I remember, a few years ago, when Black Panther came out. All my friends watched it, and everybody was giving enthusiastic reviews about how good it was. I did not watch it myself. But I found it interesting that this one movie enthralled the whole world. I suspected it was because it showed a black superhero, a non-villainous black character that many people of colour could see themselves in. Representation is good, but the important thing is that it is a positive representation.
My parents watched it. Just as I expected, they were not big fans of it. Being African (Nigerian, to be exact!), they were slightly ticked off by cultural inaccuracies shown in the ‘African melting pot’ that is Wakanda. Names from completely different African cultures were being used. The ‘universal African accent’ (which neither they nor I have ever heard a single African speak in) had them rolling their eyes a bit. However, they did acknowledge that it was a start in our journey to an accurate representation of people of colour. Not the end, but a beginning.
I think it’s essential that people see themselves in the media. Something as small as seeing somebody that looks like them in an ad gives people, especially kids, a jolt of happiness, especially when they live in a community that is not represented enough, or accurately, by media.
I know how it feels to see a black character on a show I enjoy. Or, by extension, to see other POC. Seeing someone Latinx, Asian, or from the MENA region in media makes me happy because it shows that the world is coming to a place where it accepts people that are different from them. And that means:
“The more we get together, the happier we’ll be…”[1]
[1] Quote from a folk song not associated with a particular artist.