Why You Should Support Fashion Forward Films
By Kristen
Russell
n the past couple years, particularly this year, there seems to have been an upsurge in films and television shows with increasingly diverse casts telling interesting stories from a perspective not typically seen in mainstream movies. Not only are many of these movies and shows good, they are also extremely important and demand our attention.
Hollywood has had a bad habit of white washing films by casting white actors and actresses in roles that are meant for minorities. The more common habit is the ‘default’ role being white and straight. If the character is not white or straight it is explicitly stated and talked about. Rather than the trait being one part of their
character, it is the whole character.
One example of this being
diverted is in the popular,
yet controversial show
13 Reasons Why.
There is a jock
character who
happens to be
Asian American.
This was
refreshing to
see because
typically a role
described as an
“all American jock”
would go to a white
male, but instead of
having preconceived
ideas of what that
character “should” be, the
actor that fit the role best was
cast and he also happened to be Asian American. Being Asian American was not his only character trait and was not the focus, the focus was on the character itself.
I