DIVERSITY: AND WHY REPRESENTATION MATTERS

The most jarring thing to come out of the year 2023 is America's rediscovered acceptance of bigotry.  Granted, I can't claim we as a country were ever outrageously tolerant, but it does appear as though a majority of our politicians and citizens are more than willing to double back on the past century of social progress we had made. However while one side of the country is avidly against, and surprisingly vocal about their ill feelings towards any minority group, the other side is continuing to "fight the good fight" and allow minorities to be treated like normal human beings, (and that second half in and of itself is split between genuine care for human rights, and democrats). So we find ourselves in a very foreign situation, some of us being much more outspoken about our adoration of the white majority, others just wanting to live, some fighting so that can happen, and now it feels very unclear as to which direction we're heading in general. You can check Twitter for about five minutes and see exactly what I'm writing about. 

Growing up it became very clear very quickly that I was the black sheep in most groups, but for the longest time the reason why remained a mystery. Once puberty came around, I was presented with emotions and feelings that, even as a very emotionally mature child, felt very new, and with that, came homosexuality. I knew I liked boys, as well as girls, I knew that wasn't what everyone else felt, I didn't know why, I didn't know what to do, and I was very scared. Almost immediately these thoughts manifested as a deep loathing, something to constantly remind myself that I was not like my friends, and if they knew they may not be my friends at all anymore. I didn't know where to go with this information, I tried talking to my Mom about it but she only confirmed that I was just very confused (though I wasn't I just didn't know I wasn't). However it wasn't until maybe 8th or 9th grade that I realized these feelings were normal, I was just entirely surrounded by people who were a tad bit more normal than me. So at 15, I download Tinder, then the following year download Grindr, knowing very little about the implications of what I was doing, I just wanted to connect with someone else who understood. This decision affected my development, how my neurons fired, and how I perceived love, affection, and sex. I was 16 years old the first time I saw two men kiss in something that didn't ask if you were 18 before watching it. I had no idea how two men loved each other, what it looked like, or what it felt like, in 16 years of my life, most of which I already knew I was different, I was never exposed to what was so different about it. And the result was a very lonely, very insecure 16-year-old boy talking to 30-year-olds about sex and pleasure, and life in general, permanently affecting my love life for the years to follow. 

In 2022 a trailer dropped for a live-action rendition of Disney's beloved "The Little Mermaid", a highly anticipated film, and was met with more backlash than the ninth installment of a film about driving cars. Was the CGI bad? Did they make major adjustments to the plot? What could possibly rationalize such a violent, hateful, dramatic response to such a long-adored film? The little mermaid was black. A fictional, under-the-sea creature from an animated film, was being portrayed by a black actress. I personally was much more focused on the fact that she was ginger instead of having highlighter-red hair, but I guess some of us have different priorities. In 2018 Ruth E. Carter broke records by being the first-ever black woman to have won more than one Oscar. In 2013 a Chinese man from Marvel Comics originally named "Fu Man Shu" was played by British Actor, Ben Kingsley. In 2018 Scarlet Johanson played a Japanese character in "Ghost In The Shell", and also signed on to play a trans man in a film that has since been canceled. In 2008, Robert Downey Jr. played a character in blackface for the entirety of the film, disregarding the context. The VMAs. Time and time again we see representation being stolen from those we all know exist, but refuse to acknowledge, with little to no widespread backlash. Thus those of us with complex critical thinking skills and more than one brain cell can pretty easily detect that this outrage is not, as they claim, about displaying the character as we know her, but much more reliant on the darkness of the actress, Halle Bailey's skin.

 This turmoil seemed to kickstart a long line of hate coming towards any minority in the public eye, as well as its evil twin; politicians. In the past few months, and even years, women, POC, the LGBTQ+ community, and really anything other than white, cis, straight, and Christian, have been under attack from all sides. Rights that have been a given for decades are being taken away or brought up for debate on if Americans actually need it. Rights we fought decades for that we only recently achieved just now being seen as unconstitutional. Don't for a second believe that the reaction to Halle Bailey, and the discussion of trans and women's rights in certain states aren't connected, because they very much are. They (the government) know exactly what is happening. They start by stirring up conversation, Trump's election and potential re-election combined with the Black Lives Matter rallies that took place in 2020 served as a starting point. By attacking TikTok, and topics that young voters would care passionately about, they get more attention, and more people trying to get politically involved. Thus when they begin actually taking rights away as we saw with Roe V. Wade in 2022, or even just bringing discussions to the table that we thought was old news scares people, and as a result, causes heat and tension between the two opposing viewpoints. They bring up more conversations for us to disagree on, ones that we wouldn't have even considered required defending. Now at this point, we're divided, angry, hurt, and scared, and we're all very passionate about whichever side was fighting for. Then the bootlickers come down and tighten the grip; Elon Musk and Facebook Dude, Twitter, and Threads. People who had already had too much power now controlled the things we see, the things we say, the things we like; the things were exposed to. The media, something a lot less controlled by political opinion, presents things to stir up more debates and divide our viewership. All of this has allowed bigots to let their guard down, and feel as though their bigoted opinions are much more valid than most of us would say they are, and distracts from the actual accomplishments good people are trying to achieve.

Halle Bailey plays the first-ever live-action black princess, unless of course, you count "Black Panther"'s "Shuri", and that matters, now more than ever. Because of how safe bad people feel to express their hatred towards black people, too much of The Little Mermaids' publicity has centered on its controversy, rather than the beauty it actually is. Until 2009 young, black girls grew up with the closest thing to representation of themselves being... Then "The Princess Frog" came out, allowing Tiana, largely portrayed as a frog, to become Disney's token black representation, as Mulan, Pocahontas, and Jasmine have been for their respective nationalities prior, and very few additional black-led films, animated or live, have come out of Disney's offices since. So, consider,  a black woman growing up loving Disney princesses, regardless of if they looked like her, the little mermaid is her favorite, and Belle is a close second. In 2018 this woman has a child, and even though she never had an issue with her princesses and dolls not looking like her, she also didn't know that was a possibility and wants to raise her kid with more pride in her heritage. Can you imagine how excited that woman would be to see that she gets to watch her kid grow up loving a black Ariel? To see her child dressing up for Halloween as someone that had her in mind when the costume was made? To see them make their family out of LEGOs and use skin-colored heads instead of yellow smiley? Can you imagine how much different my life would be if I knew what being gay was before men my dad's age were telling me what they want to do to my pubescent body? Yes, I turned out fine. My life did not end because I didn't see two boys kissing in an animated Disney film, just like that woman's life didn't end because her Barbies weren't black. But what a difference it could've made. To grow up with pride in yourself instead of loathing for being different. 

Dont let political stance get in the way of joy. Especially kid's joy. This was a children's film that the world decided to riot against. We are also allowed to have things. We exist. Just like they do, just like they have. Seeing ourselves in the media we consume is something they've never had to understand, and never will. But that doesn't mean they get to destroy. Representation matters, and no matter how many times we get called pedophiles, groomers, murderers, rapists, and drug dealers, all crimes are largely populated by them, not us, we need to continue to uplift those who need it. Help those who want it. Represent those who go have gone far too long being unrepresented.