Flaming hot take, but not every movie or TV show needs to hit every individual diversity mark to be a good movie or show?
Like, please understand, I very much get the concept of intersectionality, and I know the actual statistics of minorities’ presence in the world and there is a whole lot of overlap that would be nice to see realistically portrayed in the media but it’s just like. Sometimes a story is just…A story. It’s one person’s story. And it doesn’t need to hit some specific diversity quota to be a good story.
Accept the movies about Latin people as a movie about Latin people. Accept the queer representation as queer representation. Take the story about the disabled person for what it is. But if it’s a story about a queer couple facing adversity, maybe don’t get up in arms about them not being the “right type” of queer for you. Wild idea? TELL THAT STORY YOURSELF.
Because sometimes that straight couple is dealing with other issues in their universe, and that’s why it’s not gay. Sometimes if you cast a black woman, that makes it a black story. And that Asian storyteller isn’t telling the story of a black woman. They’re telling their story.
So instead of getting mad that this isn’t the story YOU wanted to hear? Tell the story you wanted to hear. Because that one is theirs. And someone deserves to tell yours.
The diversity quota does as much of a disservice to storytelling as a lack of representation does. If you don’t resonate enough, make something we can resonate with more. Let us claim our stories as our own, and leave others to say what they want to say.
If we all tell our stories, I promise. Eventually you’ll find one just for you.
