Cape Town - Following the recent casting announcement of a female actress in the role of Doctor Who - along with the slow increasing prominence of female characters being given center stage - representation in movies and television has become a hot topic. What is even more fascinating than this, is an unspoken hierarchical structure within entertainment representation itself.
Film and TV culture in the US has a large impact on South Africa, especially with American films dominating the local box office.
While South Africans have started showing more support for local films, with Keeping Up With the Kandasamys earning more than R16 million at the local box office and our Afrikaans language films continuously thriving. However, Most South Africans spend their money on American films, with Box Mojo compiling a list of the box office tally for the top grossing films in SA, and this year has been dominated by blockbusters.
Box Mojo compiling a list of the box office tally for the top grossing films in SA, and this year has been dominated by Hollywood blockbusters.
Which also brings up just how important important representation is, especially as western films perpetuate this notion of what the world looks like, and what beauty is, and unfortunately a majority of the images these images present to us are cisgendered straight white males.
In recent years, there has been a strong swell of support regarding the power of representation, and just how important it is that more diverse voices and stories are being told. Some may argue that this bears no relevance to South Africa, but we do consume a large percentage of entertainment content coming from North America, and England.
A new study released earlier this year by the University of California revealed that movies make the most money when exactly half the cast is non-white.
The study comes from the university’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, which examined 63 films released in 2014 and discovered that the median global sales of productions with a 41-50% non-white cast was $122 million (R1 584 096 800), compared to $53 million (R 688 114 900) for films with a non-white cast of less than 10%.
This is what invisibility feels like @ConstanceWu@HereIsGina@Oprah: not being included in the majority of films #InclusionCrisispic.twitter.com/B3AUSSs1h0
— MDSC Initiative (@MDSCInitiative) August 1, 2017
Television has often been a leader in representation, and the 2017 Emmy nominations was recently announced, highlighting a large number of shows which feature characters who are people of colour or represent a minority group.
Drama Series
"Better Call Saul" (AMC)
“The Crown” (Netflix)
“The Handmaid’s Tale” (Hulu)
“House of Cards” (Netflix)
“Stranger Things” (Netflix)
“This Is Us” (NBC)
“Westworld” (HBO)
Comedy Series
“Atlanta” (FX)
“Black-ish” (ABC)
“Master of None” (Netflix)
“Modern Family” (ABC)
“Silicon Valley” (HBO)
“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (Netflix)
“Veep” (HBO)
Out of the above mentioned shows - Atlanta, Blackish are predominantly lead by a black cast, while Master of None is led by actor Aziz Ansari who is an American of Indian descent. The rest of the shows are predominately led by white actors, or stars a large ensemble cast featuring at least one person of colour.
While most of these shows thankfully included people of colour, very few are led by a woman of colour, an Asian actor or gender non-conforming actor. There are certainly minority actors and actresses who are making names for themselves, because they are the exception to the rule, and get less exposure than their white counterparts.
A new study released earlier this year by the University of California reveals just how much money could be made when companies embrace diversity. The above graphics refers to Broadcast TV in America. Graphic:
Most shows are predominately led by cisgendered white men, then white women, and cisgendered black men, and then subsequent hierarchy appears to be in place regarding who gets to be the next person given the opportunity to shine.
The issue of representation is a matter in which Hollywood, and the creative forces behind it, itself are starting to address in more public spaces. One of the most interest discussions had on the matter comes from round-tables hosted by The Hollywood Reporter.
People are desperately looking to see themselves reflected on screen:
Love when people find representation to be forced. Black? Asian? Female? DISABLED?! Forced is all your characters a single gender and race.
— Julia Lepetit (@JuliaLepetit) July 17, 2017
Representation is good (female Thor, black Captain America) but we need more roles written FOR poc and not just POC in roles for white ppl.
— Wella Lobaton 🏳️🌈 (@wellangforever) June 18, 2017
So when's Hollywood gonna give us an LGBT superhero movie this hetero activity has gotten out of hand pic.twitter.com/WDbBV1qOra
— 🍒 (@babydryver) July 23, 2017
Im looking at all these tweets abouts shows, but what about Marvel. Theres not one LGBT+ Superhero. LGBTQ FANS DESERVE RESPECT pic.twitter.com/4Xlc9PyJPN
— XshyanneX (@Marvel_Diaries) July 23, 2017
BGN had an amazing chance to collaborate with @netflix for #FirstTimeISawMe, where we chat about the first time we saw ourselves in media. pic.twitter.com/Y0nAApQ6tO
— Black Girl Nerds (@BlackGirlNerds) August 1, 2017
There appears to be this hierarchical structure in place as to who gets to be given opportunities.
