and “My Mad Fat Diary” are so engaging because they present detailed perspectives we don’t usually see. They offer viewers the chance to truly relate to someone different by depicting their emotions, struggles, and humor.
Positive media representation creates a two-way street for equality. By seeing their stories told publicly, minority groups feel more secure and accepted within society. By gaining more exposure to these groups, society becomes more familiar with them and accordingly creates a more accepting environment.
Media thus has the power to change how we define the “default” person. And the media default doesn’t necessarily reflect the reality—the population really isn’t as thin or beautiful as one might extrapolate from Hollywood. But when actresses like Gabourey Sidibe and Laverne Cox are praised for challenging the status quo, there is hope that maybe we can reach a point where that “default” becomes more encompassing. There is hope that we can better embrace diversity.
There is hope that, one day, being different won’t be such a big deal.
Pallavi Shankar is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Friday.
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