L'aumento della rappresentazione sullo schermo delle popolazioni storicamente escluse rimane una stella polare per l'industria dei media, e si stanno facendo progressi. Tali progressi, tuttavia, vengono misurati utilizzando una lente molto generica. Sebbene gli Stati Uniti ospitino una crescente ricchezza di gruppi identitari, è necessario qualcosa di più di una semplice descrizione a grandi linee per spostare la rappresentazione sullo schermo e catturare le nostre storie e culture diverse.
Il modo in cui le persone si identificano e si percepiscono è di estrema importanza personale, secondo solo al modo in cui le persone si vedono nel mondo che le circonda, compresi i media. Le etichette etniche e multiculturali generiche non sono in grado di trasmettere l'unicità di ogni individuo, eppure la profonda ricchezza della nostra popolazione rimane categorizzata da una manciata di termini ampi e generalizzati, come bianco, nero e asiatico-americano.
L'aspetto negativo della rappresentazione e dell'inclusione attraverso questi termini generalizzati è che impedisce alle persone di vedere il loro vero io riflesso nel mondo che le circonda. Nella stagione televisiva 2020-2021, ad esempio, i talenti asiatici e delle isole del Pacifico sullo schermo hanno avuto una quota del 2,9% in tutta la televisione. Le persone che si identificano con il Sud-Est asiatico, tuttavia, hanno visto molto meno se stesse quando si sono sintonizzate.
South Asians are, however, increasing their prominence in Hollywood, with Kingo debuting as the first South Asian superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Indian-born Anupam Tripathi delivering a breakout performance in Netflix’s Squid Game. For South Asian men, their increasing portrayals in TV and film have brought their share of screen in line with their share of the U.S. population (2.3%). The same cannot be said for South Asian women, whose share of screen stands at just 0.3%—despite progress in recent years by stars like Mindy Kaling, YouTuber turned late-night talk show host Lilly Singh, Never Have I Ever’s Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Avantika Vandanapu, who most recently starred in the 2021 Disney Channel original movie Spin.
Importantly, representation isn’t just about being involved or included. True representation involves accurate portrayals–not generalistic stereotypes. For South Asians, many on-screen portrayals have focused on specific character types, such as nerds, cabbies and convenience store managers like The Simpsons’ Apu. That’s why it’s important to understand how audiences see the characters and roles they engage with on TV and in film—to assess whether representation strides are being made in tandem with those associated with inclusion.
News and reality are the most inclusive genres across the top most inclusive programs for South Asians, highlighting a significant shortage across the wide range of other genres, especially those depicting everyday life—topics that would help break stereotypes and appear more authentic. For example, superhero Kingo in Marvel’s Eternals lives on earth as a Bollywood star, but the movie drew criticism from netizens claiming the film’s Bollywood dance sequence was outdated and shouldn’t have featured English lyrics.
Opening more doors to talent behind the camera is one way to ensure that more stories are told with authenticity. Writer/director Urvashi Pathania, who won the 2021 APA Visionaries Short Film Competition for her film Unmothered, said “I decided to make this film because I didn’t want to play into the South Asian stereotypes. So often, South Asian diaspora films portraying India can veer on poverty porn and I didn’t want to tell a story that didn’t feel authentically mine.”
Avoiding stereotypes is on the path toward the North Star. In a recent interview, casting director, producer and podcast host Keertana Sastry discussed how diversity and authenticity can be accurately portrayed by simply casting South Asian/Asian/BIPOC people for roles. In that way, she says you’re simply “adding a cultural lens without really having to bring it up. Automatically, you are telling a story that becomes universally relatable, because specificity is relatable.”
Quando la facilità del casting di talenti rappresentativi incontra i temi delle storie di vita reale, queste rappresentazioni sullo schermo illustreranno in modo più accurato le ricche vite dei diversi spettatori, facendoli sentire visti.
For additional insights, download our recent Being seen on screen report.
