Why representation matters

[the-pi-guy]

I think at this point I'm probably preaching to the choir, but it's been on my mind the past week in particular.  And my hope is that this will be a good positive post.  
 I think there are really 3 big reasons why representation matters.  

The first reason is that representation gives us something to relate to.
For a personal example there was a music video that affected me on a more personal level because I related to part of it.  It was about a parent who lost a child and it affected me even stronger because the child reminded me of my two year old.  
I'm sure all of us have examples where we liked a character more because we could relate to it. Maybe it was a challenge the person had to overcome. Maybe it was a trait that we related to.  This character likes math and does math for fun, just like me.  

The second is that these kinds of representations inform our biases.  If we never see the kinds of struggles that people have to go through, it can be difficult to understand there's an issue.  If you've never heard of gender dysphoria, how can you understand what kinds of struggles people with gender dysphoria go through?  How can you understand how common something is, if you never see it represented in your life or media? How can you understand how Muslims are harassed at airports if you've never been at an airport.  

The third big reason is that these representations also inform the biases of the people who aren't represented.  
For another personal example, on a computer science website I follow, there have been instances where a woman will ask if it is possible for them to join the computer science field.  They worry about harassment because it's constantly shown as a male dominated field.  They worry that there isn't going to be a place for them.  

Representation is a tough issue.  It's difficult to write about things you have no personal experience with.  It's difficult to write these things well.  It's difficult to expect that there is always a good way to write people into some instances.
Still, it's important to try. Not just for disparaged groups, but for others too.  

[darkknightkryta]

Representation matters.  But at the same time, being a check mark in a list is probably worse.

[kitler53]

[kitler53]

but more seriously...

...representation was never a think i ever gave much thought to as a kid. 
- white boy
- white neighborhood

i really only started thinking about it since i got out of college honestly because of all the police brutality videos i've seen and people like colin kaepernick calling attention to it.  but now that i'm "woke" it's really hard to not see the impact.

my son for whatever reason became best friends with the only black kid in his grade and right now we host him in my house as a remote learning pod.  seeing his perspective on mile morales as well as george floyd this year is especially eye opening for how media representation affects people.   "though the eye's of babes" as they say.


also i have a daughter.  it absolutely pains me that she loves batman but not wonder woman, ect. because as she says "girls can't be super heroes".    i'm not sure exactly how she picked up this thought in the first place but no matter how many times my wife and i assure her girls are equals to boys she continues to degrade her gender.

[Xevross]

Media shapes our views of pretty much everything we aren't intimately knowledgeable of in our lives.

Pretty much the majority of my ideas about places I've never been to come from films/ TV shows/ games I've seen set there. The idea I have in my head of people is all from media. You ask me to imagine a black American city guy, or a southern white american, I will automatically just think of what I've seen in media. Its the only way I have of knowing. So the media getting it right and not pushing harmful views and stereotypes, whether intended or not, is extremely important.

Its not just about minorities, its representation of everything. Minorities in particular are worse off because they are portrayed less, so the views of people are shaped by a much smaller amount of portrayals. If you've only seen a trans character once, that's your main idea. If it was a bad portrayal, you can develop bad views with nothing to show you otherwise.

And that's why good representation is so important, it gives people more references to work off and helps stave away bigoted views. No representation and bad representation foster bigoted views.

My final point, I absolutely hate it ... *hate it* ... when people say a minority character has no reason to be there. Saying stuff like "This character being gay isn't important to the story, its never brought up", or suggesting a woman character could be a man since her being a woman never does anything important to the story. Arguments like  that are just horrible. You could phrase it the exact same of why is this character a straight white male when he could have been anything else. A character being included and just portrayed as a normal person that happens to be, for example, gay is amazing. It helps break peoples views of stereotypes and gives people more examples in media to think of. It gives that other awful and stereotypical portrayal less weight in people's minds. And even if the character doesn't do anything particularly important, seeing someone like you who you can relate to is so important if its pretty rare in media.

[Legend]

My final point, I absolutely hate it ... *hate it* ... when people say a minority character has no reason to be there. Saying stuff like "This character being gay isn't important to the story, its never brought up", or suggesting a woman character could be a man since her being a woman never does anything important to the story. Arguments like  that are just horrible. You could phrase it the exact same of why is this character a straight white male when he could have been anything else. A character being included and just portrayed as a normal person that happens to be, for example, gay is amazing. It helps break peoples views of stereotypes and gives people more examples in media to think of. It gives that other awful and stereotypical portrayal less weight in people's minds. And even if the character doesn't do anything particularly important, seeing someone like you who you can relate to is so important if its pretty rare in media.

