THE IMPORTANCE OF REPRESENTATION ON-SCREEN

Zoë Anum

No one is born racist, it is taught to people as they grow up and the lack of representation in the media and Hollywood amplifies racist ideologies further. When people cannot find themselves on-screen, it can lead to a lack of confidence and aspirations, a lack of self-esteem, as well as identity issues. People’s association with their race and culture starts when they are young. Everyone wants to feel included and embraced in the world, it is a universal need. Seeing themselves in powerful, leadership roles is critical for their development and should be a priority of the entertainment industry. The lack of representation leads to people trying to alter who they are, to conform to what they are watching and who they see repeatedly being praised. The impact can be subconscious and build over time. The number of characters that people of colour can relate to is unbelievably low, so unbalanced compared to what is available to white people. Shame is an overwhelming emotion for anyone of any age, but children should not feel shame and embarrassment because they do not see anyone who looks like them on-screen. Representation is motivating, exciting, and empowering. Younger generations have to know that they can grow up and become anything they want, even in a society that is built upon white supremacy. But representation on its own isn’t enough, it has to be done well. Making fun of different 26 races and poor portrayals of minorities have been part of the entertainment industry for years. Quality representation is the only way to create a true, positive impact. Everyone subliminally searches for themselves in what they watch, and poor representation is debilitating and hurtful. Colourism and villainization of minorities are also widespread. Only over the past few decades has the bare minimum been met when it comes to representation on television. Change has been slow.

People who regularly see themselves onscreen and as powerful figures may not even realize how detrimental a lack of representation is because it is easy to be blind when an issue does not affect you. Representation and intersectionality of privilege go hand in hand because it is the most marginalized groups who are not represented based on their race, skin tone, hair texture, mental and physical ability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Everyone has an opportunity to see themselves reflected in the media somehow, but the magnitude and quality of that representation are dependent on a number of factors. With any sort of privilege that you have, it is critical to amplify the voices of people who do not have that privilege or ability to use their voice at that moment. Put yourself in their shoes and try to understand the deep-rooted, long-term effects that these

on-screen images and messages, sometimes subliminal, have on a person. When the TV and film industry mainly tells the story of white, straight, able-bodied people, it makes it impossible for minorities to not feel invisible. It tells a one-sided story that is not representative of what the world looks like. Lack of representation means: not having someone to dress up as for Halloween, feeling unwanted because the beauty standard is focused so much on race, feeling disconnected and embarrassed by your own culture, and believing that you cannot reach your goals because no one who looks like you is in those roles. Almost all superhero movies are white, and so are many very popular shows. Some include: Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Gossip Girl, and Gilmore Girls, as well as the majority of movies and shows people grew up watching in the early 2000s. Actors of colour have been overlooked for decades because they do not fit into the white beauty standards that are evident in society. Colourism within the casting process often leads to lighter- skin candidates getting the role. They may also be type-cast as a side character or as blatant comic relief. Their full potential is consistently not conveyed because of their skin color. The lack of recognition for non-white performers is also glaringly evident in award shows. The Oscar nominations in the past decade have been biased, 89% of the nominations in the top categories went to white people, and 71% went to men. In 2015, the movement #OscarsSoWhite was created out of disappointment, frustration, and anger towards the nominations and the Academy who is made up of mostly white men. The pattern is shameful. So many talented people continue to be overlooked only because of their race and sex. While these patterns are disappointing, they are not surprising. White men are constantly overly praised because white supremacy is built for them to succeed more than any other group, and the nominations are just one of the many ways they have advantage over everyone else.

This generation has seen the disparities people are facing and it is taking steps to create a more just and equitable society. This is comforting to see, but there is still a long way to go, and it has to be an everyday effort. Undoing centuries of societal oppression and lack of representation is a heavy task. People who are well represented do not have the burden to search for shows featuring people who look like them. It is the job of the people who do not face oppression to educate themselves, be well informed and aware of their privilege, and take any action they can to create change. From confronting your friends’ and families’ racism to signing petitions and watching projects made by and including people of colour, everyone’s actions matter. When you are facing oppression, you face the burden of not feeling included, feeling ashamed, and navigating stereotypes that makes you afraid to speak out for fear of being labelled the “angry person of colour.”

