Read on Twitter
So I, a biracial person (Asian/White), have a hot take on how biracial/ambiguous race characters are represented in children’s media. They tend to be shallow “representation” without effort for meaningful inclusion and oftentimes intentional exclusion. (Enjoy a long thread 1/15)
It feels like more often than not, children's media tends to only include the culture of these individuals in the most shallow and stereotypical way possible, if at all. (2/15)
Biracial characters also tend to be very pale or extremely racially ambiguous in appearance in order to make them more “palatable” to audiences. Especially if they are in a leading role. (3/15)
We’re coming upon a time where you’ll see people of different races more often in the media, but they often have no ethnicity or only the bare minimum, easy to digest version of it. (4/15)
I bring this up because since I was young, like everyone else, I always wanted to see myself in what I was watching. I’ve always wanted to see a half-Asian person on the screen, but what I REALLY loved was when there was someone who had MY EXPERIENCES. Shocker. (5/15)
I am a pale person of ambiguous race and a European surname who only speaks English. The Asian side of my family is not FOB. But we still have Asian culture, even after our family has lived in America for a few generations. (6/15)
Sometimes I see people from multiple groups and I get excited. But then as I watch them, they aren’t written like they have two cultures. They are written like they only have the default american culture with a bit of not-spicy seasoning on the side. (7/15)
The reason for this tends to be that people in power don’t believe that “ethnic” traits are marketable or that they might be confusing to kids who don’t know what something like katsudon is. (PRO TIP YOU TEACH THEM) New ideas aren’t confusing to kids, they are confusing to adults
As a kid, every time a new food showed up in my life I had no idea what ethnicity it came from. Food was food and I was excited to eat it and learn about it. Now imagine this issue when it's about something more important to an individual’s identity/experience than food. (9/15)
Shout out to all of the almost-creators out there who got rejected on this premise or told to change the characters/stories so much that it defeats the whole purpose. (10/15)
The issue with these characters is that they are used to “represent” non-Caucasian people, but they make no efforts to include their culture in any way. A lot of “representation” is random people filling roles that weren’t written with any consideration for race or ethnicity.
They're blank slate, easy to cast roles or wonderbread protagonists that “everyone can relate to.” They don't get to have a culture because it’s seen as an obstacle to likability. (There’s a word for seeing people as less likable based on their race… I WONDER WHAT IT IS) (12/15)
Next time you see a new show that has “representation”, ask if the leading character is Caucasian, and if not, are they racially ambiguous or toned down? Ask why that might be. (13/15)
Ask if the supporting cast who are of non-ambiguous race get to be valued and important to the story. Then ask if they actually get to have an ethnicity or if they are only there for visibility. Visibility is great, but it’s not the point. Inclusion is. (14/15)
Inclusion is getting to be different and have those differences be INCLUDED, not left at the door. The answer isn’t to only have pure minorities in shows. It’s to stop using multi-race/ambiguity as an excuse to not include people while still patting yourself on the back. (15/15)
Sorry for the long thread! I feel like this is a big issue that's easy to overlook but is a huge obstacle in getting the change that we want to see in our industry.
