woke washing: when a corporation, institution or individual says or does something that signals their advocacy for a social cause but also continues to cause harm to vulnerable communities.
Think of almost any show or movie (it may even be your favourite!) and try to name at least five black characters that had an impact on the plot (if their name is even memorable to begin with).
Trick question; you probably can’t. These characters are intentionally created to be unmemorable.
People of the majority (white, straight, essentially any privilege that exists) in Western society will undoubtedly not only be represented in television and film but they will also be represented well, and certainly better than minority groups.
Specifically on the topic of race and ethnicity, it’s unfortunately safe to say minority groups are not represented enough (atleast, not yet). As a young Black British girl who mostly consumes Western (American and British, to be exact) entertainment, I’ve come to realise there are generally two different kinds of representation that I’m used to watching.
(I’m only going to discuss black representation since I can only really make a personal response to that).
The obvious category, or ‘type’ of representation to address first is simply just, no representation. At all. Not a single person of a race or ethnic minority in sight. That doesn’t automatically make a show or film bad, though it doesn’t make it great either. This is mostly an observation I have for content made prior to the 2010s (I’m looking at all of those 2000s dramas and comedies out there; Legally Blonde Series (2001-09), Angus, Thongs And Perfect Snogging (2008), Wild Child (2008).. the list could go on) (though many shows and films still fall victim to a lack of representation nowadays). I tried to mentally ignore the fact that many of my favourite shows and movies basically had no black people, or even black girls in it when I was younger, “It’s just a show - not real life. It’s not that big of a deal.” People of majority groups may have this mentality, though not seeing yourself on-screen (that is meant to depict some kind of reality) truly emphasises how much of a minority you are in your society, causing you to feel isolated in some way. Weirdly enough, when I was younger the lack of representation hardly bothered me, or even crossed my mind. The lack of representation in what I watched seemed normal.
Though the type of representation that has become increasingly common is mis-representation. Not outrightly offensive, but the kind that feels ‘woke washed’ so nonetheless problematic. Technically in modern day TV and film there IS representation of racial and ethnic minority groups. But the issue is A) there isn’t enough, B) the purpose of these minority groups are for comic relief or to promote stereotypes or C) all of the above. Usually with this type of
representation there is only one or two characters to fill the diversity checklist so the show or film can claim they’re ‘diverse’. The ‘iconic’ comedies I watched growing up like Clueless (1995), Ten Things I Hate About You (1999), and literally any other Disney Channel show that came after That’s So Raven (2003) are perfect examples of when shows and movies add racial and ethnic minorities that honestly have no purpose, or are generally presented negatively, but add them in anyway so we as an audience can applaud them for this. I try to be more aware of what I consume nowadays, though it’s still unavoidable. It’s great that racial and ethic minority groups are (slowly, but surely) being represented but the way it's done feels incredibly patronising. In popular films and TV, black people are only seen as ‘the best friend’ of the main (usually white) character, or the comic relief, or are only extras. I often see this in a ton of Netflix teen content, for instance - Sierra Burgess Is A Loser (2018) or The Kissing Booth (2018). Not that I’m looking to these kinds of movies for representation (purely because better films exist, though it still would be nice to be represented), but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an issue.
Whenever black people play the main characters, the majority of the time it’s a comedy (think The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (1990), Everybody Hates Chris (2005) or a historical film like The Help (2011) or 12 Years A Slave (2013). It’s not necessarily bad, and this isn’t the case all the time, with dramas like Empire (2015), but I’d personally want to be more represented on screen to not feel ignored, rather than to be politicised and/or be added purely to make a point, whether that is to show black people as comedic or only to emphasise the horrific events black people have suffered.
As today people are more aware of the importance of black representation, there is a higher demand for more black representation, so I’d definitely like to credit some films and shows I personally enjoyed that put black people front and centre:
Blood And Water (2020) / link to trailer After crossing paths at a party, a Cape Town teen sets out to prove whether a private-school swimming star is her sister who was abducted at birth. The show is set in South Africa. (Should I do a review on the show? Please Let me know!)
A Wrinkle In Time (2018) / link to trailer While on a quest to discover a scientific breakthrough, Meg's father disappears into another realm in space. Three peculiar beings send Meg, her brother, Charles and friend Calvin to find him.
Euphoria (2019) / link to trailer A look at life for a group of high school students as they grapple with issues of drugs, sex and violence.
Black Is King (2020) / link to trailer
The film serves as a visual companion to the 2019 album The Lion King: The Gift, a tie-in album curated by Beyoncé for the 2019 remake of The Lion King. The story is told through black voices of today.
The Sun Is Also A Star (2019) / link to trailer College-bound romantic Daniel Bae and Jamaica-born pragmatist Natasha Kingsley meet - and fall for each other -- over one magical day amidst the fervor and flurry of New York City. Sparks immediately fly between these two strangers, who might never have met had fate not given them a little push. With just hours left on the clock in what looks to be her last day in the U.S., Natasha is fighting against her family's deportation just as fiercely as she's fighting her growing feelings for Daniel.
Sitting In Limbo (2020) / link to show A factual TV drama about the Windrush scandal. The story focuses on the real-life experiences of a Jamaican-born British man, Anthony Bryan, one of the victims of the UK Home Office hostile environment policy on immigration. Bryan had lived in the UK for 50 years when his life was upended as a result of the Home Office mistakenly classifying him as an illegal immigrant. (Although it is a drama about an unfortunate event, I strongly recommend this. It is available on BBC iPlayer for only 9 months, so you should watch it as soon as you can)
As I said earlier, the amount of representation doesn’t, and perhaps even shouldn’t have to be the be all and end all to determine the quality of mainstream content, but it’s easy to discredit its significance when the individual who is watching is part of the majority. Having less representation does more harm than good and if you don’t realise it now, it may be a small thought or comment you make to yourself when looking back at your favourite shows and films from half a decade ago.
credit to @theslowfactory on IG where i got inspiration for this blog post.
No comments:
Post a Comment