REPRESENTATION in
HOLLYWOOD
When I was 10 years old, I remember watching TV with my dad, and him having a viscerally irritated reaction when the Metro PCS commercial featuring two Indian men came on. For those of you who do not remember, or are unfamiliar with this ad, it featured two Indian men employed as tech-help jockeys in a dingy room. CBS describes the advertisement as filled with “belly dancers backing two dorky, fasttalking Indian American computer wizards, it's veritably stuffed with flat, racist stereotypes”. One could argue that the ad is critiquing racism through ironic satire about Indian stereotypes, but most viewers just see it as making fun of Indians instead. I never understood the gravity of that advertisement until I realized it wasn’t a one-off––rather it embodies the deep rooted issue of race in television and movies. It’s no secret that the media we consume influences the way we perceive ourselves and others. But did we realize that the movies and media we grew up watching marginalized and “othered” many groups of people? Whether a lack of presence on screen, or an inaccurate one when portrayed, Hollywood perpetuates discriminatory norms. Iit’s time to put an end to that cycle. 23
