Putting Some Color Into (Trans)Media: The Current State of Diversity
One of the main reasons I got into the business of film wasn’t to make money or be famous, it was because me and friends saw films like Swingers and Clerks, loved them, quoted them often, and desired to see versions of those films that featured versions of us. It was my friends who pushed me to be a screenwriter, a dream that’s either on hiatus or become a what-might-have-been, of which I’m not sure.
Fifteen years later, as someone who is always curious about the culture and business of film, loves writing for this here digital rag, and as someone who works at a film festival, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the current New Media/Transmedia conversation. As I’ve been exploring, reading and chatting, the part of me that wanted/wants to see films that include folks like me keeps peeking up time to time and can only marvel at how more alike, than dissimilar, in otherwords how monochromatic, those who are driving the New Media/Transmedia conversation are. More distressing, is how monochromatic those who seem to be participating are.
It’s not like folks like Henry Jenkins or Brian Newman have avoided the question of diversity. Newman himself has sat on panels and asked why are there so many White guys. Jenkins has pointed out that non-white students create a whole hell of a lot of what we would call New Media content.
However, honestly, it’s not Jenkins or Newman, or any of those other cats I’m looking at to lead the charge. No, I want to know, where are my fellow 37 year-old folks of color? Where are the guys and gals I remember seeing Love Jones on opening night with, who 13 years ago said “finally” under their breath, and 13 years later are now asking “what happened?”
I’ve started doing some preliminary searching, and I can’t find a damn thing from anyone that seems to dissect this new frontier from the perspective of being Black, Latino, Asian, etc. One of the most interesting and empowering storytelling revolutions is developing around us, and unless I’m blind, stupid and forgot how to do a basic keyword search in Google, we seem to be sitting on the sidelines, contributing silence and indifference.
So am I missing those folks who are doing the interesting work? If so, please point them out to me. Because this conversation extends beyond just People of Color. As someone who proudly calls themselves a Southerner, who revels in films that explore different times, different eras and different questions, I’m dying to see more stories spring forth from unlikely sources.
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Charles,
I feel you, I got into screenwriting for similar reasons. Despite being a white dude, I felt that my own experience growing up in a multi-cultural setting wasn’t being represented well enough. Of course, the culture I claim Hip-Hop was certainly being under-represented as well as mis-represented too often for my taste.
I wonder as well. However, it is also a question of where would you even see it if it exists? There is a mainstream entertainment media and now a mainstream “indie” media that, believe me, is difficult to crack at all.
I also notice that even “indie darling” films with people of color have a homogenous point-of-view and often are championed by white indie media darlings so there is not a diversity in the storytelling.
I think that the movie “Somebodies” was a revelation to many and not surprising as they’d not seen people of color presented in such a casual “normal person” light before…why? As you rightly point out, we all could relate to “Clerks” and “Swingers” and the like…why should Sundance be blown away by a film in the same vein with a cast of African-Americans? I think we all know why.
I hope to see more diversity bubble to the surface, but 13 years isn’t that long. You’ll be around fighting the good fight and in 13 years you’ll see some improvement but still want more…me too!
“You’re so money!” Charles!
-Martin