Colorism in Hollywood
Colorism in itself is a topic of discussion that could be talked about for hours, and it unfolds subcategories and different branches that are each attached to the pre-colonial reign of whiteness as it was perceived upon people of color and again to the paper bag test and then again to the 21st century lack of representation in Media.
Growing up I was infatuated with lightness. My childhood consisted of gorging myself with books. I read anything I could get my hands on which typically consisted of many white icons. I was obsessed with the compilation of Caucasian Bella and her love triangle with the white glistening vampire and the brown, but not too brown werewolf. I read the chronicles of white Jack and Annie, the Hunger Games, Percy Jackson and pretty much anything else a typical twelve year old book worm could ever be interested in, and like most growing book-worms, I also became a huge film-nerd.
Colorism is the concept that minorities with lighter and more Eurocentric features are given more privilege than their darker-skinned peers. The idea is very relevant in society, and it especially appears inside the communities within themselves, and also the entertainment industry. Hollywood and directors are constantly writing out minority experiences, and the actuality of skin-tone, even when the books were written to be perceived as non-white characters. For example, in the Hunger Games, Rue, one of the only black characters to be given humanization and screen-time was originally written as having “dark brown skin and eyes”, and while she was effectively played by a wonderful actress, she was also played by a lightskin actress. In Divergent, the protagonist Christina was written to be “tall with dark brown skin and chin length black hair”, but was again replaced with a white actress. In Twilight, director Christine Hardwicke told The Daily Beast that she had "wanted a lot more of the cast to be diverse” to which Stephanie Meyer responded with darkness not matching her aesthetic of the ideal glistening vampire. The one black person that is casted - happening to be the antagonistic vampire.
In more YA experience based movies, we see the supportive minority friend, or the half-minority asian, as if the minority experience is only valid when it highlights the white protagonist. In sit-com shows (shows that I love and enjoy) there is a very obvious lack of representation. Even in more minority-issued focused shows such as, Dear White People, the protagonist is light-skinned with colored eyes and her closest companion who is dark-skinned friend is deemed to be unlikable. In Genti-fied, and On My Block, the families and characters represent a more realistic minority experience without the actual brown demographic.
What astonishes me the most aside from the lack of representation in Hollywood, is that when issues are brought to surface such as LGBTQ issues or issues of poverty, the roles are usually played around white families. Such as in Love Simon and Shameless. In Love Simon while he shares an experience that is relatable to the community, it is also something that is far out of reach for honestly, most of us. My friends and I were glad to have representation, but also disturbed to see how little it related to us, as offsprings that do not share the same experience of having two accepting parents and friends and a very suburban life-style, we did not get the entire clarity of our representation. When Love Victor was produced, it was even more distorting to see how unlikable the character was made to be.
In Hollywood the expressiveness of colorism is not only the writing out of minority characters, but also in making actors of color unlikable. It makes sense why Jordan Peele stated that he wanted his movies to be played by dark-skinned actors, because that’s what we see in real life and it isn’t even always connected to deep-rooted communities of color issues like racism and prejudice, a lot of times it’s just film, just experience. By not recognizing true demographic, we teach the audience and especially growing children that they hardly exist inside the worlds they are so infatuated by. Most of these directors dismiss casting minority characters because it does not match the “aesthetic” that the audience is familiar with and wants, and while doing so they also dismiss the audience that is unable to see themselves and their communities in the stories they love to hear.
My film-major friend drunkingly told me, “I am here because I don’t want people of color to look at other people of color on film and hate them, but look at them and relate to them, not because that is how it should be, but because that’s how it is.”
People of color are funny, relatable and can be liked by a general audience. Representation is not solely about highlighting the issues, (although they do need to be), but in the simple fact that media is the biggest influence amongst all of us, and by portraying mainly white actors, we initialize that whiteness is the most likable and relatable form of character.