Who’s Screen Is It Anyway? — The Need For Diverse Stories
As a brown girl, my adolescence was spent trying to juggle the two versions of women that I saw most — the American teenager at the centre of every story, and the over sexualised accessory in Bollywood films. The catch? I didn’t see myself in either of these versions. And as I would figure out much later, neither did most brown girls my age. So who were these mysterious women from billboards and movie screens? Who did they really represent, and whose gaze were they made for?
If you’ve looked at a popular film or TV character and almost always seen your skin colour, sexuality, and religion — congratulations on the privilege. Until recently, people of colour Remained shockingly underrepresented in mainstream cinema and TV. The rare brown or black character was neck deep in stereotypes and served no purpose to the plot. But the slow process of change has begun. Films like Black Panther and Moonlight were groundbreaking in their attempt to put black and LGBTQ people in central roles and tell their stories. Orange Is The New Black gave the centre stage to some of the most powerful, diverse characters and quickly became popular for its sensitive and educated portrayal of the same.
And yet, the necessity of equal representation remains a heated debate. For children who grow up never seeing themselves on TV and in films, marginalisation starts young. It begins at home and in schools — the two environments that are ideally supposed to be safe spaces. From a place of privilege, this feeling can be very difficult to understand. The lack of diverse faces in popular culture not only affects the self esteem and insecurities of people from the marginalised groups, but it also ostracises them in the eyes of those who are privileged. This othering enables prejudice and encourages a distorted view of non-white and LGBTQ people. While racism and homophobia manifest themselves in much more serious and violent ways, they can easily begin with negative stereotyping in the media.
But let’s look at examples closer to home — the heterosexual male protagonist who cares little for consent, his fair skinned love interest who finds the stalking and harassment cute, or the plus sized sidekick whose only purpose is to be the butt of all jokes. And yes — they’re all cis gender, upper caste, and rich. Bollywood has had its own representation problem for decades, and the root of the issue is lost in the midst of rebranding fairness creams and actors darkening their skin in a superficial attempt at inclusivity.
Unfortunately, the Hindi films that have made strong statements like Margarita With A Straw, Axone, and Bulbbul are inaccessible to a large part of our population, for various reasons. It’s the chicken and egg problem — what comes first, the progressive film, or the progressive audience that encourages the film? Still, it is important to make films and TV shows that present a different picture of India’s marginalised and stereotyped communities. Incorporate sidelined groups into mainstream productions. Give them an audience to tell their stories to, and break the cycle of unequal and insensitive representation.
Neeharika Nene
