White privilege is something that I experience every day.
It is like a cloak that I can’t take off, whether I want to or not.
In my everyday life, white privilege means that I have the freedom and the ability to turn on the TV and see people who look just like me – channel after channel.
White privilege means that the majority of Hollywood’s heroes also look like me and I can continue to see their images on apparel, merchandise and magazine covers.
Although donning blackface may be a thing of the past, whites’ monopolization of the film industry certainly is not; and it is female actresses of color who are impacted most significantly.
In 2014, The Representation Project conducted a study that analyzed the top 500 grossing films based off of box office numbers. They found that only six movies casted a woman of color as the protagonist, five of which were cartoon features.
Of all the widely released movies from 2013, less than 5 percent feature a leading role who is a woman of color and none of these movies even made it in the top 200 [it should be noted that I use the word “protagonist” in this context to indicate the character around whom the story revolves].
In fact, Whoopi Goldberg is the only woman of color to star in a worldwide cinematic hit, “Sister Act,” in 1992.
This data is significant because in 2014, 36 percent of all U.S. moviegoers were people of color and, according to the Washington Post, 27 percent of frequent moviegoers [people who saw at least one movie a month] were children between the ages of two and seventeen.
These numbers indicate that a noteworthy portion of moviegoers are relatively young and impressionable – and ultimately soak in whitewashed cinema.
Fortunately, there is some good news and a promising change of gears that will impact America’s younger and highly impressionable moviegoers.
DreamWorks studios recently announced that singer Rihanna is the voice behind the protagonist Gratuity “Tip” Tucci in the new movie, “Home,” which will be the first 3-D animated feature to have a black woman as the lead.
Tip is also the first protagonist of color since 1998 [“The Prince of Egypt”] and the only other female protagonist from DreamWorks studios, aside from Susan Murphy in “Monsters vs. Aliens.”
According to Mic, a University of Southern California study conducted in 2013 found that the percentage of underrepresented characters is below 13 percent.
Bringing diversity and inclusivity to the big screen is imperative for the sake of representation – and children’s movies are a great place to start.
Every child deserves to be able to turn on the TV or go to the movies and to see positive and strong role models that look like them.
I can only hope that the movie “Home” is a trailblazer for subsequent movies made for both children and adults, because accurate and authentic representation matters.
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