fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2686 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2686 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - posted twice ].
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I will never, ever understand people who get so obsessed with "representation" or being able to identify with characters. Like... are you really unable to enjoy something if there isn't a person who is exactly like you in it?

What about something like The Lion King where all of the characters are animals, or an Indian movie or something where all of the characters are a different race than you? Does that make you unable to enjoy the movie? I just don't get why it matters if the characters are well-written and believable.

Otherwise you're skirting close to when men say they don't want to watch movies with female main characters because they "can't identify with them."

there are studies that show that kids who are shown media that lack representation of one or more aspects of themselves (so black kids watching white-dominated media or girls watching boy-dominated media) have significantly more self-esteem issues wrt that aspect compared to kids who watch shows featuring that representation. it's not a matter of "bawwww this male character doesn't know how it feels to wear high heels".

I guess I must be strange then, because I actively preferred media aimed at boys as a child and I don't think my self-esteem suffered for it in the slightest. I just much preferred action shows to the majority of female-oriented ones.

yes, you are super special snowflake and it's not like there's a dozen of you jumping into every discussion about repesentation to claim how ~weird and sad and self-entitled and unimaginative~ it is to wish for more representation and how you ~just don't understaaaaand~ how it could be an issue for anyone.

go you.

i literally don't understand why it's an issue, though. right now i'm playing the walking dead game by telltale and i'm neither black nor male but i still can empathize with and understand lee. he's a compelling character because of how he's portrayed, his race and gender have nothing to do with it.

i wouldn't suddenly find him more relatable if he were a white woman because i already empathize with his core personality traits.

I wonder if there have been any studies on how it's people with low self esteem and personal image issues that can't identify with or handle characters who don't look exactly like them rather than the characters causing the issues?

We're so quick to blame "society" for all of our personal issues, maybe we should look inward at our own insecurities instead and work on that?

that's a good point, to be honest. i mean, there are children's shows like arthur and spongebob squarepants where the characters aren't even human and you never hear anyone complaining about how children can't identify with those characters. heck, arthur is supposed to be an educational show and i think he's an aardvark or something?

it certainly didn't stop the kids i used to babysit from spending a week pretending to be bears after watching brother bear.

Look, you're separating shows into the following categories:
>action shows
>female-oriented shows
And treating them as mutually exclusive.

It's currently true that most action-oriented kid's shows are male-focused rather than female-focused. But this is a problem. Because lots of girls like action shows! It shows an appalling lack of diversity and a dearth of creativity to have shows focus almost entirely on one type of people (white, male).

Also, your argument that 'OMG, why can't people just identify with all these white dudes!' is kind of embarrassing considering that that's what most of us have to do all our lives, because that's what's available, but a) sometimes we get tired of that and b) sometimes we like to see people that represent us, instead of yet more white dudes.

Not to mention that the people that tend to whine the loudest about increasing diversity in the media because they ~can't identify~ with anyone different from them... are white dudes. White dudes have trouble identifying with women and non-white dudes. Gee, maybe that's because the unbalanced media means they never have to learn to identify with people different from them.

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