July 28th, 2020
Today is the 13th day of my 30 days challenge.
I just turned 27 yesterday. I'm another year older...
My boyfriend and his family held a small birthday party and his nephew and nieces sang a birthday song for me. I was almost crying because it was the first time in 9 years that I've spent my birthday with family. Actually, I've always had mixed feelings about getting older after turning 22 years ,but this time I enjoyed this cute party!
Today I want to write about " Diversity in entertainment industry".
Do you think TV shows and movies have the responsibility of being more diverse?
I want to say "Yes, they do."
To be honest, I didn't even pay attention to diversity in the entertainment industry when I lived in Japan. Nowadays, we can see people who are half Japanese on some Japanese shows ,but most popular artists or actors are still Japanese, as you expected. I think this is related to the fact that 97.8% of the population of Japan are Japanese (is that what you've meant?:) )
When I first watched the sitcom Friends, it blew my mind to see how diversified the US was.
In the episodes, lesbians ,gays and a surrogate mother appeared normally and it was totally refreshing for me, as a Japanese teenager, at that time.
But after I have learned more about LGBT and BLM movements , I come to think that Friends might have a taste of white supremacy. I remember that main characters often make fun of lesbians or regarding other character as gay and there are hardly any black people in the show.
The way of thinking, our behavior are being affected easily by TV shows and movies, without us even realizing it. I think they have great power to make people believe what they present as right. That's why I agree with the opinion that TV shows and movies have the responsibility of being more diverse.
I heard some good news on it.
Disney decided to remake one of their popular movies , The little mermaid, with live action.
I was surprised and at the same time really excited when I saw the cast of the movie.
Disney selected Halle Bailey as Ariel; she is a black girl and R&B singer. They also selected Awkwafina, who is a Chinese American actress, as the seagull Scuttle.
I felt Disney valued showing diversity in the movie more than reproducing their animation movie.
I'm really looking forward to watching the new movie and seeing the real diversity in the entertainment industry.
Thank you for reading to the end .
Please feel free to leave a comment and correct my English:)
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Bravo for taking up a difficult subject!
あおいさん, お誕生日おめでとうございます!