Diversity in Hollywood: Moving Forward

In an age when streaming services are at our fingertips, young people are undeniably influenced by the media. However, some feel that the recent increase in diverse castings is unnecessary, or even exclusionary.

A common argument among social media users is that the movie industry hires actors based on talent, and one’s race shouldn’t be more important than their talent. This not only implies that white people are superior actors than actors of other races since they receive more roles, but also ignores the fact that opportunities in the movie industry between white actors and actors of color are nowhere near equal. White actors aren’t being predominantly cast over actors of color because they’re more talented; they’re being hired more often because, until very recently, a majority of castings simply called for white actors. White actors are also hired more often because of the Eurocentric standards of beauty that dominate the movie industry: so even if castings give everyone a fair shot, the casters don’t, and they may not even realize they’re doing it. According to a 2016 report from UCLA, white actors made up an overwhelming 78.1% of actors in film that year, indicating a massive oversight.

There has been limited representation in the movie industry. However, the media often gets comfortable with their “diversity” by endlessly reusing the idea of tokenism. This refers to a non-white character in a show or film who is often a supporting character, and one of the few people of color in the film (if not the only one). This character often appears as the best friend of the (white) protagonist, or worse, in the group that antagonizes the (white) protagonist.

While this practice may have been seen as progressive, in reality it’s lazy, outdated, and frustrating.

When watching an extremely white movie with your token two or three characters of color, it’s hard to avoid assuming that they only hired these actors because they are of color, and to specifically play those side roles. Perhaps this is how casting directors feel (or hopefully, used to feel) they should go about creating a diverse cast, when in fact character descriptions at all ranks in a movie should be more diverse themselves. It becomes exhausting to repeatedly see people of color as sidekicks to a white hero/heroine, but it’s worse to imagine this impact on younger people who are more easily influenced by the media. At first, they only see themselves as a side character, but slowly they begin to wonder if society doesn’t see them as equally capable, equally attractive or equal at all. Not to mention that in the past, these characters fit crude stereotypes. Furthermore, the movie industry has a nasty habit of whitewashing roles, or casting white actors to play characters of color, meaning directors/casters go even further out of their way to cast more white people in their movies. An infamous example is Scarlett Johansson’s casting in “Ghost in a Shell” as a character originally named Motoko Kusanagi, whose name is conveniently changed to Mira Killian in the film. Similarly, Tilda Swinton was casted as a character originally portrayed as a Tibetan monk. This decision was defended by movie writer C. Robert Cargill as “risky due to the nature of the character”, which was portrayed as a “‘racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in [a] very weird political place’” (Marvel Responds to ‘Doctor Strange’ ‘Whitewashing’ Criticisms Over Tilda Swinton Casting). Unfortunately, this demonstrates how the movie industry is often not willing to put the work into respectfully representing a character of color, opting instead to cast them as white.

Of course, this issue very well may be related to the fact that directors themselves are overwhelmingly white. Case in point, director Jordan Peele’s recent movies “Us” and “Get Out”, feature notably diverse casts.

Recent movies such as “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Black Panther” have inspired hope for proper representation in movies, and unsurprisingly were directed by non-white directors Jon M. Chu and Ryan Coogler, respectively. “Crazy Rich Asians” was largely seen as a major win for the East Asian community, and critically acclaimed “Black Panther” seen as a triumph for black people. Consequently, some white audiences were disappointed by the lack of white representation, which is absurd at best. In the United States, white people have literally been represented (on screen) since the beginning of home entertainment, the first television shows being aired in the 1940s; the movie industry beginning to thrive nearly two decades earlier. Even before the television made its appearance, white people were entertaining themselves with blackface in the early 1800s, a practice where white actors would use makeup to look like caricatures of black people; racism in the entertainment industry has old roots. Hence the excitement for the aforementioned movies can be understood. It is also worth mentioning that while people of color are finally celebrating representation after decades of waiting, white people are upset by their lack of representation in a few movies after decades longer of being represented. Perhaps it’s time to step aside. And if one really wants to watch a movie with a predominantly white cast because they feel underrepresented, they can consult eighty years worth of movies and shows to soothe their qualms.

Creators tend to become very defensive when called out for their general preferences for whiteness, which is a fault in itself. It’s not excusable to have ever used an all-white cast because “everyone else was doing it,” or because white people are seen as a “default. Is it so difficult to admit one’s mistakes and vow to do better in the future? Then again, some people seem to believe that people of color were invented in the late 1900s, so it wouldn’t have been “realistic” to portray them before then.

I suppose it may be difficult to understand why representation matters when you have seen yourself represented since before you were born—except I don’t really understand at all. Watching movies with majority white casts simply feels uncomfortable, because that’s not the world looks like. And if you feel uncomfortable watching non-white majority movies: now you know how it feels.

It’s a common reaction to become defensive when called out about something that people may not want to think about, but hopefully in this age people are ready to embrace diversity. Additionally, it’s important to remember that the rise in diversity isn’t taking opportunities from white people, but rather giving well-deserved opportunities to actors of all races.

by INES DUPUPET