representation in film openings

The content our society views on screen is supposed to reflect its people, but all too often the entertainment and media industries tend to marginalize people of color, and women, just to name a few. Stories affect all areas of life in terms of how people view themselves, how they live their lives, and how they see others. Some of the content that these industries distribute to the public remains the only form of representation some individuals see, and these portrayals may be accurate or inaccurate. Media depicts stereotypical representations for people of color and women, whether through Hollywood or on the news, as violent criminals, the help, terrorists, submissive characters, highly sexualized beings, unintelligent people, and more. Similarly, there are concerns for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) populations and depictions of disabled persons. Seeing oneself on screen is crucial because society is not monolithic, but multifaceted. The continued cycle of excluding diversity, inclusion, and ignoring misrepresentation in the entertainment and media industry showcase the importance of having diverse storytellers, actors, directors, and producers involved both on-screen and behind the scenes. Historically, film and media industries have had a poor track record in accurately representing diversity. Hollywood is the biggest exporter of culture, yet has long ignored the importance of diversity since its creation (Burgin 2018). The roots of the industry involve systemic, institutionalized racist practices, “whether its appearing in disparaging roles or not appearing at all, minorities are the victim of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the “majority” at the expense of the insignificant minority” The media industries’ evolution from mostly print to television increased the emphasis of the power of the mass media with heavier influence in portraying minorities inaccurately. With the rise of television, information became easily available to millions and “often gives people insights into worlds that are unfamiliar and vastly different from their own,” as it may be their only encounter with that part of society. Therefore, the influence that media has is a tremendously weighty responsibility and unfortunately, many of these studios have created harmful false narratives. As individuals continually see flashes of false information and a skewed depiction, it becomes mentally damaging because “when images and ideas presented at a young age take hold, and are reinforced over years of viewing, these images become reality and once these stereotypes and misconceptions become ingrained in the psyche of American children, they become self-perpetuating”. For far too long, the media executives reflected their versions of society which more often than not was exclusionary, damaging, and not objective. Although progress has been made, major television news outlets have traditionally not featured journalists of color and perpetuated one-sided narratives. “Oftentimes in newsrooms across the country, you don’t have a substantial representation of people of color in newsrooms who are making decisions to what’s going to be portrayed in the media.” (May 2018). Reportedly, men deliver 65% of political segments, 63% of science and technological stories, 67% of crime, and 64% of global issues; alternatively, females receive minimal on-air time allotted 32% screen time, and the stories they cover are limited to education and lifestyle stories (Alter 2015). Unfortunately, media biases are prominent in featuring portrayals of minorities primarily as criminals, terrorists, uneducated, highly sexualized people, and more. These depictions penetrate the minds of viewers and create unconscious biases which negatively affects the way individuals interact with each other. Ghandnoosh pointed out in 2015 that implicit biases have led to unnecessary discrimination and police shootings of black males. By extension, the media’s excessive and impartial coverages of “alleged black criminals” creates a domino effect in also impacting the justice system. Jury members, lawyers, as well as judges involved are consequently more inclined to deliver tougher punishments for blacks (Donaldson 2015). For these reasons and more, the necessity of having diverse journalists, executives, and producers on screen and behind the cameras is crucial. Society is multidimensional not monolithic, so the beautiful mosaic of all people should be represented. Representation matters so that the full story can be told, and so you don’t have a one-sided story that isn’t a fair representation of a diverse population. The media needs to represent the society that it serves because if people don’t see themselves, then it’s almost like a lack of care that’s communicated to people. There has to be some diverse voices that represent everyone in the society that can speak from the voice of those people because there are different issues and different things that are of importance to us. On Capitol Hill, for example, the photographers that shoot there and the newscasters that are shown are disproportionately white males. I think that there needs to be more of an effort to seek out diverse voices and diverse representation with a conscious effort