Kara Connor
Forum Replies Created
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Having more actors from particular minorities helps others in productions get used to having people from those groups on productions, and that will typically result in the environment being more welcoming for everyone. As for celebrating “firsts”, the very fact that something is a “first” is indicative that there is a problem in a particular field, so there’s nothing wrong in celebrating a long-overdue start of change.
With respect to the situation of having openly-gay actors play gay characters, it should be remembered that in addition to channeling their own experience into acting roles, actors also influence the script or portrayal. For far too long LGBT characters have been portrayed either very stereotypically, or as pathetic victims, or evil people. This has an effect back in the real world, where some people’s only knowing exposure to LGBT people is through the film and television. Representation matters, and typically those who don’t acknowledge that are from groups which already have an abundance of it, and are therefore blind to the problem. Having actors from underrepresented groups helps counterbalance that. It’s not like there is a shortage of roles for cis, straight men.
