I know the title is enough to have you think 'oh she's racist' or 'oh she's homophobic' just hear me out with this notion. It's incredibly hard, time consuming, and draining to be inclusive of everyone on the dang planet, because no matter what, someone is always going to be left out if we constantly look at things with a 'What about me?' mindset. It's difficult to appeal to everyone, so I don't really see the point of trying so hard to be inclusive. Let me be more specific when I say that I'm applying this to the media. For example, diversity hires in movies or TV shows that are so blatantly obvious there to 'add color' or boost ratings.
There is also the overall selfishness of needing to see yourself in everything. America largely revolves around individuality and our uniqueness and what makes us all so different. Right, there is the kicker. We are all different in our own ways, different backgrounds, upbringings, states and countries, so it would be actually really difficult to lump us all in a specific group, so everyone feels included because no matter what, there is something that divides. We aren't all the same person and that's fine. But the whole thing about being diverse and inclusive for the purpose of spreading a political message or standing is overall pointless and will serve no significance.
Not to mention it sets us back many years if all we're focusing on is race or sexual identity. Companies are doing it. They're hiring people for the sole reason of having a certain ethnic background. Why? To be more diverse, which gives positive feedback from the crowd.
'Look at us! We are so progressive because we have Black employees!'
'Look! See! Our main character is a queer Latino with a wheelchair! We appeal to everyone!'
There is also the message that Disney has been pushing for the past couple of years with their recent films, which are basically the same films they've had for years, just rehashed with race-swaps to fit the modern times. 'Everyone wants to see themselves in this princess.'
As a young girl, I never felt the need to see myself in anything. I knew who I was, I knew my interests, and I didn't feel the need for that to be projected. If I wanted to see myself in something, I'd make comics about some adventures with fairies or something.
I never questioned 'Why is this princess white and I'm brown?'
Because I was a kid, and I wasn't taught that the race of something matters. Any little girl can seem themselves in any Disney princess regardless of skin color, and we shouldn't be teaching kids that in order to see themselves in someone, they need to look exactly like them. Instead of focusing on the great personalities that characters have, it lately has boiled down to skin color.
When I was little, I always loved princess Tiana and Mulan, their personalities were similar to mine, and their aspirations aligned with my own too. Mulan was this trailblazing legend who stopped at nothing protect those she loved and fought in a war. I didn't even care about the fact she was Chinese (Why care about it in the first place?) all I saw was this strong lady who defied what was expected of her in order to do what was right.
And there's Tiana. She was this hard-working woman trying to make her dreams come true, opening a restaurant that her late father had dreamed of opening, not by wishing, but working for it.
There was no reason to think that skin color was the only thing that mattered, just the character of the protagonist and the message of needing to make an already established Disney princess a different ethnicity to appeal to children of color is overall malarkey since what is being taught is race actually does matter. If it didn't, then why make any Disney princess race-swapped to fit this decade in the first place? Because it actually does matter, well at least to these big companies it matters.
Doing things for the sole reason of being diverse is pretty messed up in itself, because for one, it shouldn't have to be this sudden thing as a result of progressive times to be diverse. A lot of companies make it so obvious that their products are motivated by this in order to not get left behind. (Make something original maybe, instead of a poor excuse of diversity, Disney...)
Basically, making something for the sole reason of being diverse or inclusive is pointless and very difficult to do. You can't make everyone happy that's all there is to it. You can try and try, but no matter what, some will always be ticked off or left out, that's just how it is.
Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading it, and as always have a good day🏙️/night🌆!
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