Sarawak State Library -

WRITING DIVERSE CHARACTERS FOR FICTION TV OR FILM

Call no.: : 808.3/HAY
Author: : Lucy V. Hay
Contributor: : Safwan Hanif Bin Osman
Summary: Diversity is the catch-all term in advertising and marketing to better reflect on the multicultural communities it’s trying to depict. Many if not all regard the use of diversity as forced and as such, find offense of the political correctness. The diversity discussed in the book are referred to Race, Gender, LGBT, and Disability. The book talks about on how diversity can help to introduce more diverse stories, instigate social change discussion, and let’s face it, diversity brings in more money for the media. Realistic, relevant protagonist and antagonist without the glaring stereotypes are what diverse characters should be the dealbreaker to drive the story forward. Prior to the current diversity renaissance, diversity are only present on supporting characters with multiple tropes or archetypes attached such as Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Magical Negro, and Sassy Black Woman. Homogenisation, by contrast, is getting mundane as more writers are getting out of their comfort zones to include hard-hitting diverse stories that tackles everyday events with relatable characters the audience can identify with. All in all, it is inevitable for the diversity of the real world to be translated into the screen.