Elephant in the room! Intelligent debate![?] HmMmMmm Ive had gripes with the film industry when it comes to this for a long time. Yes it seems things are SLOWLY getting better, from commercials to feature films, but are those who crave ethnic diversity in entertainment meant to quietly accept these small victories, and embrace them as steps in the right direction? Or should the lack of truly balanced mainstream media diversity be put on trial? When cases of ethnic equality come up, there is very often a wave of fear that washes over a great portion of the cultural majority. A fear of losing something, or everything. A fear that they will be treated unfair or immediately knocked down several pegs, only to be kicked. With that I reply with “Those who do, shall expect”. They fear what they do themselves, or what they know to be done often by those similar to them. Most are willing to lie to themselves, fast to embrace the veils of ignorance draped over their eyes by the winners of history... The writers of history. The artists who perpetuated the false imagery of the past. Ignorance standing proud as the true source of their fears. This is not a black and white issue. I can only speak from my observations of being a young black American male with a very open mind, with some travel experience, and an insatiable thirst for knowledge and adventure. This is a true ethnic diversity in the film industry issue... NOAH... Russell Crowe? We really have no great middle-eastern actors that can pull off the role of a 950 year old boat magician? There is not only a severe lack of film and TV shows with a lack of Black cast members, but also Asian, Indian, Hispanic, Middle-Eastern. A thing that sucks is my favorite shows are the ones that are most diverse! Community, Brooklyn nine-nine, The New Girl. Happy Endings Canceled. Beautifully diverse shows, and though the front man/woman may not be a person of color, they shows rely very heavily on its diverse cast. Instead of adding one ethnic supporting cast member and saying “good enough”. Video games dance in the same playground. The solution is to change the way we think. Segregation is still an issue, whether we see it or not. But look beyond the buses, bathrooms, and water fountains. Racism still thrives on several levels, even the subconscious; there are many who really dont know any better. Implicit stereo types fuel unconscious bias. With generations growing in this information age, great strides have been taken, but the information age youth are not the ones currently in power, their parents are. The most exhausting debate point for me is the hopelessness. “People dont want that”. “It doesnt work”. “It was tried before and it failed”. We stop trying, we stop growing. Most people are told what they want, when it comes to film and television, by the industry itself; it is easy to fall through into an illusion of control. I understand entertainment is a business, but I am not a business. I am not a germ in a petri dish. I am human, and as we are all connected, Id like to be connected on as broad a scale to my [good] fellow humans as possible. You want money, I want diversity. Im sure there is a happy medium. Lets talk about the elephant in the room. InB4 tl:dr
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 18:35:46 +0000
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