What are your thoughts about representation in film?
Added 2022-06-06 17:12:59 +0000 UTCHey everyone! I'm writing my next video, which is currently titled "Greta Gerwig, Representation, and the Problem of Universal Girlhood". It's all about this crisis in media criticism I'm seeing right now, where we tend to tear down popular works made by women on the basis that their art does not represent all women. I see a similar cynicism towards and rejection of popular white female authors too, like Sally Rooney. To me, this exposes a disparity in the expectations we place on artists who operate in more marginalized genres - in this case, audiences don't seem to expect male directors to speak on behalf of all identities because they are the current dominant force in the film industry, a blank canvas.
So, in the video, I want to explore this idea and my knee-jerk desire to defend these popular works. Is it because a movie like Lady Bird is catered to me (middle class and white passing), in the way it may not be to women of more marginalized identities? Or is it because the work is objectively good?
Lola Sebastian recommended an essay to me by an author named Brandon Taylor, which I will link here. It's all about how queer audiences to tend decry (or spiritually "murder") popular LGBTQ literature on the basis that it does not represent a holistic account of the queer experience (he uses criticisms of Hanya Yanigahara's A Little Life as the example here). Taylor says that this Oedipul reflex is due to the fact that people tend to conflate art with commerce - it is not the individual art that should be sacrificed, there are many other diverse works by many other authors that one can read, but they are just less popular. So is the onus on the audience to seek them out, rather than continue to strip popular works we don't like of their merit simply because they do not wholly represent us?
What do you guys think about this? I don't want this video to have any clear answer, because this is anything but a black and white subject. So I'm looking to hear a diverse range of opinions on it! Excited to read your replies!
The Taylor article: https://blgtylr.substack.com/p/a-little-life-is-not-your-father?utm_campaign=post&utm_source=direct&s=r
