As years pass, more and more people are finding more minority representation in the media, which is making many young minorities feel great because they are seeing themselves in a movie or on television. Whether it's people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, religions, or disabilities, it has not been until recently when the representation of minority groups have hit the mainstream media. Now, with "Coco" winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and the recent release of "The Black Panther", minorities everywhere are feeling grateful for them being represented in mainstream media.

Before we get into specifics, we would need an understanding of the role of minorities in the media back in the day. During the Golden Age of entertainment, minorities did not get the best representation, with Africans, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, and those of different religious backgrounds being boiled down to stereotypes that were popular at the time. Representation of LGBTQ individuals and individuals with disabilities were considered to be unheard of at the time.

In more recent years, there have been lots more characters of color and characters of different religions are being represented with more various personality traits, and more LGBTQ characters and disabled characters are getting the time in the spotlight that they needed. As a queer Hispanic woman with a disability, seeing more minority characters on both the big and small screen warms my heart and I can't wait until we take many more steps forward in representation.

When I saw "Coco" in theatres, I was impressed by not only the characters, story, and music, but also by the accurate portrayal of Dia de Los Muertos and Mexican culture. Before its release, many people were skeptical about its portrayal of Mexican culture, and knowing how there are still several movies and television shows that do not do many cultures justice, the backlash before the trailer was released was somewhat justifiable. When the trailer first came out, more and more people began to be excited about the film and is now one of the best Pixar films.

Along with this, the recent release of "The Black Panther" has shown why proper representation matters so much in the media (SPOILER FREE). The success of the movie is a product of decades of the film industry's lack of representation of minority actors and characters, so I completely understand the universal acclaim for this movie. The representation of those who are not often represented in the media is much more important and make a bigger impact than many people think.

While we do have an amazing start in regards of minority representation in the media, we still have a long way to go. With representation being talked about more and more in this day in age, it will only be a matter of time when we get lots more proper representation from lots more minority groups.