This one gets me too. It's super important that representation includes everyone in every form. I haven't personally experienced it often but it's frustrating to feel represented by a character only to find that representation viewed as a negative online.

[the-pi-guy]

*straight couple having very visible naughtiness *
This is good wholesome context for my kids.  

*Gay couple holding hands*
This is an outrage.  An outrage I say!  How will I explain this to my kids?
------
*Game about slaying dragons, includes a black guy*

What, everyone knows there were no black people, as this is clearly taking place in medieval Europe.

*Game taking place a thousand years in the future*

Why is a woman hunting?  Everyone knows that woman were subject to being gatherers in this primitive post-apocalyptic times.  

[Xevross]

This one gets me too. It's super important that representation includes everyone in every form. I haven't personally experienced it often but it's frustrating to feel represented by a character only to find that representation viewed as a negative online.

The comments and jokes about Netflix shoving in token gay characters really upset me. So what if them being gay isn't actually brought up? Why does a minority character have to justify their existence and meet lots of conditions that a "normal" straight white male character has never once been asked to. Guess what peeps, gay people exist, and a lot of us are just 'normal' people and have 'normal' problems that any straight person could have. A character's conflicts and storylines don't have to tie into their minority characteristic, in fact I'd argue it shouldn't.

A lot of people were upset about the trans character in TLOU2, because it was just yet another character who's entire story is a conflict due to them being trans. I think it happens a lot to trans people in general, there's barely ever a trans character who's just chilling and happens to be a cool trans person. And if that did ever happen you can guarantee there'd be thousands of people flocking to reddit and twitter complaining about token, shoe-horned representation and the character being pointless.

*straight couple having very visible naughtiness *
This is good wholesome context for my kids.  

*Gay couple holding hands*
This is an outrage.  An outrage I say!  How will I explain this to my kids?
------
*Game about slaying dragons, includes a black guy*

What, everyone knows there were no black people, as this is clearly taking place in medieval Europe.

*Game taking place a thousand years in the future*

Why is a woman hunting?  Everyone knows that woman were subject to being gatherers in this primitive post-apocalyptic times.  

This is just people being homophobic/ sexist/ racist and trying to not make it sound so obvious.

I just don't get why people aren't chill. Seeing a mixture of characters is just awesome to me. I'm a gay guy yet I absolutely loved seeing Ellie and Dina portrayed just as a 'normal' relationship that happened to be two girls. It was well written and just nice. I loved Miles and his family in the new Spidey, seeing their culture and community, the way they interact and mix in the Spanish language, it really enriched the experience and helped make the game feel fresh. I'll never understand people actually complaining about having a fun mixture of characters, every person being the exact same white man (+ obligatory young pretty female love interest of course) would get so boring so fast.

[Dr. Pezus]

The comments and jokes about Netflix shoving in token gay characters really upset me. So what if them being gay isn't actually brought up? Why does a minority character have to justify their existence and meet lots of conditions that a "normal" straight white male character has never once been asked to. Guess what peeps, gay people exist, and a lot of us are just 'normal' people and have 'normal' problems that any straight person could have. A character's conflicts and storylines don't have to tie into their minority characteristic, in fact I'd argue it shouldn't.

A lot of people were upset about the trans character in TLOU2, because it was just yet another character who's entire story is a conflict due to them being trans. I think it happens a lot to trans people in general, there's barely ever a trans character who's just chilling and happens to be a cool trans person. And if that did ever happen you can guarantee there'd be thousands of people flocking to reddit and twitter complaining about token, shoe-horned representation and the character being pointless.
This is just people being homophobic/ sexist/ racist and trying to not make it sound so obvious.

I just don't get why people aren't chill. Seeing a mixture of characters is just awesome to me. I'm a gay guy yet I absolutely loved seeing Ellie and Dina portrayed just as a 'normal' relationship that happened to be two girls. It was well written and just nice. I loved Miles and his family in the new Spidey, seeing their culture and community, the way they interact and mix in the Spanish language, it really enriched the experience and helped make the game feel fresh. I'll never understand people actually complaining about having a fun mixture of characters, every person being the exact same white man (+ obligatory young pretty female love interest of course) would get so boring so fast.

Actually sense8 has a very good transwoman

[darkknightkryta]

Dragon Prince did it right, if you ask me.  It's just there.  They're not drawing attention to it (Diversity, gays, etc.). It's just normal.