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Writer's pictureMariana Volpato Suzuki

DIVERSITY VS REPRESENTATION

On the top: an image of the season 1 Glee cast. On the bottom: the protagonists of Beef Season 1. In the middle it reads: Diversity versus Representation.

For the past decade, we’ve seen impressive growth in diversity on the screen: high-budget movies with people of color, huge TV series with racialized casts, and even Lord of the Rings with a black elf! That’s all very cool and all, but in reality, it doesn’t really feel like we’re in racial heaven, right?

While reading Telefilm’s Race-based Audience Report, it’s clear to see the dissatisfaction of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color when it comes to how they are being portrayed in the media. Some white people may wonder, “Well, you lot asked for racial diversity, and look at how many POC we have on the screen now! When will you be satisfied?”

I guess that’s where the problem is: It’s not because we are on the screen that we see ourselves in it.

That’s the difference between Diversity and Representation. Diversity means having a cast that consists of people with different ethnical backgrounds, disabilities, sexualities, genders, etc. Representation is an authentic portrayal of this diverse cast, with characters that aren’t based on stereotypes and are developed just as well as the rest of the cast.

For example, the TV show Glee brought a diverse cast to the screen when the show launched in 2009. Yet today, the show isn’t seen with glorifying eyes: all the main protagonists of the show are white, heterosexual, and cis-gender, while the “diverse” side of the cast populates the plots C or D, often with jokes based on hateful stereotypes.


The season 1 cast of Glee stands together holding a trophy
Season 1 cast of Glee

I believe a big part of that problem is the lack of diversity behind the scenes. While Glee had a big part of the cast composed of POC, the same couldn’t be said about the show’s Directors, Writers, and Producers. When the people creating a story can’t fully understand characters through personal experience or research, what comes through is usually stereotypes - and most often harmful ones.

What is the point of seeing someone who looks like you being a portrayal of labels you already have to endure daily?

As an Asian-Latinx, there’s a bittersweet aftertaste with what I see now on the screen.

Yet, when shows like Beef (2023) come out, it just - as they say - hits differently. The show not only portrays amazing Asian-American characters in a complex three-dimensional way (sometimes even so many dimensions I seize to understand and only feel), but it also creates an impressive narrative thread that holds us tightly to the story.


I vehemently believe that this was only possible because of the diversity behind the scenes. With most Producers, Writers, and Directors being Asian or Asian-American, characters and story could be developed without the limits of prejudice. And that makes us - not only POC but everyone -resonate with the characters on the screen because they are human, not caricatures.

Hopefully, Beef’s success will prove to the industry that Diversity is not enough: we need authentic representation. And I believe that starts with people of color being able to tell their own stories.

So, how diverse is your creative team?


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