No role models for me at Academy Awards
Growing up, I loved going to the movies with my dad. Back then, I didn’t really notice the overwhelming whiteness of people I saw on the silver screen. If anything, I accepted whiteness as normal, and I expected that a Hollywood movie wouldn’t have actors that looked like me, except in minor filler roles. It honestly didn’t bother me for years, because I had no idea there could be an alternative.
But in the past few years, television has offered a new standard for diverse casting and multicultural narratives. Recently, there have been TV shows that feature people of color and tell the stories of their lives. With “The Mindy Project,” “Fresh off the Boat,” and “Blackish,” I realized that nonwhite actors could be the stars of their own shows and tackle (while having fun with) racial stereotypes.
The day I heard about “Master of None,” I rushed home from school, told my parents I was doing homework in my room, and then marathon-ed the entire season. I could hardly believe there would be a show depicting Indian American life. I had to see it.
After years of trying to find similarities between myself and hundreds of white actors, I finally found a show that actually represented me. At times I felt that Aziz Ansari (who plays Dev Shah on the show) had produced the script of my life. When Ansari’s parents describe the hardships that they faced after moving to America for the sake of giving him a better life, I saw echoes of my relationship with my parents. I’ve had similar discussions about race with my friends, as he does with his on the show. And watching him struggle with his identity on the show has made me more comfortable in mine.
Debates about diversity in Holly- wood are usually reduced to black and white. But television has introduced shows about a range of people of color and various immigrant stories. Rather than casting a wide net, these shows are taking risks by including very specific, subtle cultural references. Maybe not every viewer picks up on an affectionate slang term spoken in Tamil between the Ansaris, but for those of us who do, it’s a delight.
If these story lines can work on broadcast and streaming services, there’s no reason they wouldn’t work on the big screen. As a teenager still forming parts of my identity, I find a lot of my role models in the media. And, as someone who had given up on seeing people who look like me on screen, when it happens, it’s exhilarating. I didn’t know what I was missing until I got a taste of it, and once I did, I wanted more.