Growing up as a young impressionable Asian girl, I noticed a lot of things while I was watching TV or the latest Disney movies. First, that I should aspire to fall hopelessly in love with some boy. Second, don't give up on your dreams. And most importantly, many of the faces that I was seeing were white.
As I made my way into my teenage years, not much changed. Looking around at all the posters for hit movies such as Spider Man, The Hunger Games, or The Avengers, I hardly ever saw a person of color take the lead. Some people think, "Oh it's just because this character wasn't written this way." But really, that's ridiculous. It's unfair, even damaging, to underrepresent minority groups in the media. I grew up thinking that I was not as beautiful as someone who was white, because, in the movies, only the white girls got to find their happiness. Mulan was the one film that gave me hope.
In the top films of 2013, 75% of the major speaking roles went to white actors. Black actors made up 14%, and Asian and Hispanic actors combined totaled about 5%. Also, in 2013, the children's books that were published featured 94% white characters. Latino, Asian, Native American, and black characters made up a mere 6%. Film and book writers cannot continue to write as if people of color don't exist. We can't have more children growing up and not seeing their ethnicity represented in the things that they watch.
Recently, an aboriginal three-year-old girl named Samara was racially abused while waiting in line to meet the characters of the hit Disney film, Frozen. She sported the costume of Queen Elsa and was excited to meet her. A white woman told Samara that she shouldn't dress up like Elsa because she was dark skinned and Elsa is clearly white. Her two daughters even said that "Black is ugly." This just goes to show the damaging behavior that white-washing does.
Many young people of color grow up hating the way they look because they are taught from a young age that only white people can be heroes, princesses, or the "popular kid." Even in today's [blockbuster] hits like Jurassic World or Trainwreck, we see a predominantly white cast. Upcoming movies such as Paper Towns, follows up with a similar situation.
Constantly, people of color are being denied lead roles. Zoe Kravitz, for instance, wasn't even given a chance to audition for the new Batman movie for looking "too urban." Like, c'mon! We all know that "urban" is the code word for "black." There's no excuse to believe that actors and actresses of color are not capable of taking on lead roles.
Let's stop pretending that there aren't people of color to play the roles of people of color. Let's stop casting people of color for the role of the "best friend" of the white protagonist. Let's support people of color-oriented films. Let's give people of color roles that don't only perpetuate racial stereotypes. Let's celebrate people of color in all that they are.
