Hollywood: a complete guide to POC representation
One of my favorite movies of all time is Hidden Figures. The movie is based on a true story and follows three African-American women who, during the racial segregation in the United States, in 1961, had very important roles in NASA working for the U.S space program.
It’s an incredible movie filled with interesting topics and it’s very empowering for anyone who has ever been denied an opportunity, either because of their skin color or their gender. It really makes us believe that dreams do come true if we work hard to achieve them.
It is a great movie with great POC (People of Color) characters, but what about all the other movies?
Well, I have to say that things look very different once you look into other movies and series. In fact, Hidden Figures is more of an outcast when it comes to POC representation in Hollywood big Box-office movies.
In 2019, according to a study conducted by the Social Sciences department of UCLA, only 2 out of 10 lead actors in broadcasted scripted television were People of Color!
But why does this happen?
In last week’s blog, I talked about the problem with structural and systematic racism. This is one of the consequences of structural and systematic racism, and of living in a society that can’t recognize that certain behaviors can be harmful to minorities. And further, accentuate the already existing inequalities when it comes to race and skin color.
It’s important to understand that this is not a new problem, it’s a recurring situation that has been going on for years. Besides that, there are certain aspects of this situation that we need to confront to understand why many POC actors felt voiceless for many years.
To understand this problem and why it still remains today, we need to take a look at the bigger picture and explore Hollywood’s and film history with POC representation.
Blackface and YellowFace + Whitewashing
What are Blackface and Yellowface? Well, it’s basically when caucasian actors apply makeup to make themselves look like they belong to another culture or ethnicity on screen.
This ‘’trend’’ appeared in the acting world around 200 years ago and it was often used to mock and stereotype enslaved Africans.
If the concept of someone appropriating a culture and ethnicity they don’t belong in, to mock said culture and ethnicity and why this is insensitive and wrong isn’t clear enough, then here is some background information on how this started.
The origins of Blackface date back to the minstrel shows in the mid-19th century. In one of the original minstrel shows, BlackFace was used to depict a very famous character, Jim Crow, that was an enslaved African in the Southern Plantations and it presented Black people as being lazy, ignorant, and cowardly.
This was such a huge problem that, at the time, according to historians, black actors had to do blackface and play foolish characters because that’s the only thing that white audiences wanted to see from black characters.
This also happened, in the mid-20th century, to Asian Characters. Caucasian actors would be cast to play Asian roles that depicted wrong stereotypes of what an Asian person is.
Asians were often depicted as being unattractive, not speaking English well, owning sketchy stores, and always knowing martial arts.
All of this is demeaning and harmful to both these ethnicities and cultures. Not only that but it also discouraged many POC actors who were many times led to believe that they would never be good enough to belong to this world of acting.
This also contributed a lot to the growing problem of racism and structural racism because it emphasizes the wrongful idea that only white people are competent and capable of understanding and developing the world in the right direction. Almost as if not being white is a ticket to be incompetent and only worth for laughs.
You would think that, by now, we would have eliminated all these kinds of practices, right?
Apparently, we like repeating the same mistakes because, in the most recent years, a new ‘’trend’’ has come up in the movie industry that is just as harmful.
It’s called whitewashing. This term is used to describe a situation where a character from a book, a cartoon, or a game is a person of color but in the movie adaption, the actor playing the character is white.
Basically, it’s when in movies they turn colored characters into white characters. I’ve seen this in a not so old movie starring Scarlet Johansson. The movie is called Ghost in the Shell and Johansson plays the lead character, who is supposed to be Japanese in the original animated film.
I know it doesn’t seem as bad as the cultural appropriation that comes with Black and Yellow facing, but it’s just as harmful. It harms POC representation in movies.
Can you imagine looking forward to seeing a female lead that looks like you in an action movie only to have that taken away because the lead role was handed to someone who doesn’t represent your culture?
I can’t imagine that because, as a privileged white woman, I see myself being represented often in movie screens. But that isn’t the reality for everyone, and that’s not ok!
I hope that, while reading this, you noticed that I have been talking about stereotypes because that’s our next topic of discussion.
Another very important thing when we talk about POC representation is racial Stereotyping.
Racial Stereotypes
What is a Stereotype? According to the Cambridge Dictionary, it’s ‘’a set idea that people have about what someone or something is like, especially an idea that is wrong’’.
Racial Stereotypes are often set ideas about a specific group of people based on their culture or ethnicity.
There are certain stereotypes that we frequently see in movies and television shows that are constantly being perpetuated. And they are harmful to the people they represent.
