Matters of Representation
We need more representation…
You’ve probably heard people say this on twitter after an awards night or maybe you’ve heard it in person from a marginalised friend.
But there is representation.
I see women. I see black and People Of Colour actors, and gay characters. I see mental and physical illness on tv, in film and in books all the time.
But I don’t just mean seeing a quota being filled. We need more representation means we need more stories as much as characters, we need more meaningful and accurate representation.
The Characters need to be as diverse and complex as we are. How many Bisexual women with invisible disabilities do you see? It wouldn’t be realistic to have all that, people say. And yet here I am, a person with all that.
In September this year the Oscars has released ‘Representation and Inclusivity Standards for Oscar eligibility’, which will definitely bring attention to the lack of diversity. But Hollywood has a long hard-coded history with both limiting the presence of diversity, and also, what likely this quota will promote: Tokenism.
The beginning of Hollywood cinema was built upon the Motion Picture Production Code, more widely known as the Hays Code, treating media as a business needing “ethical” governing. The Hays code was implemented in 1930, lasting 38 years.
The core principle was that “Correct standards of life… shall be presented”, which as we are all well aware for the time was informed by Sexism, Racism, Homophobia and Ableism.
Rules including no depictions of “low forms of sexual relationships” meaning anything not heterosexual and no “miscegenation” a horridly pejorative term referring to interracial couples and mixed children.
Due to the Hays code People of Colour have been completely othered for almost 40 years. If there was one white lead already, the other lead had to be white so it wouldn’t appear to be condoning interracial relationships. Also, if a black or mixed person was too fair, they couldn’t be cast as it could “confuse the audience”.
For the LGBTQ+ it wasn’t always this way.
When would you guess the first American film with a lesbian kiss was released?
I am nearly 100% sure you didn’t guess 1925.
It was a silent film called Lady of the Night. In Sound cinema it was in the 1930 Film Morocco, a Paramount production, portraying two women kissing while one is in drag.
The Hays code restrictions make up 35% of the years Hollywood’s been active. Now having LGBTQ+ characters is seen as “controversial” and “brave” for the studio. Now gay representation in media is almost always white cis men, hardly any women and next to no trans characters.
And even then, the representation of gay men is full of stereotypes. Secretly gay writers wanted to depict gay characters in film in line with the code. They did this by portraying the male character as feminine and the female character as masculine, creating the modern stereotypes that inform our “gaydars” today. This process is called Queer Coding.
Nowadays these stereotypes are used in tokenism to appear as inclusive while restricting the character as the “gay best friend” with no character arch, serving as only a tool for the main character to achieve their goal.
Hard-codded stereotypes also still inform the roles people of colour can get. Similar to the “gay best friend”, the “black best friend” is popular. The diverse characters in general are pushed to the sides and given little depth, limited to racial stereotypes.
We need better representation.
Crazy Rich Asians was the first All Asian cast and Asian American lead film in 25 years and one of the first Asian films without martial arts. This a perfect example of good representation.
This movie also allowed tv shows written by Asian Americans to be green lit when they had been previously turned down. This is what good representation does, it allows for new stories that haven’t been told before to be spread. Instead of making another Fast and The Furious, which there is a ninth currently being filmed.
Even problematic movies with representation have done good in the past. Rain man is a lot of peoples first exposure to autism. It won four oscars and was the highest grossing film of 1988. But If you ask the autistic community, it is completely inaccurate to most people. Only 10% of autistic people have this level of savant. It has led to the main depiction of autism in media as a cis white male, usually a young boy, who is a burden to their friends and family. While being problematic, Rain Man shone a light on something tucked away from common sight, and helped raise a lot of money for research into autism spectrum disorder.
Most Representation is good in helping people understand a different point of view and normalising othered people. Good representation like Abed Nadir from Community didn’t only help the director get a diagnosis, but also so many viewers. A woman named Sarah Kurchack got diagnosed at 27 after noticing similarities between herself and the character, learning how to interact with people through television shows.
We need characters that people can see themselves in and see the characters around them treat them like human beings. Because we all learn from Movies, television, books and all media and entertainment.
As Writers I need you to write about more diverse people. Don't appropriate or tell a story that isn't yours to tell, but in fiction a character can normalise wearing a hijab or be trans without that being the focus of the story. In Non fiction you can interview more than cis white men.
As Viewers I need you to use your money to send a message. Watch indie films and blockbusters that focus on diverse stories and don't rely on weathered stereotypes.
Show companies what you want to watch and share good representation.
Support diverse authors, actors, directors, musicians and people in the industry.
Watch with a difference.
Bibliography
Oscars, ‘Academy establishes representation and inclusion standards for Oscars eligibility’, Oscars news, 8 September 2020, <https://www.oscars.org/news/academy-establishes-representation-and-inclusion-standards-oscarsr-eligibility>
Colin Klein, ‘Gay-identifying AI tells us more about stereotypes than the origins of sexuality’, The Conversation, 14 September 2017, <https://theconversation.com/gay-identifying-ai-tells-us-more-about-stereotypes-than-the-origins-of-sexuality-83807>
Alyssa Rosenberg, ‘Hollywood can’t move toward equality until it confronts its ugly racial history’, The Washington Post, 27 March 2015, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2015/03/26/hollywood-cant-move-toward-equality-until-it-confronts-its-ugly-racial-history/>
Bob Mondello, ‘Remembering Hollywood’s Hays Code. 40 years on’, NPR: National Public Radio, 8 August 2008, <https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93301189>
Kristin Hunt, ‘The end of American film censorship’, JSTOR Daily, 28 February 2018, <https://daily.jstor.org/end-american-film-censorship/>
Darold A. Treffert, ‘The savant syndrome: an extraordinary condition. A synopsis: past, present, future’, NCBI, National Center of Biotechnology Information, 27 May 2009, <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2677584/>
Jay McCarthy, ‘Rain Man at 30: damaging stereotype or 'the best thing that happened to autism'?’, The Guardian, 14 December 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/dec/13/rain-man-at-30-autism-hoffman-cruise-levinson>
Sophie Cleghorn, ‘Film: The Hollywood Production Code of 1930 and LGBT Characters’, Medium, 7 November 2017, <https://medium.com/@sophiecleg/how-did-the-hollywood-production-code-of-1930-shape-the-representation-of-lgbt-characters-in-film-93e92a4fec62>
Leonard J. Leff and Jerold L. Simmons, ‘The dame in the kimono: Hollywood, censorship, and the production code from the 1920s to the 1960s’, New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1990
Sarah Kurchak, ‘I have autism. Watching television helped me more than therapy’, Vox, 10 April 2017, <https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/4/10/15223982/autism-julia-sesame-street-muppet>
Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, Annie Elainey and MiffedLuke, ‘Autism Tropes in Media, YouTube, 5 August 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7q2A3ic0-w&list=PLfwqCxy2wK-vru0oF8LCCrXPuWsdb_Y_W&index=1>
Christina Lee, ‘ ‘It’s not a movie, it’s a movement’: Crazy Rich Asians takes on Hollywood’, The Guardian, 11 August 2018, <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/11/crazy-rich-asians-movie-kevin-kwan-jon-m-chu-constance-wu>
