26 March 2021
opinions Red & Black
Opinions 13
Netflix’s Ginny & Georgia Promotes Diversity Akansha Das Red & Black Staff
Netflix’s recent TV show drama “Ginny & Georgia” is more than the chronicling of the Gilmore Girls— like mother and daughter bond it appears like. Taking place in affluent Wellsbury, Massachusetts, the show follows the life of a family of three that is new in town – Georgia and her two children Ginny (15-years-old) and Austin (9-years-old). While the show starts off with a focus on typical teenage issues and “new girl” issues that Ginny faces, it continues with wonderfully complex backstories on almost all the characters that makes the show so fascinating and intriguing to watch. One of the most
noticeable aspects of the show is its diversity. From diversity in ethnicity and race to sexual orientation and diverse family structures, I was highly impressed with the way the show didn’t use standard tokenism and exploit the “IT Indian guy,” “gay best friend” and “angry, Black woman tropes,” but instead developed rich story lines for each. Seeing Indians play the role of both a girlfriend and a diner owner on the show may seem small, but honestly elevated my impression of the whole show. Even characters like Abby, one of Ginny’s friends, is more than the insecure high school girl she looks like. Through key scenes, the show really explains how her family issues contribute to her dependency on her friends and how insecure she feels about her body image. But the show extended beyond populating with the screen with diverse characters to actually having tough conversations
about inclusion. In a particularly poignant scene, Ginny and one of her romantic interests, Hunter, get into a heated debate about different ways their ethnicities are portrayed. Ginny talks about how tough it is for her when teachers and others assume that she isn’t interested in academics because she is Black and a woman. When Hunter begins talking about how tough it is to be biracial and not be Taiwanese enough or American enough, Ginny critiques him, saying that the model minority myth essentially means “he doesn’t have it as bad.” This specific conversation about race was incredibly important at a time when the Asian-American community is facing a severe uptick in racist attacks, yet also possesses much anti-Blackness within itself. The style of the show is also unique with a blending of light motherdaughter and teenage interactions with
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dark and tough parts of high school (body image issues and mental health issues) and of Georgia’s life. The style of the show enhances Georgia’s depiction of a survivor to the audience. Seeing and hearing the abuse she endured and the ways some her illegal actions were arguably survival mechanisms provides an interesting complexity to her surface-level sweet and innocent nature. But the show is not completely perfect. Singer Taylor Swift did respond with backlash to the show for a joke Ginny makes about her mother saying she goes through men “faster than Taylor Swift.” I agree that Taylor was right to call the show out for this sexist comment that judges Swift for a characteristic that we have a double standard of men for. Despite this, I believe that the show is well worth the watch—especially if you are looking for a quick, well-designed and unpredictable storyline.
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