It is almost like a queue in place of who gets their turn to be seen in entertainment media. The list will try to tackle those who lead the TV shows, and will try to aim mentioning at least 10 per heading.
[Do note that their will be some shows missed in this list, given the vast landscape of television and cisgender relates to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.]
Cisgender straight white male
The Flash, Arrow, Legion, Better Call Saul, Suits, Game of Thrones, Modern Family, Ray Donovan, The Leftovers...and the list goes on.
Cisgender straight white female
The Handmaid's Tale, Shameless, The Crown, Supergirl, Outlander, Veep, New Girl, The Good Fight, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, American Horror Story.
Cisgender non-white male
Power, Master of None, Atlanta, American Gods, Luke Cage, Empire, Black-ish, Billionaires, The Real House Husbands of Hollywood, Fresh Off the Boat.
Cisgender non-white female
How To Get Away With Murder, Scandal, Jane The Virgin, Queen Sugar, Insecure, Superstore, Dear White People, Being Mary Jane, Devious Maids.
Cisgender gay/bisexual white male
Will and Grace, Looking, Queer as Folk, The New Normal, The McCarthy's, Partners, Difficult People, Black Sails, House of Cards, Scandal.
Cisgender gay/bisexual white female
Orange is the New Black, The L Word, One Mississippi. The Fosters, "You Me Her".
Cisgender gay/bisexual non-white male
Empire, Sense8, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,
Cisgender gay/bisexual non-white female
How To Get Away With Murder.
Transgender Female
Lavern Cox (Orange is the New Black), Jamie Clayton (Sense8), Transparent (technically led by a cisgender white male actor).
Transgender Male
Non-binary
Asia Kate Dillon who plays a non-binary character on Billions.
Asia Kate Dillon as Taylor Mason in Billions.
When looking at the above list, it is easy to see who gets preferential treatment in terms of representation, and those who remain marginalised.
While it could be argued that TV cannot show every facet of every life on television, the purpose of television has always been to entertain. Most if not all TV shows work on the premise that nothing is off limits, and it should be worth remembering that TV can contribute greatly towards a change in attitude regarding a certain topic.
TV was one of the contributing factors to thechange in attitude to gay rights, which helped make gay marriage legal in the united states.
By not discussing such topics, or by not giving marginalized minority groups representation, it enables a culture of ignorance, and a skewed sense of importance.
With the news that there would be a female Doctor Who, a female Ghostbusters, a female remake of Oceans' Eleven. It caused a lot of fragile male egos to feel bruised because how dare these properties, which have been dominated by male actors and characters, get adaptations predominantly featuring women.
While no one is suggesting that these properties be liked if they are "horrible", but there is no denying that these movies and roles have an impact.
There was a flood of tweets celebrating the Doctor Who casting, as it helped move the conversation of representation to the fore. It was amusing seeing a couple of the tweets which went viral following the news:
Oh great a female Doctor Who. What next? Female real doctors? Female pilots? Female scientists? Female sisters and mothers? Female WOMEN?!
— m@®|{ µø₽₽û§🏳️🌈 (@markhoppus) July 16, 2017
First ghostbusters, then Wonder Woman, then a girl alien? Whats next, female balloons? Woman sand? A girl alphabet? Women can't be balloons
— Jill Gutowitz (@jillboard) July 16, 2017
While there should be little doubt that the casting is important, it just made many other minority groups wonder when they would be getting the opportunity to see themselves represented as the heroes and the lead characters in TV shows.
It can be easy to underestimate the importance that representation plays, but it's impact can mold the minds of a younger generation, and broaden those of an ageing generation.
Representation helps change minds and challenge prejudices, and what makes it so impressive, is that it does so in manner that people don't immediately recognise, but allows for thoughtful contemplation.
In conclusion, while the progress is important, there appears to be a hierarchical structure in place which dictates who gets represented and at which times.
Ultimately, representation for minority groups remain slow moving, but hopefully in time everyone will get a piece of the pie.
* Theolin Tembo is a content producer for the Cape Argus
** The views expressed here don't necessarily represent that of Independent Media.