So I’m watching 11.22.63 and I’m thinking about how many times I’ve seen the 50’s/60’s era depicted in film. People get really nostalgic about that time period but I’ve seen very few POC ever depicted in these films. And usually when I do it’s about civil rights. And it kind of got me thinking about the way POC get depicted in movies or in tv in general.

Our stories always seem to be special interest stories. They always have to be about overcoming obstacles, and struggles. Not just that era, any era. They make movies about White people all the time that are just about regular life things. But when it’s about people who aren’t White, the experience often seems to focus on the fact that they’re NOT White.

And maybe that’s part of the problem. Maybe that’s why White is still seen as the default. Because the White experience is always normalized and you can literally make a show about nothing and everybody will watch it. But when the show is about a minority that becomes the entire focus of the experience.

I’m not saying we should discount the fact that POC have different perspectives than White people. I’m saying that most people see their lives as ordinary and normal within the context of their environment. That they don’t necessarily see their experience as being colored by their ethnicity on a daily basis because really that’s just external. Internally what is normal for us is just that. Normal. Regular. Every day. And dealing with external factors such as racism are an exception rather than the norm.

I’m not sure I’m expressing myself properly but as an example I’ll give my favourite movie of all time, The Color Purple. With very few exceptions, this was a movie about Black people living their lives and dealing with other Black people. The narrative wasn’t driven by racism or segregation. It was driven by the very rich tapestry of all these different Black people and how they related to one another. It was about them. Not about how they dealt with White people. And that’s one of the reasons I love it so much. The story isn’t driven by the Black/White contrast. It was driven by the lives of the characters. Rich, diverse, interesting characters who had their own stories to tell. Stores that did not have to be contrasted against White society to matter, or to be interesting enough to be told.

And I think at the heart of what I’m saying is that it’s not just enough for us to include minorities in movies and shows. It’s no enough to have shows lead by minority casts. We still need to go a step farther and show POC in their own worlds without constantly contrasting it with the world of White people. Without constantly using racial friction as a prop. Our stories are fascinating because we have our own cultures, our own languages, and they need to be seen as normal too. Not just as an exception to the norm, which is still framed from a White perspective.