The first thing that comes to mind for me is the books I read. Movies for me initially were always adaptations of books, with some exceptions. But even within those books no matter how much I loved the story there was always a feeling of othering. This was especially so during my teenage years when I read a lot of YA fiction and wanted to find myself in those stories. That, of course, translated to media on screen as well. I think most often, what bothered me for was the incorrect representation of brown women as opposed to no representation at all. Brown women were always becharis or stock diversity list characters. They were rarely ever given their own storyline and often only existed to make the white character look good. More than anything it pushed me to find my own narrative. As a child, I always felt like I didn’t fit into the world around me and feeling that sense of being the other in fiction and movies as well made it all the more confusing. Which is why as I grew older I became more adamant in supporting creators of colour, be it writers, artists or actors. I believe that until we stop pandering to a white audience we won’t ever find our own narrative and it’s important that we not just find but portray that kind of diverse and authentic representation of ourselves not just for us but for future generations to come.
Written by Anmol from Pakistan
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