For example, in almost every movie where a Latino character is depicted, they are from a generic part of Latin America, they have a troubled home and they are often seen as very straight forward and thoughtful. Latina women are often portrayed as being sexy, unmarried, with a child, and ‘’bossy’’.
Or, if you consider any Asian in a movie, they know martial arts, they own a sketchy store and they often are portrayed as nerdy and unattractive.
These are just two examples. Do you really think they are accurate with the reality that they represent?
I remember that when I was in 3rd grade there was a Chinese boy that joined my class. His parents moved to Portugal from China looking for better job opportunities and he happened to come to my school.
The reason that I am bringing this up is that, a few days before he came into our class, my teacher sat us down and started introducing the topic. She said we would have a new student and that he was different from us.
She explained that he was from a different country so he might have some trouble with the language and she proceeded to say this: ‘’But don’t worry class, he’s Chinese and it’s like we see in movies, he’ll do great in math. He probably is already ahead of all of you’’.
Why is it important to mention this? A grown woman teaching a class of 8-year-olds relied on a racial stereotype to make light-hearted humor about the fact that we were welcoming a Chinese student. This is absolutely not ok!
Not only is it harmful to the communities that are being represented by these stereotypes, but it’s also extremely dangerous for movie representation of these cultures.
It’s like what happened with blackface, when you start to watch a series with a character who looks different you will be expecting this character to follow under a certain stereotype. That shouldn’t happen!
We need to normalize the idea that people who aren’t white and who don’t belong to a majority can play non-stereotypical roles. That they deserve to be represented just as people rather than Stereotyped people. Enough is enough!
Ok, but how can I fight this problem?
Well, the first and very easy thing you can do is educate yourself. It’s ok to not know everything about every single topic, but that doesn’t give you a free pass to not learn about certain topics when they are brought up to you.
This blog is a very good start but you should look for more information. There is this really good TED Talk that really helps you understand the privilege of opening a book and relating to all the characters there. And it helps you understand how it feels to not feel represented.
Besides that, there are some really good movies and series that you can watch, with POC, leads and produced and written by POC, that are just incredibly amazing.
From Black writer and producer Jordan Peele, you have the movie Get Out, an amazing thriller movie that explores racism in an incredible way. You can also watch his other thriller movie, US, that, not only is musically excellent but also shines a light on oppression and some other important topics.
If you are not into thrillers and like to laugh every now and then, there’s Crazy Rich Asians which welcomes you to the world of Asian traditions in a funny and light-hearted way. You can also watch Black-ish who shows you the struggles a Black man faces in raising his black kids in a predominantly white upper-middle-class neighborhood.
If like me, you also like to have some food for thought when watching a series, Dear White People is an amazing option. The series not only explores police brutality, white privilege, and racism, but it also portrays the struggles and the positioning of Youth on these matters.
For those who like true crime documentaries, there’s When They See Us, it’s about a group of five young black boys who were wrongfully accused of committing a crime in Central Park. It’s really interesting and it’s also based on a true story, which makes it even more heartbreaking.
Also, for you, my Netflix lovers, here are four shows that can educate you on black oppression and racism: Explained: The Racial Wealth Gap (you can watch it if you click the link), Time: The Kalief Browder Story, 13th, and Who Killed Malcolm X?.
Another really cool series that delves into the problem of stereotypes and how they can be harmful is Master of None. The series follows the life of an Indian actor in New York and his struggles to find a job in the acting world as an Indian man.
Gentefied is also a great option if you want to have a look at how life is for Latinxs in America and also have a privileged look into the Latino culture.
Now, to another important question, how will this help the SDGs?
Much like last week’s blog, this has a huge impact on SDG 10 — Reduce Inequalities!
The more we share and allow these kinds of stereotypes and behaviors to come into our houses and spread into our society, the hardest it will be to beat certain inequalities.
We need to understand that skin color, ethnicity and culture can’t be deciding factors when it comes to opportunities. We are all the same species. We all have the power to be whoever we want to be.
It’s extremely unfair that a big chunk of the world’s population lives either in fear or not believing that they’ll ever be worth the same opportunities as a white person.
SDG 10 aims to achieve a world where we are equal. Where someone doesn’t have to worry about their skin color or sexual orientation.
I don’t know what the future holds for me or for you, but I do know that I don’t want to live in a world where I have to live in fear for my friends or my children’s lives because of their skin color.
Enough is enough and we own ourselves and the future generations a society that is fair, equal, and just.