Nathalie Younglai is a Canadian writer, director, producer, and founder of BIPOC TV & Film. This is an organization that is committed to increasing diversity in the TV and film industry. This includes the representation of Black, Indigenous, and people of colour in front of and behind the camera. They have a website, Instagram, and Twitter account where more information is available. Younglai started this community in 2012 because of the isolation she felt in her industry. She was named one of Toronto’s Trailblazers for 2020 because of her efforts towards equity. The importance of seeing yourself on screen cannot be stressed enough. People of colour need to be able to see people who look like them, portrayed in a strong and empowering light. has an unconscious bias, but that bias grows when people only see one type of person on the big screen. Thinking about the amount of entertainment you watch and what role it has played in your life makes it easier to understand the enormous effect of this industry. Most people have countless favourite movies and shows from their childhood, and relating to those characters can make them feel less alone. Even if five people’s lives are changed by a new show or movie where they now see themselves as a character, it makes a world of difference. Everyone deserves to feel seen and heard.

Equity is the biggest issue at the forefront of representation. It is not just one movie or show; it means so much more and impacts society’s expectations and views on what is attractive, acceptable, and normal in all aspects of life. Marginalized groups have been misrepresented as lazy, dangerous, unnecessarily angry, or unappealing. Any group who has faced centuries of oppression is going to be angry, so much pain and suffering has occurred and continues to occur which takes a mental and physical toll. What is seen as normal and accepted is strongly impacted by what we see on-screen and throughout the media. Younger people usually have a narrower scope of the world, and when what they see on the screen is only white people in positions of power, it leads them to think that this is the only normal. However, it is not an accurate representation of the actual world around them. A person of colour is in the position of not being seen as normal, which can lead to bullying, and covering up their heritage and background because they think there is something wrong with it. Everyone 28

QUOTES FROM MONARCH STUDENTS

"The first time I felt represented on-screen was when I watched a Netflix show last year called Never Have I Ever. It was the first time that I had seen a South Asian female lead. It felt great to finally see some representation instead of misrepresentation for the South Asian community. The show highlighted some great concepts that are common for South Asian teens in their everyday life. I felt like I was finally being seen, as many shows I watched while growing up have always had Caucasian leads. There would rarely ever be a South Asian character, and if there was, they would be a side character and mocked for their culture. The lack of representation on screen has impacted me personally because I’ve never had a ‘role model’. All the shows I watched growing up didn’t have any similarities to my own life. It was already hard being othered by being a Canadian South Asian as I never belonged to either side. The lack of representation has always caused me to feel as though there is an insufficient amount of people or groups of people who understand and can sympathize with my difficulties of being a South Asian teen born in and growing up in a western culture. There’s been various times where I’ve seen misrepresentation for groups that I identify with such as South Asian and Muslim. I’ve often seen shows on Netflix or from other sources where South Asian/Muslims have been degraded, shown negatively, in distress and overall are portrayed as though they are in need of a white saviour. Things like this have been disappointing as many of these shows are in a way defining me, causing others to already have a negative opinion even before getting to know me." -Arzoo, Grade 12 Monarch Student "I went to a mainly white elementary school, so I was really insecure about my skin colour because, even though my skin is pretty fair for my ethnicity, I was darker than a lot of the people I knew. I remember telling my mom about how I felt different than everyone else, and she showed me singer/dancer/actress/model JLo and how she was one of the most beautiful women and it felt so good to see someone who looked like me on-screen." - Monarch Park Student "So, I’ve been watching anime since elementary and I’d say it’s played a pretty important role in my life. It was the best way to help me cope with lots of bad experiences. I would always find it cool when celebrities like Frank Ocean, Keanu Reeves, and Robin Williams, mentioned they watched it. Just recently I was on YouTube and came across this lightweight boxer named Israel Adesanya. He gave himself the nickname ‘the last stylebender’ in reference to the show The Last Airbender. He was the ultimate celebrity weeb from his interviews to his fight style, and I saw him to be a really, really cool guy. I was super hyped to know there was this MMA fighter out there who has this whole persona inspired by anime. That was a time I’ve felt represented in a way on-screen." - Monarch Park Student

TV SHOW RECOMMENDATIONS

• Moonlight • Crazy Rich Asians • Waves • The Farewell • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse • Black Panther • In the Heights releasing in June 2021

• Black-ish on ABC • Never Have I Ever on Netflix • Black Lightning on Netflix • Sex Education on Netflix • Dear White People on Netflix • We Are Who We Are on HBO • Insecure on HBO • Kim's Convinience on Netflix • The Mindy Project no Prime Video • One Day at a Time on Netflix