I mostly agree with your points about representation, that we should be able to appreciate characters that we don’t personally relate to, and I would NEVER decry something for lack of representation, nor applaud something purely on the basis of representation. However, I certainly do think that there is a place for people saying that they want to see their life experience reflected in the media. As an autistic, Australian and young Christian woman, I rarely see any media that reflects even one of those identities in a realistic way, and when I do I get super excited, because it’s nice to occasionally hear an Aussie accent, see people acknowledge that women can be autistic too, and know that some people see Christians as real people, not just bigoted, religious fanatics. So I definitely think that while representation in and of itself is no mark of a work’s quality, I would not go so far as to say it doesn’t matter.
@mymanyfandomramblings I appreciate your thoughts and I agree with the spirit of them (don’t want to rush into discourse without establishing that.)
But I don’t think that representation is a mark of a work’s quality—OR that it matters. After all, the word “matters” is so important when we talk about this. What does representation (of life experience, specifically) matter for?
I’m worried that what we mean when we say “representation matters” is just “representation matters for the end goal of: communicating the most meaningful parts of my identity to others.”
Please don’t take this flippantly: what I’m about to say has more hope of being understood graciously between Christians than anywhere else. From one Christian to another, take it as me just trying (maybe rudely) to change the aim of the spotlights in your brain (like others have done for me:)
Why does it matter that you’re Australian? Why does it matter that you’re a female? Why does it even matter that you’re autistic? Are those the most important, fundamental things about you? So important that it’s more than just “nice” to represent them to others—it’s necessary?
Why does it feel so nice to have those things acknowledged by others? It’s not bad that it feels nice…but why does it feel so nice? So important?
The most meaningful part of your identity (which is what we talk like representation matters for) isn’t your identity at all. It’s Christ’s.
If what we believe is that “in the image of God He created them,” and as Christian, that “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” then why do we get enough sense of identity and recognition out of any other traits to feel so strongly about them? To demand that, in the most public of stages and every corner of media, those traits be reflected?
If all we believe is that everything aside from our image-bearing of God is just secondary, then why are we campaigning so hard for people to recognize those secondary traits?
It’s like baking the world’s greatest cake and inviting everyone to try it, but becoming outraged if they decide to eat that cake with a spoon instead of a fork. Why in the world would you care if someone eats the cake with a spoon or a fork, if the main thing is, eat the world’s greatest cake?
What’s the main thing? What’s the most important part of our identities? What does representation matter for? Is just to make certain parts of us (but not all) that we assign value to feel nice and recognized? Why do we need people to recognize those certain parts? Why do we consider those certain parts so important to our “identities” at all? And maybe, why are we so obsessed with people seeing and thinking of us the way we want them to see and think of us?
The most important part of your identity is in Christ. Who you are is wrapped up in Him. When you keep that in the spotlight, then it’s very easy to say that representing everything off in the shadows, like skin color or nationality or even experiences, doesn’t matter.
