Trigger Warnings: stereotypes
As an Indian that grew up in the states, it's a struggle when there's little to no representation of people outside the Black or Hispanic/Latinx community. When the media says diverse cast, it really feels like they meant more Black characters, instead of including people of other ethnicities. While movies like Shang Chi and Crazy Rich Asians are changing this, I do not believe that it is enough to negate the stereotypical thoughts in most American's heads and the lack of strong figures similar to you.
I would say that while this hasn't affected my life much, it has stopped me from attempting to do many things such as attempting a sport, or trying to be more social, as I believed that only people with a certain skin color were able to do that. I often felt isolated without a figure to look up to most of the time. South-Asian representation often occurs as a joke, such as Dopinder from Deadpool or Apu from the Simpsons. While I love these guys as characters, I can't really see myself in them, or look up to them as idols. This lack of connection made me feel isolated, wondering why I don't fit in wherever I go or whatever I do, as I never felt like a “smart” Asian since most Asian representations are like that.
. . . I believed that only people with a certain skin color were able to do that.
I do believe that there are multiple justifiable reasons for the lack of South-Asian representation in the media, one of which is that Bollywood is huge in India, even comparable to Hollywood. Because of this, most Indian actors are more likely to be in Indian movies compared to American or even English ones. Another reason that South Asians haven't had as much representation as East Asians is because there's a greater population of people from China and Japan than people from India or Bangladesh. Movie producers generally want to appeal to an audience that would be profitable, and so they would want a character that viewers would relate to. Up until now, there's been a minuscule population of this minuscule population-- producers could (and they did) perpetuate stereotypes as most people wouldn't know anything about someone of said race. Breaking these strong stereotypes might make the movie seem weird and less relatable to a large portion of the audience.
However, having a minority as a main character doesn't guarantee a show's demise, as long as the show is good. An example of this is Jake Long, American Dragon. A show about an Asian American boy who can turn into a dragon; it was extremely popular on Disney Channel, for a show which was released when representation wasn't very important. Why? Because the show had an interesting plot and likable characters. The goal was to make a good show first and a show about representation second. Most of the time, representation in the media is done for the sake of representation, to appeal to another audience for more revenue, like movies that have a Mary Sue as a female lead. Generally, creating representation for revenue will instead have a negative effect as it would be seen as inferior compared to other pieces of media due to not having a good sense of what it wants to be beyond representation. The best type of representation is integrated into the story, not the centerpiece or the main goal. Black Panther is another good example of good media, as its first goal is to be a good transition into the climactic Infinity War, with its second being a piece of representation for the African American community.
The best type of representation is integrated into the story, not the center piece of the main goal.
I believe the time is right to have more representation of South-Asians in the media, due to rising populations. Shows like Never Have I Ever show that Indians are more than just people who work in IT. However, I do hope that wherever representation is made, it's made for more than just a cash grab.
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