Today the United States is more diverse than it has ever been before, but it’s easy for one to not believe this due to the lack of diversity in films and television programs.
For centuries Hollywood has lacked the proper representation of the ethnographic makeup of the United States. Famous directors have made the poor, and quite racist decision of whitewashing non-Caucasian characters for television roles– which is the act of hiring a Caucasian actor or actress to play the part of a character who is a person of color.
Luckily, Hollywood began to see the error in their ways and began producing shows casting minorities as the lead, and having these shows be ran by directors and producers of a minority background.
Empire, for example, a show that cast a majority of influential African-American actors, some of which belonging to the LGBTQ+ or mentally ill community. Other shows like Jane the Virgin, Rock the Boat, and Quantico showcase the talent of Hispanics/Latinos, Asian-Americans, and actors/actresses who practice Hindu or Muslim faith respectively.
In the recent Emmy Awards Show, history was made as Donald Glover became the first African American to win the award for Outstanding Director. Also, when Riz Ahmed became the first South Asian man to ever win an Emmy as he won the award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series and when Lena Waithe and Aziz Ansari, an African-American LGBTQ+ woman and an Indian man, both won the award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series.
Although, the diversity in television is increasing, there has yet to be an ample amount nor portrayal of it: Whitewashing and stereotyping of minority actors and actresses still exist. Even as the lead or apart of the main cast, Blacks and Hispanics are often times given the role of the maid, gardener, prostitute or overly promiscuous woman, the cold hearted thug, or the immigrant living in fear of deportation. Americans of Arab or Middle Eastern descent are often terrorists or belly dancers. Native Americans are either the old, wise and silent peace maker or the bled-shedding warrior and Asian-Americans are depicted as foreigners speaking broken English and practicing weird customs.
For LGBTQ+ actors and actresses, their characters are defined by their sexuality instead of who they are as individuals and for those who are mentally ill they are made incompetent, violent and criminal as they cannot control themselves around others. Women of any background are often given the role of the rude, backbiting, scorned female that is fueled by anger due to the fact that she is being held back from achieving success due to her male counterparts.
It is time for television to become more diverse, not only with the actors and actresses they hire due to their race, religion, sexual identity, or mental illness, but also in the roles they are given. Only then will television be truly diverse.
