Mission Statement
The role of fictional narrative in media is to create human experiences outside of our reality in which we can project ourselves, stimulating our fantasies, critical thinking, and capacity for imagination. It is also an exercise of empathy, of seeing yourself in others and relating to feelings and actions in contexts that are not primarily your own.
Due to its huge capacity for mass communication, we must understand the responsibility that comes with such a platform. Film and TV do not only entertain and stimulate, they also carry the potential to shape the collective imaginary of the other – all of that which is unknown – to their target audience.
Such responsibility is a given, there is no way to produce media and not be tied to the representations created and shared in it. The choice a creator has around this given is to either use it carelessly or mindfully; and it is my mission, within every production that I create and contribute to, to take the responsibility of representation mindfully.
What makes a production diverse?
Does having different kinds of characters make a production diverse? Or is it achieved by hiring different actors, with diverse characteristics? Does diversity in the crew make any difference, if it isn’t seen by audiences?
Diversity, true diversity, can only make a difference if it exists behind the cameras as much as it does in front of them. From writing and casting to audio mixing and editing the final cut, every production role – creative or technical – can make a difference when it’s performed by a professional who is part of an underrepresented minority. A fact about diversity in front of the camera is: it sells. A lot. But, when it stops there, it becomes what we call “performative diversity” – a mirage, a superficial attempt that doesn’t reach the content or even harmfully misrepresents a social group to mass audiences.
The 2020 Hollywood Diversity Report shows a clear discrepancy between the exponential growth of acting roles for social minorities in the last couple of years and a continuation of social majority dominance in production roles. (And this hasn’t yet changed by 2021). The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has published this very enlightening study in 2020 tracking the progressions and trends of diversity in the most consumed films from 2007 to 2019, which confirms the Diversity Report’s findings and presents a bigger picture.
“The people who are creating the media are as important as those who present it.” -Lauren Zent
The stereotyping problem
In September of 2018, I was sitting on the set of a short documentary about typecasting, waiting with the other actors for the production cue to start the shoot. It was the most diverse cast I had ever seen in my acting career, and the conversations we had that day were invaluable to my understanding of the extent of this problem.
A group of black men was discussing how for some of them, this was the first role where they weren’t asked to play a criminal, while the black women were adding to that, sharing their experiences auditioning for countless maid and sex worker roles. A gay actor opened up about how many times he was told he was too feminine to play the leading man, while straight men were being cast to play the scarce gay roles he also auditioned for.
I answered him that the same goes for us transgender actors, who are rarely cast to play cis or trans characters because although cisgender media writers are frequently interested in their interpretation of our narratives, they are not as frequently interested in our bodies and realities. A person of short stature sitting next to us added that he’d like to play a dramatic role one day, or even a role in comedy where he wasn’t the joke. This conversation went on for a long time until we were cued to start the shoot.
On that day, I decided that if I ever got a chance to lead a production environment, I would make it as inclusive and respectful as the one that led to this encounter was.
Why representation matters
If we can’t see ourselves, we can’t be ourselves.
Until very recently, I had never been able to recognize myself fully on-screen. And it was by watching the Netflix documentary Disclosure (by producer Laverne Cox) that I finally understood why. In my childhood and adolescence, I partly saw myself in characters that struggled with complex emotions: doubt, hope, oppression, affection, betrayal, love, fear, etc; but felt discouraged to put the pieces of my identity together when all of the sexuality diversity I saw on screen was associated with cruel villain characters, and transgender characters were depicted as either undesirable mistakes, jokes or serial killers. I was only able to understand my gender and sexuality when I actually met real 2SLGBTQ+ people, who were very different from their fictional versions on screen.
I am extremely grateful to all creators who have recently managed to air complex, non-stereotypical representations of social minorities on TV and film, and excited for the youth that can look up to them, but there is still a long way to go.
My mission, whether I’m working on camera or behind it, is to contribute however I can to conscious inclusiveness, substantial diversity, and progressive representation for social minorities, always well accompanied by art and heart.
Gionni Blas 