Black people need better representation in film and television. I would say Black people need “more” representation, but lately, the lack of representation has not been the problem, it is the substance. It has largely been on Black struggle, such as slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, racism, and police brutality. How does that affect the mind of a Black child? A Black teen?
Most of the films and shows that receive praise that feature larger Black casts are films such as 12 Years a Slave, the Green Book, and When They See Us. The constant reminder of the state in which Black people live in America is taxing on the mind and the body of Black people. There is no escape. As a person who loves watching movies, I am forced to watch movies with mostly White or non Black people in the main roles, since these movies allow me to escape to a fantasy world full of blue people, or a magic school for kids, or a coming of age film about a shy teenager. These forms of art allow people to envision themselves in a plethora of spaces in society, whereas Black people are forced to see themselves as gang members, like in the Wire, or athletes who are not good at anything else, like in Amateur, or slaves, like in any other Oscar nominated movie with a Black cast. What does this do to the minds of Black individuals? And how much of a toll does this take on the bodies of Black individuals?
Some writers offer a separation of the mind and the body. I disagree. The mind takes in these mediums and these tropes, but the body is affected by this as well.
I propose filmmakers create Black fantasies, Black romance that is not rooted in struggle that stems from their race (yes I am calling out Queen and Slim), Black kids uncovering a mystery and solving it, anything that positions Black people as more than their struggle. Framing Black stories solely around the history of racism and anti blackness gives the impression that Black people are only to be looked at as such. Seeing Black bodies as more than one dimensional will allow for better representation of Black people in movies and television, which will in turn have more Black audience members seeing themselves as more than slaves, gang members, and only in the scope of racism.
P.S: Don’t ask Black Baltimoreans if it’s just like the Wire. Just don’t do it.
Unruly Bodies 
Great post! I agree that far too often in conversations about representation, we focus way too much on the quantity and not enough on the quality. What does it mean for us as Black people if we see an uptick in on-screen portrayal when all it amounts to is violence, oppression, suffering, toxicity, or just plain corniness? I don’t think true quality representation can be achieved until we have diverse content that’s created by Black people, for Black people, featuring Black people (and on that note, someone PLEASE deplatform Tyler Perry’s demonic ass and his chokehold that he has on Black media or so help me God!) I can relate so much to the experience of often times having to turn towards non-Black media to mitigate exposure to traumatic content often depicted in Black media, and it’s sad because growing up this genuinely led me to believe that it simply just wasn’t possible for Black people to experience good things and that we didn’t belong in the types of stories that other people could be portrayed in. It’s not that it’s necessarily always a bad thing to depict the harsh realities of being Black – I think it’s important that these issues aren’t ignored. What frustrates me about it is that it’s all we get and that despite the overexposure to trauma and injustice, nothing is done about it after the movie is released. Black pain is seen as a cheap, easy way to win awards and make box office money.
Also, nice note about The Wire there at the end. As much merit as that show has, it gets fucking annoying always having (especially non-Black) non-Baltimoreans get in my face with that question.
Thank you for writing about this!!! Black girl here who’s tired of the struggle porn. Why can’t we ever have happy endings? I don’t want to invalidate the struggles that many black people do face. But a lot of are also making a lot of success. My parents just bought a big new house. I have always had everything I needed and more. But I feel guilty about it instead of happy because the media only shows me how bad off our people are. I wish they showed people who were at least happy too. The movie Queen and Slim was the last straw for me. I also want to see people who look like me in movies and TV. I am a bisexual chubby black women and there’s like no characters like me. I also have short natural hair and would love for that to be in media too without the woman being made out to be too “manly”.