We’ve seen a real cultural shift over the last few years to the modern day where DEI has become a thing. Authors, movie, and TV producers have started to face a lot of criticism online if they don’t reflect diversity in their books or films.
What is DEI, and why does it matter?
DEI is the practice of actively and deliberately including people who may have been marginalized by other criteria, such as ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, etc. In order to make a movie, TV show, or book DEI friendly, you need to have characters that are disabled, LBGTQ+, and ethnically diverse.
In order to achieve this, you may have to cast actors that are not necessarily the best choice for the part. You also have to write the characters to fit the demographic.
Why do it then?
If you want funding for your project, then you have no choice.
It is a real shame that, in the current climate, filmmakers and authors are being forced to compromise the quality of their work. It is even worse that people are being denied the chance to create art because they do not fit the demographic. There was a time when movies, TV and books were full of white, straight male protagonists and no one had an issue with that. So how did it all go wrong?
The first step was to open up the casting process. Instead of having an all-white cast, they had to include a few ethnic minority actors. Then there was a push to include female leads. Then LGBTQ+ characters, then disabled, and so on.
We are at the point where diversity is taking over from the actual story. People are getting fed up. Movies are tanking at the box office left and right, and books aren’t selling as well as they had before.
So, when will producers and writers try to create a genuine story without pandering to a small minority again?
Never.
This is the new status quo.
Our best bet is to not give these companies a single penny. Perhaps indie filmmakers and writers can focus on releasing movies and books on their own platform instead. But unless these mega-corps crumble, don’t expect anything to change soon.
