When taking a look at films, shows, and other forms of media entertainment, the presence of different cultures are very prominent in the productions. Sometimes culture may be very obvious, or sometimes it may be very subtle. Unless your audience knows the culture very well and is able to understand it on the spot, it may not be as important for some of them compared to other people. After looking through three different productions about three different cultures, I have recognized that inclusiveness and diversity in film is more important than most people understand.
The three things I watched were the films “In The Heights” and “Crazy Rich Asians”, as well as episode 2 of the Marvel show “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier”. What I think was great about each of these productions is the representation they give to people who are not always in the limelight, especially in this kind of industry.
“In The Heights” is about a community of dreamers, set in New York, with a diverse amount of backgrounds and how they get by on a day to day basis while dealing with many issues related to their backgrounds. This musical is set to inspire people with similar lifestyles and problems to follow their dreams and that what they think might be too far to reach is actually a lot closer than they realize. In America, it is always assumed that everyone gets equal rights and equal opportunity to get everything they’ve ever wanted for a better future for themselves, but through this production, I realize that that isn’t always the case that some people might have to work harder for everything that someone else might be able to get with little to no effort.
While “Crazy Rich Asians” is a huge representation of Chinese culture it also shows the potential for toxicity in any family that may be wealthy or are so stuck on traditions that they lose sight of the most important for their family… happiness. I think representation of this kind of viewpoints are important for viewers because it makes them feel not alone if they are going through something similar (even if they may not be as wealthy as the family in the film), and through the main character, Rachel Chu, they too can learn to stand up to that behavior and know they are worth way more than they were raised to believe. From watching this film, I learned that representing different cultures can be empowering to people who are going through something similar in their lives and they might have needed that representation in order to accept themselves for who they are and learn that being enough for themself is all that matters.
Episode 2 of “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” heavily discusses racism in America, both new and old. People of color are shown to be looked down upon in society over many decades until the present day even with all of the new laws and diversity spread across. One of the characters in the show compares himself, Isaiah Bradley (a man of color), and another person, Steve Rodgers (a blonde and blue-eyed white man). In reality they both took the super soldier serum and became super soldiers, but while Steve was becoming “Captain America”, bringing hope to the nation, and being the best thing to ever be created from the United States, Isaiah was being experimented on and was hidden deep down from the world and was not allowed to exist beyond that lab that killed many other people of color just trying to get that serum to be recreated and work. The injustice shown in this show is really crazy and it’s sad to think about the reality of the world that this was based on. Another representation of how productions view the world is shown later in the episode where Sam Wilson (“Falcon”), a man of color, and Bucky (“The Winter Soldier”), a white man, were arguing and police came and immediately assumed that Sam was the aggressive one without any context and was ready to arrest or shoot him. This particular scene just shows how people don’t actually care about reality and all they see is what’s on the surface, which is typically their skin color. It shows how no matter how much good you do for the world, such as Sam being a veteran and a current Avenger, people are blind to the important things and choose to focus on things that shouldn’t really matter too much, such as race. People who have gone through similar situations where they are only judged by their skin color, need this representation in films, television, and other forms of media because it lets them know that they are not alone and that if productions recognize their struggles, and enough people recognize their struggles through this representation, maybe a movement and change can soon be on its way for the betterment of society.
Comments