Thread: Pushing diversity in relationships or what?

I noticed a lot of movies and TV shows have a lot of diverse characters and that is fine. As long as I enjoy the story being told, I really don't care what the color of someone's skin is or what their sexual orientation is. The thing that I don't understand is when it comes to relationships. Mixed relationships happen but it seems like they are trying to push it too much in movies and TV these days. Almost like they want everyone to mix together sexually and have mixed children together and they are using TV and movies to push the narrative.

I am a stats person and I know stats for marriage rates across the board. The relationships they often show are the ones that fail the most. Maybe it is just me overthinking things or noticing too much today because of how the media makes everything about color or sexual identity.

Like I said, I don't care but it seems a bit odd.

Do mean all shows or some shows in particular?

I do think there is a trend here. I am normally fine with some level of inclusion or representation as long as it doesn't impact the medium in any way outside of the fact it has more representation, even if it isn't the purpose of the show and it's especially fine if it is the purpose (can't have a show about a gay couple without a gay couple. Look at Vicious, a really good tv show about an elderly gay couple).

However, when pushing for diversity and representation happens in a medium that already existed that didn't have this level of diversity before, then the issue really begins to appear.
Is it ok to push an agenda (whether it's an agenda as noble as being progressive and inclusive or not) using a show/game/movie that has nothing to do with that agenda. Would one consider it an improvement, perhaps the original version is a product of its time and a narrative less stuck in the time it was written for would be welcome. However, this can sometimes go tits up. Check out JK Rowling retconning and backpeddling on her 90s to early 2000s book series about straight white kids and pretending it is full of important characters of all ethnicities and sexual orientations even though race and sex were never central themes to begin with.

Another question is... if this agenda does change the theme of the show (for a bad example, see the GIRL POWER theme in the newer Ghost Busters, which was less bad because of the movie being a female cast but more because outside of the movie itself the production staff were not acting the most mature about pushing said agenda) is the core of the show more important than progressiveness?

For a hotly debated topic that doesn't seem to have a clear answer among 'fans' (I highlight fans bacause some are fans of the series, just not... where it's at now) look no further than Star Wars.
People have discussed whether it was intentional that the lead is a female co-starred by a black male (with rogue one also staring a female lead).
Pretty much a first in Star Wars Movie history, and while some might be miffed at the direction the story is going, the gender and ethnicities of the characters don't really impact the central theme of the series and there can be no question that there are a lot of girls and people of ethnicity who benefit from being represented in this manner.
So while it may differ case to case, discussing whether the progressiveness and representation is more important than the media itself is an entire thing itself.

Personally, I am glad to see more people from different backgrounds and walks of life in movies, shows and such.
The only iggle I have with it is when they are dishonest about pushing an agenda or if it affects a core theme of a show.
If you're going to be progressive, be honest that it's an important part of production and if you are going to take a beloved franchise and use it as a vehicle for progression then make sure to take care not to mess with the core of the franchise and once more be open about wanting it.
The best way forward is an open dialogue after all.

Unfortunately as it stands, we still sometimes get productions that go awry, people get way way too angry about it (not everyone, just some as always) and then some on the other side call out all whites, males or straight people as bigoted for not being on board with it and thus the loud minorities make the whole franchise a shouting match again.

I think an interesting video that 'sort of' relates to this topic is this:


It's about a show where two would-be directors are hired in a competition. The movie for this competition will be about a black prostitute.
Effie Brown believes the directors should be picked based on being minorities who may have a good perspective for this movie (since the point of the movie is about the life of a minority) and Matt Damon believes the directors should be picked based simply on who they think is the best director and that beyond merit, he thinks the people best suited to this particular script are the directors who like it most, not the directors who may share backgrounds with the character/story.
However he agreed with pushing for diversity in tv with his comment "when we talk about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show" as in to say you would cast actors of diversity to represent people in tv and film but for a film-making competition, the winner should be the best film-maker, not the biggest minority.
What happened was a lot of people hated Damon for telling a black woman how diversity in hollywood should work.

Personally, I'm with Damon in this issue, but it's an interesting topic.
And while Damon was 100% on choosing someone on merit and Brown was 100% on choosing someone with a relevent background and being progressive, there is probably some discussion for an inbetween on this.

Yeah like I am fine if it fits the narrative of the story. What gets me though is that these people's lifestyles, sexual preferences, race, etc. are sometimes being used to push something. I can't help but see it in the media and in politics but it is even more apparent in entertainment now. If I was in any of these groups the media feels the need to constantly defend, I would be insulted.

Like changing the colors or preferences of a character on the spot for no reason... (the Harry Potter author comes to mind here) The only reason I can see people doing this is so they can look "woke" as they say. It is just cringy and insulting to me.

A lot of it is simply just a load of mindless pandering guff.

Minor thread-necro here but ah fuck it.