I find the mentality of “white narratives” to be supremely problematic. One, these characters are fictional. I highly doubt there’s a white serial killer of serial killers, a knight crusader, etc. Two, white people do not have a monopoly on what it is to be human, to experience a range of emotions, to navigate this world in a human way. Three, enough with the ethnic and poverty porn.
We – and as much as we and the other side likes to profess – are no different than white people. We are still people. It’s like damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If we’re not put in these “white roles” then we have an issue. If we’re only shown as these exotic, ethnic, savages (because most times it is savage and animalistic portrayal) then we have an issue. Coño. I’ll take these “white (or whatever the hell that means) narratives” of us. They show we’re human. They open doors for us.
I refuse to join this defeatist mentality of “Can’t fight them, join them.” I am actually in the media fighting them. To be treated as an equal. To be represented as an equal. I don’t know what a white narrative is. I do know what ethnic and poverty porn is and I refuse to believe those are our “true stories.”
I seriously do not understand this mentality of “I want to sit at your table” and then the other of “I want my own table” yelled at the same time. That’s apartheid talk, my friends. Separatist. See how far that’s gotten America and Africa. I hear this all the time. I’m not a big fan of independent cinema (media is fine) when they push out the same ol’ tired stereotypes. You can’t ask for inclusion, equal representation, and not want to be part of it at the same time. It’s contradictory.
One of the reasons they, Hollywood and the media, don’t want to deal with us is because we like to contradict ourselves like this all the time. I prefer to see a Laverne Cox in mainstream than in an obscure show nobody watches and won’t have a decent return. Entertainment isn’t charity. It’s a business. We also have to think business when dealing with Hollywood. Now diversity actually makes more money for them. They can’t use that talking point against us like they used to, but they still employ these nefarious castings of “the stories have to be organic. It’ll feel forced if we put more Black, Latinos, or LGBT people here.” That’s bs. Yes, they can. It works. Now let’s grab onto that and run with it.