Do we have enough diversity in mainstream media?

The conversation about diversity and representation in Hollywood has become greater in the last couple of years, as people are beginning to realize how certain groups of people are underrepresented in movies and in mainstream media.

Stacy L. Smith, founding director of the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism said in an interview, “there’s actually an inclusion crisis.”

A study titled “Inclusion or Invisibility? Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment” found that just one-third of speaking characters were female (33.5 percent), even though women make up just over half of the population in the United States. Just 28.3 percent of speaking characters were from non-white racial/ethnic groups, even though these groups make up nearly 40 percent of the United States population.  

With the amount of diversity that we have in the United States, it should not be an issue to make diversity more prevalent in mainstream media.

So why is representation in mainstream media so important?

Visual media teaches us how the world works, as well as our place in it. Media can play a powerful role in shaping children’s interests and ambitions very early in life, and sometimes can influence their decisions. When you don’t see people like yourself, the message may come across: “You don’t count, there is something wrong with you.”

Representation creates relatable role models and sources of inspiration. Many people take for granted having a role model you can look up to and relate to. What we see around us can positively or negatively shape our expectations for themselves or other people. For example, when a girl sees a female scientist in the media, it plants a seed in them that says, “This is possible.”

Representation challenges society, and, by doing so, helps to bring fresh ideas to the table and creates a platform for many voices to be heard. This platform allows stereotypes and misconceptions to be broken and allows for more accurate portrayals of characters.

For some people, mainstream media is the only way they understand people who aren’t like them. Because of this, it is so important to have accurate representation.

For the underrepresented, seeing a character who looks like them won’t have much of an effect if the character is only based on racial or gender stereotypes, especially when these stereotypes do not reflect their life’s experience. Stories affect how we live our lives, as well as how we see other people, and how we think about ourselves. Without representation of all genders, races, sexes, sexualities, and body types, there are stories that are missing; people who feel like that aren’t heard or seen.

Representation is slowly but steadily becoming a reality, as more and more minorities are being given a voice to speak. Whitewashing in mainstream media is becoming less and less tolerated and inaccurate portrayals are being called out, which translates to success.

In the end, representation in mainstream media is something we all should be fighting for, because underrepresentation is not just “not fair.” It’s not right.