In theory, the media should exist to represent people. To tell their stories and share their struggles. Whether its film, TV or advertisements, they should be representative of the world that we live in. Unfortunately though, they are not. As much as people will try to preach that we have come so far and that the diversification of our media has greatly improved, it has a lot further to go.
As a white woman, it would be very easy for me to sit back and appreciate the representation white people have in film and television. We're everywhere and I don't have to look far to find someone on television that looks just like me. This is privilege at it's worst. For me it's not a problem, but for anyone else who isn't straight and white, it's a huge huge problem. It's an incredible feeling seeing people on television, celebrities at red carpet events looking exactly like you. As a chubby woman I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see women in the media who are plus sized and being represented fairly. To see women expressing themselves, being confident and open with their bodies and loving who they are makes me really happy. This needs to happen across all media outlets and for all minorities.
We live in an incredibly diverse and multi-cultural world and its only right that the media represent that. At the moment, white males dominate the media that we consume. More specifically, straight white men. There's a certain comfortability to this, in that since history began, this particular group of people have always been represented. Its easier for media outlets and film industries to keep putting this group in the spotlight because it's familiar and what's always happened, but it's crucial that large outlets start to have the conviction to break down these barriers and start to represent all people.
Whether that's including same sex couples in romantic comedies or casting a film with an all coloured cast. We need to be making bigger steps forward towards inclusivity and progressive media.
We need to be casting women in more far reaching roles with deeper characters than just a male sidekick. We need to be representing Transgender people in roles that are uplifiting and inspiring towards their community and their struggles. We need to be casting men and women from across the spectrum that are never talked about such as Asexuals and Pansexuals. It's easy for people to say that by requesting this we are asking for too much, but we really aren't. By asking for this to happen we are asking for the media to represent REAL people, people that live among us and walk past us everyday. This isn't too much, this isn't liberal media gone mad. This is just the idea that maybe we should be showcasing how incredibly diverse and interesting our world really is.
At some point, the film industry will realise that they've run out of possible storylines including boring, white, straight actors. Hopefully they will realise it soon.