If you have a Netflix account—or stole your friend’s Netflix password—turn it on and click the first show or movie on your list. Notice the character that’s shown for the cover photo of that show. It’s most probable that the actor or actress shown in that image is white.
This is the motif of whitewashed Hollywood. It is more likely that white actors and actresses will be hired to play lead characters in television and movies. According to the website for PBS, nearly three quarters of all film actors/actresses for 2014 were white, with the other 15 percent was made up by all other races.
Whitewashing in Hollywood is a serious problem. You may think to yourself that you only watch Netflix or YouTube, so whitewashing doesn’t affect you, but it still does. The top YouTubers are mostly white, and as Netflix streams content that is produced in Hollywood, shows with mostly white casts are still extremely prevalent on the site.
I could spend the majority of this post discussing why whitewashing is an abhorrent trend and the many instances of it that still occur today (*cough* Aloha *cough*). But odds are, if you clicked on this article, you probably also agree that whitewashing is a major problem, not just in American media, but all over the world. And as people that agree that this problem exists, I want to encourage all of you to make a difference in stopping the whitewashing of media.
Specifically, I want to encourage future filmmakers to write their character's races into their scripts. I am an aspiring screenwriter, and one of the first things you learn in screenwriting is how to develop your main characters. Part of this process is giving a look to your character and writing that into the script when the character is introduced.
For example, if I were to write a character description for Jane in Jane the Virgin—which is a show I highly recommend watching and that does not contribute to whitewashed America—I'd say that Jane, who’s hair is long and curls at the ends and who wears mostly floral dresses is: a wholesome woman of 23 who plans out every detail of her life meticulously, including graduate school, work, and engagement, until her accidental artificial insemination interferes with her perfect plan. In this description you learn a little bit about the plot (the accidental artificial insemination) while learning a lot about the character; how Jane is very methodical and uptight about everything in her life.
However, in this example, you don’t have any clue as to the character’s race. In Jane the Virgin, the majority of the cast is Hispanic because the show takes place in Florida and is a comedic take on telenovelas, a distinctly Latino style of television. But as producers in Hollywood have been known to either hire white actors to play lead roles, even if that character is of a different race, by writing that the character Jane is of Hispanic heritage, the screenwriter prevents the casting director and producer from automatically hiring a white actor or actress to play the leading role, who in this case, is Latino.
Even if your aspiration is to become something other than a screenwriter, it is encouraged that budding filmmakers write their own scripts and produce their own films based on these scripts. So in your short films, I encourage you all to write your character’s specific races into the character description of the script, even if the character is intended to be white. This way, as a filmmaker, you ensure the diversity of your films and fight against whitewashed videos in all American media instead of contributing to the problem.
This is a simple solution that only takes one sentence in your script, and it adds to the depth of the character development, which will make possible producers more likely to buy your scripts or take part in the production of your short films.
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As always, leave your thoughts in the comments down below, and share this article with your filmmaking friends to spread the word of fighting whitewashing in all media.
