Some people don’t give representation a second thought, usually because they’ve grown up seeing themselves reflected in mainstream media anyway. To be unconcerned about representation is to be privileged, to not have to consider it usually means it’s always there for you, anyway – the film hero looks like you, the characters in the books you read look like you, the music you listen to is made by people who look and act like you.
It’s incredibly important to mention this up front – if you don’t understand the value of not having representation, you won’t understand how important it is to have it. If you’re used to seeing characters like you portrayed – the positive, the negative, the neutral, the perfect, the flawed, the tidy and messy – you won’t realise how deeply that kind of absence can impact you.
Over the last few years, I’ve seen representation grow, especially in books. And it’s been great! Broader representation, more diversity in characters – whether that’s in regards to race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability or anything else – is a net positive for everyone. Reading is, after all, a way to learn about others, and for younger readers, it helps develop empathy and understanding, to learn about the world around them.
But if you’ve always had plenty of food to eat, a variety of options and dishes to try, you don’t know what it’s like to feel truly, deeply hungry. I don’t think this is something that can easily be overlooked. When everything is geared towards you, it’s easy to not seek anything out.
Now, more than ever, we need that broad spectrum of representation. Everyone should feel able to see themselves in the books they read, the films and TV they watch, but everyone should also have the opportunity to learn about others through these mediums, too. I’m a white, cis bi woman with health issues – I’m not excluded from this, and for me, that means that as well as seeking out books about bi women or sapphic books, I should (and do!) read books with trans, BIPOC, disabled characters. I also generally try to read nonfiction that discusses gender, queerness, race, etc.
However, it’s not just about people like me who are doing this anyway. I can sit here and talk about how great representation is all day long, but that’s not going to reach the people who need to be reached. I’m not talking about the bigots, either, who avoid anything containing representation because of misguided notions and, well, pure bigotry. I’m talking about the vast majority of people who simply do not consider these things. Who don’t hate people different from them, but don’t really make the effort to expand their knowledge.
What I feel is incredibly important right now is casual representation. Yes, I can pick up and enjoy a book written by a Black author, targeted at Black readers. OwnVoices is an incredibly useful tool, and if you’re diving into OwnVoices work you have to be aware it’s not always going to be aimed at you. But when it comes to a broader scope of work, diversity has to be reflected.
Yes, this is a book blog, but indulge me for a moment – I’m going to touch on two TV shows that, I think, do this brilliantly. On the surface, 911 and 911: Lone Star both seem like standard, first responder, procedural shows. The main characters are largely made up of firefighters (with some paramedics), but you have dispatchers and police officers involved, too. They’re the type of shows that appeal to a large audience, but they’ve also managed to snag the attention of enough ‘online’ folks to form fairly big fandoms. How? Through the diversity of their characters!
Something I also appreciate about the shows are that things aren’t dragged out over loads of episodes – issues that crop up for the characters are resolved with action and discussion, and, quite frankly, a lot of characters show a level of emotional maturity that is lacking in other TV dramas. It’s incredibly refreshing – yes, there are misunderstandings, yes, characters make plenty of mistakes, but they aren’t held against them or used repeatedly to bash them over the head.
(Spoilers ahead for both 911 and 911: Lone Star!)
The characters are diverse, and though they battle against issues such as bigotry, it doesn’t define them. One of the ‘core’ couples in the show are Hen and Karen, two Black lesbians who face the same issues many couples face, and who work together as a couple to overcome these. Bobby is a white, middle-aged Catholic man who ends up with Athena, a Black, middle-aged woman whose marriage falls apart when her husband comes out as gay. Through these and other characters the show tackles a variety of topics – from fostering and adoption to domestic abuse to health struggles and more. The show doesn’t linger on characters’ race, sexuality, genders, but they are touched on in the natural course of the storylines.
Lone Star is, in some ways, the little brother to 911. It takes place in Austin, Texas, and there’s a different dynamic here; instead of the paramedics being firmly part of the firefighter side of the team, they’re separate but under the same umbrella. It allows for some interesting dynamics between the two captains, especially when Owen Strand is drafted in from New York to rebuild the 126 firehouse. He has a very specific task with this, too; as it turns out, Texas has an issue with diversity. So Owen searches for capable firefighters and brings a few in, including his son, TK. When we meet TK, he’s about to propose to his partner, but things go wrong and Owen sees bringing him to Texas as the chance to make a fresh start. Pretty soon, TK is involved in a relationship with Carlos, a police officer, and they form one of the core, consistent couples across the series, though they do deal with their own struggles within their relationship.
Owen also hires Mateo Chavez, a young man who has been unable to pass the exams to become a firefighter, Paul Strickland, a young, Black, trans man from Chicago, and Marjan Marwani, a young Muslim woman from Florida. He also brings in Judson Ryder (Judd), who initially comes across as an intolerant redneck, but we soon learn that’s far from the case, and Judd, in fact, has a heart of gold. Like 911, we also have other first responders involved – the paramedics, and the dispatchers, specifically Grace, Judd’s wife.
These shows, taken together, reflect the diversity of the world they’re based in, and their large appeal combined with compelling storylines and dynamics ensure that people who maybe don’t live in diverse areas, and who don’t regularly see that kind of diversity in their everyday life, will watch a show featuring a diverse cast.
I admit, this is getting a bit longer than I intended – so, this is Part 1, and I’ll leave it there, for now, but I’ll try and continue with Part 2 asap for anyone interested, where I’ll dive a bit more into some of the ways 911 embraces diversity and how that applies to books, too!
Unwrapping Words 