It’s no secret that the film and television industry is in urgent need of a reform. Everywhere you look, it’s white actor after white actress, so on and so forth.
As a person of colour, from a young age, I never realised how overshadowed my own race was, along with other non-white races, by the number of white people in the worldwide media. I would watch all these cartoons and Disney movies with many of its white characters and didn’t even bat an eyelid because that’s what I grew up with, and that’s what I became used to without realising it. Once you introduce something to a child that they witness so often, it becomes a norm for them. I was around 6 or 7 years old when I watched Aladdin for the first time, not even realising that characters like Aladdin and Princess Jasmine were the first brown skinned Asian characters I had laid eyes on, but I knew one thing – that I loved this movie with all my heart and from that moment on, my cousins and I watched it whenever we could, ending up being able to recite the entire movie by heart. Now when I watch it, I can only think of how little Asians who are not Eastern Asian, are represented in media, and no matter how many times I’ll watch it, it won’t change the fact that Aladdin, Jasmine and co, unfortunately, aren’t real and that there really is an underlying issue with representation today.
There is a strong push nowadays for greater diversity. For example, if a cast for a movie adaptation is announced, the first thing people will do is pick at who these actors are, and if there are any actors of colour in it. If not, the casting directors and producers will be called out until they make the usual excuses. “We want to make this historically accurate”, or, “This actor was so amazing in the audition that we just had to pick them!” or, “There will be some actors of colour being cast soon!” (In which case the last one always turns out to be an entire white cast, possibly a black actor, with the occasional Eastern Asian.) Even in the circumstances as to which we are lucky enough to receive a genuinely diverse cast, I always ask myself one thing: ‘Where the heck are the South Asians?’ and here’s the important part: I always feel as if I am alone in asking myself that question.
Occasionally you do see, by a miracle, some South Asian characters in popular culture, such as ‘The Big Bang Theory”s Raj Koothrapali, or ‘Parks and Recreation”s Tom Haverford, or ‘Harry Potter”s Patil twins. In previous years there have been productions where South Asians were the main stars, such as ‘East is East’ and ‘Bend it Like Beckham’, of which both movies were very popular, not just amongst South Asians, but those of other races as well. And despite the popularity, why is there still a lack of our people being seen in the media? Why can’t I name up to 5 popular South Asian musicians or 5 South Asian comedians, for example?
There is a lot of work to be done in order to represent South Asians more. We need public voice for South Asians, we need South Asians themselves to realise the lack of representation they get (1% or less of Hollywood roles), and really push to be heard, and it wouldn’t hurt to have the support of people of other races. And I don’t mean support for just Indians, of where many people always act like India is only South Asian country. How about the Bengali’s, the Pakistani’s, the Afghans, the Nepali’s, the Indonesians and many more as well? South Asia is a vast and wonderful community of countries, and simply sticking in the occasional Indian with a few black people and a few Eastern Asian people and about a million white people isn’t gonna cut it.
In contrast there is work to be done on our side too. Parents of South Asian kids need to stop pushing them into academic careers, and the performing arts need greater support. Young people should be allowed to explore all fields and should they wish to enter the performing arts, they should be encouraged to do so. By providing support and access to services for them, it sets up the fact that there are many talented South Asians, available for directors and producers to pick from. If they won’t come to us, we’ll go to them.
Diversity is what makes something more appealing, and it’s exactly what the general public wants to see. I want a movie about a South Asian superhero. I want to hear more South Asian musicians. I want to see more South Asians comedians. Models. Artists. Writers. Directors. You name it. We’re moving forward with the times – please don’t leave the South Asian community behind.
