Small yet profound experience I had re: the importance of diversity in entertainment

RiotZact

So lately Hollywood has been making a push to make more diverse movies, and of course there has been a strong backlash towards this at times, some backlash being more valid than others. I have a friend that is a die hard Star Wars fan that thinks that they “spit in the fans’ faces by trying to push their feminazi agenda” and who refused to go see Black Panther with me even though he has seen LITERALLY all 17 of the previously released Marvel Cinematic Universe movies and has loved every single one of them. He said he “just can’t support that shit.”

Well, I had 2 experiences in just the last couple days that put this whole argument to rest. I am currently student teaching in a first grade classroom in an inner city school (mostly extremely poor kids with rough backgrounds). On Wednesday I saw this little blond haired girl take her coat off in the morning and reveal her pink shirt underneath, which had Rey (the female main character in the new Star Wars movies) holding her lightsaber on it. Later I said to her “Hey Norah, who is that on your shirt?” And she responded “It’s Rey from Star Wars! It’s one of my favorite movies!”

Jump forward to Thursday, this little black boy comes up to me and says “Mr. Gossard I went to the movies last night!” So I asked him what movie he saw and he said Black Panther, when I asked him if he liked it he said “Yeah! I want to be him when I grow up!” It was the cutest thing ever and I had to turn my head away a little bit because it made me tear up.

These two adorable children deserve to have their hero’s, and I am done accepting any arguments to the contrary. 

F Me In The Brain

Cool stories. 

Your friend kinda sounds like a dummy.  Perhaps he needs to move to West Virginia or Kentucky and live in the woods with the rest of his buddies who think that way.

I would not bring a first grader to see Black Panther but to each their own.  Way too much violence for little kids to be watching.  

The thirteen year old commented after the movie....there were almost no white people in that movie.  I told him that was one of the best parts of the movie and asked him how he would feel if he were black and almost every big movie had the same thing to be said about what he saw represented by race.  He got the point.

Your buddy would probably hate that one of the few larger white roles in that film was an evil and underdeveloped moron.  I loved it.  

oftenreading

All children deserve to have heros and positive role models that resonate with them. And, of course, the movies you mention are fiction - the characters can be of any race, colour,appearance that their creators wish them to be. There is no valid argument that they must reflect the status quo. 

And frankly, your friend doesn’t sound like someone I would enjoy hanging out with. 

RiotZact

F Me In The Brain said:

Cool stories. 

Your friend kinda sounds like a dummy.  Perhaps he needs to move to West Virginia or Kentucky and live in the woods with the rest of his buddies who think that way.

I would not bring a first grader to see Black Panther but to each their own.  Way too much violence for little kids to be watching.  

The thirteen year old commented after the movie....there were almost no white people in that movie.  I told him that was one of the best parts of the movie and asked him how he would feel if he were black and almost every big movie had the same thing to be said about what he saw represented by race.  He got the point.

Your buddy would probably hate that one of the few larger white roles in that film was an evil and underdeveloped moron.  I loved it.  

Great points! And yeah he is extremely frustrating with some issues, it’s impossible to talk to him. And I assume you’re talking about Klaw? I actually thought he was awesome, but to each their own. 

And yeah 1st grade was probably a little young, but like I said these kids have pretty fucked up backrounds so it was likely nothing compared to other stuff he sees on a daily basis. 

brianlux

Great stories, RiotZact!

What a loss for some people who won't embrace diversity.  And what a boring world if there were no diversity!

And how cool that you are a teacher!  I'm heartened by knowing this because we need good teachers and from what I can tell through these forums,  you're just what we need that way.  Thank you for doing it! 

RiotZact

brianlux said:

Great stories, RiotZact!

What a loss for some people who won't embrace diversity.  And what a boring world if there were no diversity!

And how cool that you are a teacher!  I'm heartened by knowing this because we need good teachers and from what I can tell through these forums,  you're just what we need that way.  Thank you for doing it! 

Thanks for the kind words Brian! And yes, what a boring world it would be. And it’s so funny because you know people used to have these same exact arguments about Irish and Italian and Polish people, and it’s just impossible to get it through some people’s skulls that this is the same thing and will have the same results down the line if we just accept people and give them equal opportunities like we eventually did with the different White races.