What kind of representation do you prefer?

[Storyteller.]

In the past few years it seems that modern media has been making some progress in terms of diversity (although there's still obviously a long way to go), which personally I've loved to see. Growing up I feel like a lot of media played it safe, so being able to turn on the TV or scroll through a streaming site and see such a variety of shows and movies with characters who are queer, disabled, neurodivergent, POC, or otherwise marginalised is something I'm still getting used to, and I really hope the trend continues.

That said, recently I've been veering away from media where those marginalised identities are a focal point. I have enough lived experience that when I want to watch a show or movie it's generally to unwind, so I mostly stick to more casual representation rather than deep dives into it. If given the choice I opt for media where characters just are [x identity] without the show/movie being about that identity. Obviously those identities will still inform the character's personal storylines and have an effect on the plot, but I prefer it when they aren't the main point of the overarching story. So for example a story about a character who's autistic without the story being about autism, or a story with a gay character who has love interests without having a coming out storyline first.

If you had to pick between them, what kind of representation do you prefer? Does it differ between identities or the type of media?

[Ennui.]

I think it depends on how the media does the representation and also what kind of mood I'm in. I'm hoping the representation will be accurate, but it's nice to know I can sometimes relate to the stories the characters have if they do a deeper dive. But, sometimes it's nice just to know a character is queer/disabled/etc without doing the deeper dive. It normalizes things.

I love to see representation but I don't want it to be the focal point of a movie. I like to unwind and not have to sit through two hours of a PSA or educational movie. If I wanted to do that, I'd watch a documentary or something similar to TED Talks. It seems events early on in the decade (remember, we're almost a quarter way through the 2020s!) has spurred on a lot more than racial diversity. We've gotten commercials with Deaf individuals, those with Autism, Ace representation; all of these example are topics that matter to me and I very much appreciate it. I would like to watch a movie (or TV show) and the narrative us early on that "hey, this character is so-and-so!" and that be it.

I still want that to be a part of the storyline, their character to be consistently Ace, Deaf, or Autistic; but I don't want to be schooled. I just want to sit back and relish in the fact that "Hey, Hollywood is getting their shit together!" — though you're more likely to see better representation on Indie Films or B Films than Hollywood.

[Everglow.]

I voted it depends because sometimes I really want to watch a show or movie about a particular subject. Some of my favourite shows recently have been specifically about coming out or the experiences of being gay, and I've loved them. I'd love to see more shows like this for the identities less spoken about too. But at the same time, I'd love to watch a show with a trans actor in it, who was just playing a trans person without necessarily going through the motions of the typical trans storyline you sometimes get. The same thing with gay characters. Sometimes I want to watch something where they just are so that they're just another character in the same way as anyone else would be.