I’m not opposed to it, more diversity means more stories, but I don’t understand why people want to see themselves represented for their own sake (or for the sake of kids like them) or how it benefits them?
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If you’ve never seen an astronaut or anything about space, would you know that it was a potential career choice? We derive much of our inspirations/dreams based on what we see and the connections we make between different fields and phenomena.
Representation is another form of that. If every single politician is an old, white dude, younger BIPOC might think that they don’t have any chance of getting into that “profession.” This is self-reinforcing; no one thinks they can do it, so no one tries, so no one does it. Representation helps BIPOC or other minority demographics see a possible role for themselves in those parts of society.
In every TV show that you watch, the hero doesn’t look like you. Sometimes the villain does.
In every movie that you watch, the hero doesn’t look like you. Sometimes the villain does.
In every book that you read, any characters that have physical descriptions aren’t described as looking like you. Sometimes a character doesn’t have a physical description, and you imagine that they look like you…then they’re described later on and they don’t look like you at all.
How would that make you feel? After a lifetime of that, how discouraging would it be?
Then one day, a big blockbuster movie comes out where the hero looks like you. You’d be so happy! Even above and beyond liking the movie, you’d suddenly be able to relate to it! It would be so exciting!
That’s why it matters.
Representation in the media is important because without representation, only one type of body/race (thin/white) is going to be shown to the public. When all people see are thin/white people, it makes all other people feel very different and marginalized. It makes people who don’t fit that mold feel like there is something wrong with them. It makes it seem like everyone else in the world is a specific way, and that there is something wrong with being anything else.
It plays into the horrible beauty standards that are accepted globally.
Short version: Through media people (especially children and young adults) develop their understanding of the world and their place in it. Representation (good and bad) influences that understanding by dictating (explicitly or implicitly) how people act and what they can be in the world.
Longer version:
1. Representation is an affirmation of a person’s existence. A person who sees people ‘like them’ represented in media will (consciously or subconsciously) recognize that they’re not alone.
2. Representation shows potential futures. A person who sees people ‘like them’ doing certain jobs or engaging in certain modes of behavior (or being conspicuously absent or barred from them) will, subconsciously or consciously recognize those as something they could be.
3. Representation shows modes of behavior. A person who sees people ‘like them’ engaging in certain behavior will, on some level, associate themselves with that and come to believe that’s what ‘people like them’ do. This is similar to 2, but more general as it encompasses stereotypes about what ‘certain people’ do.
4. Media reflects reality and influences reality. Even if media is not a perfect representation of the world, it does contain elements of the world (which can be admittedly distorted), anxieties, fears, opinions, worldviews, desired realities, perceived realties, etc. Even if media is not real, and a person knows its not real, it does still affect them or others around them. Media, whether anyone wants it to or not, does influence peoples’ thoughts about the world and reality.
Children and young adults pick up on this stuff during their formative years (consciously or subconsciously) and it influences their beliefs and worldviews. That’s why it’s important for people – especially kids and young adults – to see people ‘like them’, because it shows them they’re normal and that they have opportunities to exist and thrive in the world.
If a certain group of people are only ever portrayed one way in media, people will inevitably (consciously or subconsciously) come to believe that’s what that groups is like. If the poor black gay guy is always the villain…well, that does lead people (consciously or subconsciously) to associate those aspects (poor, black, gay) or their combination (poor, black, and gay) with villainy. Alternatively, if the rich straight white guy is always the villain, the same thing happens… Same if its an Indian woman with dyed hair, an indigenous nonbinary individual, an Asian trans person, a pit bull with a disability, a cat with a facial deformity, whatever.
Reading through these replies, at the inability of some people to get “it”, I can see more clearly that so many people (obviously white) are light years beyond ignorant and racist. So damn sad.
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