Representation of minority groups is incredibly important to showcase the different types of people there are, and how their differences are absolutely beautiful. The representation of queer folk, people of color, people with disabilities, and of all genders is necessary for complete tolerance and love towards all people.
The representation of all people is rare in most media, which is a shame in itself. Often, the only time diverse people are shown in media is if almost every single person is of that group. For instance, the shows “Family Matters” and “The Cosby Show” of the 90s were about black families, which had great black representation, but why can’t black folk simply be in all TV shows without any explanation? Why when showing a diverse group there is only the type of people in the diversity group? This is also evident in the show Orange is the New Black, where a majority of the female characters are queer. Queer representation is great, but why only queer women? This is because people love to generalize a whole group of people, and if you only show people of a particular group, it is incredibly easy to stereotype all of them. Representation in all media is important, not just when you want to make a TV show stereotyping and degrading a whole group of people.
But when representation of different types of people finally start to appear in many popular TV shows, they suddenly get killed off. What’s up with that? There is something called “Dead Lesbian Syndrome” where gay characters are killed off of shows far more often than their heterosexual counterparts. The Walking Dead has a bizarre tendency to kill off black characters rather than white ones, and Degrassi: The Next Generation killed off fan favorite Adam Torres, a transgender character.
So, what’s the deal? Why are these characters being killed off?
TV shows, movies, and any type of media with a group of people can be easily judged for not representing all types of people. To combat this, they introduce characters of different races, genders, abilities and sexual orientations so they appear to view all people as equal. However, as the show progresses, they decide these characters are no longer important since they were merely used as bait for viewers. To them, the white, cisgendered characters with no disabilities are the most important, and the characters with more diversities are simply fillers.
The media introducing more diverse characters is important, so in that aspect we are taking a step forward in our society. As a kid, I can’t remember one single TV or movie that even mentioned the word “gay”. Thankfully, differences such as sexual orientation aren’t as taboo anymore. But, simply killing off these characters when it’s convenient is taking two steps back. Killing off all of the diverse characters in media gives the subliminal message that they are unimportant, meaning that diverse people are unimportant. To producers, directors, and writers, killing off these people may not seem so serious, but to those who feel out of place in society it is. If you happen to feel like you have never been represented accurately in media, or if characters like you simply get killed off, please don’t be discouraged! The world is changing and hopefully, media will learn to do the same.
