Do you believe that media and casting productions are diverse and inclusive? Whether it’s your favorite film, television show or streaming series, we all partake in some version of media on a constant basis. Examples are movies and special programming for children, sport channels catered mostly to men and from daytime television to your local news. The most commonly shared form is film media. Films has been around for centuries, with the first short film dating back to 1895 and continuously evolving from there. Films are viewed on many different platforms and portray an infinite number of paths that the world has to offer. We must take acknowledgment that the United Sates has always taken such pride in being a melting pot for all nationalities (until President Trump). You would think that casting and production for these programs would mirror the true nature of the world we live in. Yet the funding behind these productions come from white men in suits, who has truly never shared that vision.
The purpose of this informative is to explain the need for diversity and inclusivity in media and casting productions. Specifically focusing on the film form of media. Diversity is defined in the Cambridge University Dictionary as the fact of many different types of things or people being included in something; a range of different things or people. An the Cambridge University Dictionary defines inclusivity as the quality of trying to include many different types of people and treat them all fairly and equally.
Although films have been around since 1895, it wasn’t until 1925 that the first black actor received a featured screen credit in film. Productions had a history of excluding people of color. They even had to avoid using people of color also because of racial discrimination in the 19th and 20th century. Flash-forward hundreds of years later and you would think that it would’ve changed by now. Yet incidents that show lack of diversity and inclusivity still arise. Information from an USA today article states. “In the Academy Awards’ 88-year history, only 14 black actors have won acting Oscars — the first was Hattie McDaniel for Gone With the Wind in 1940, and the last was Lupita Nyong’o (who was born in Mexico) for 12 Years a Slave in 2014. The winners’ pool is even shallower for other minorities. A mere five Latino actors have won prizes (most recently, Benicio Del Toro for Traffic in 2001), as have just three actors of Asian descent (the last was Haing S. Ngor in 1985 for The Killing Fields). Similarly, the only indigenous acting winner in history is Cherokee-Irish actor Ben Johnson (for The Last Picture Show in 1972).”
Which in 2016 sparked the controversial hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. The Vanity Fair article reads “One January morning in 2015, as April Reign watched that year’s Oscar nominations announced without a single person of color in any of the lead- or supporting-actor categories, she tweeted, “#OscarsSoWhite, they asked to touch my hair.” The hashtag went viral and started a movement that continues today.’ An Oscar is one of the most prestigious awards that can be won in the film industry, whether you’re an actor producer or director. Yet people who don’t fit the classic blue eyed blond hair American build, never get the same opportunity to win no matter how hard they work. Showing how in our present tense, that people of color still don’t get that same treatment as their white counterparts.
The need for diversity and inclusivity is simple, to be equal and fair to everyone no matter the differences. We need to save our coulters by allowing them to be expressed. The United States is a melting pot, why don’t the films we watch give an adequate representation of that. Tolerating a difference is simply not the same as embracing it. Film and television exclusion of minority show creators and actors need to get better, there are all kinds of missed opportunities. Ideas pitched and thought of as viable need to do so without bias.
Diversity and inclusivity in media is pivotal toward the progression of our nation. Growth in society only comes from being able to grasp and understand the differences between one another. Creators must recognize and have awareness that true diverse representation makes people feel included. Stories need to be told through more than one lens, people of color and minorities want to experience the same sense of belonging to society as the white male does. With the lack of proper vision, they will always fail to be truly diverse and inclusive.
