Now that school is now over, one could say that I have officially reached a peak stage of boredom. I finally got a Netflix subscription and one show a lot of my friends were talking about was Never Have I Ever. I gave it a watch, and while I have criticisms of my own, that isn't the point of my opinion piece.
Very rarely are Asians, let alone South Asians given non-stereotypical, genuine roles in Western media, and when we were given roles in the past, some were catastrophic to say the least. Whiteness in main roles was simply seen as a norm/ideal before. It was almost a given that in the majority of the media I consumed that the lead role or talk show host was going to be white, and then probably male. It was so normal almost to the point where I didn't even realize that representation and my story was missing from mainstream media. However, now there are more and more people on screen that I can relate to (Crazy Rich Asians, NHIE, Patriot Act, etc.) While these stories still aren't representative of most/all of the Asian/South Asian population, it is definitely a start.
There is a specific line in Never Have I Ever that implies that Indians/Asians and other underrepresented minorities are worthy and deserving of love (shocking, right?) But that statement stuck with me. With the mixture of all-white movies and TV shows and the initially enforced culture of arranged marriages, this was not something that occurred to me, especially as a young girl. As a child, and sometimes even now, I thought that love and a lot of other things that made life worth living was reserved for white people, and the immigrant hustle implied to keep your head down, do your work, and not make any noise. The slow increase of diversity in media has made me realize that this mentality is wrong and restricting. Others may see that the increase of telling these stories is simply a nice addition, but for me, it was more. I was now able to hear advice from people who share a similar experience I do as a first generation Indian American. I could now laugh at jokes about chai instead of only the Catholic church. I was temporarily distracted from my minority status in the United States. But despite my minority status, it showed me how to own who I am, and not simply blame others for insecurities. Be proud of my brown identity, and not ashamed for its inherent colorful confidence. These feelings are a small step in a wonderful direction, but as a forever-changing nation, we must do better.
