Lack of racial diversity prevalent in entertainment
In television, movies and books, it is obvious there is a lack of representation for people of color.
This is something not everyone is willing to discuss, because then they might feel attacked and try to point out what movies, books or television shows do indeed have a strong diversity, which in reality is little to none.
Within my short stories I write, I find it imperative to be inclusive of all races, all sexualities, all religions – anything. I wish I didn’t have to make it a point to write about characters that are of a race other than white, simply because if I didn’t, hardly anyone else would.
This is a problem, because it is unrealistic.
According to npr.org, by the year 2020 the American minority population will exceed the white population. Since this is the case, all sources of entertainment should be more inclusive, because the reality is America is no longer going to be predominantly white in the next few years.
Society prevents people from seeing the true beauty in diversity. There are countless new movies with no people of color; books that describe the wonderful, white teenage couple with no issues and the comical television show with the happy, white American family.
I rarely watch television, but when I do, I can see it is blatantly obvious that when there is a popular show, most of the characters are white. Sometimes there may be people of color in these shows, but rarely are they ever the protagonist.
If there was equal representation, think about the view count that would go up, because other races would feel like they are finally getting representation. Entertainment is not solely based on the happy, white, American life.
Being biracial, I would absolutely love to see more interracial families, couples, friends – anything within these mediums that would allow me and other biracial or multiracial people to feel included. This is also a growing population, and I feel it is just as underrepresented.
Besides seeing these typical shows with the repeated plot line and being fed up with the similar circumstances they all include, it seems more like a punch in the throat seeing that, again, a growing population is not being represented in this country that is supposedly a “melting pot.” And their issues that can be exemplified even better in the media are being overshadowed.
Inclusiveness is something people should always talk about, because, frankly, it often gets disregarded.
People like entertainment and people like to relate to others in their favorite shows, books, movies – anything. Since the entire minority population will soon be the majority, they need to be brought out of the shadows and into the spotlight in entertainment.
