AI: Incidental Media Representation
By There are a few pieces of media that I consume regularly – xkcd is the one that comes most immediately to mind, probably because I’ve got two printed comics on the bulletin board just behind my monitor – that I find myself increasingly appreciative of simply in how they employ some diversity in casting without making a big deal of it. That is, the straight white male is not taken as the assumed default.
Sometimes it strikes me as meta-depressing just how happy I get when I see a generic ‘scientist’ character with a damn ponytail.
Where do you see consistent representation (in terms of gender, race, and/or sexuality) in media? How often do you find it? Do you actively look out for it when you’re reading/watching/listening to something new?
The Afternoon Inqueery (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Queereka community. Look for it every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 3pm ET.
Featured image from xkcd.
Busty Girl Comics is a great example. It’s all about women, but the artist draws her characters fat, thin, busty, flat, curvy, muscular, angular, tall, short, freckled, scarred, shaven, unshaven, every color, and in every hairstyle without that ever being the focus of the comic, but her fans write in how they ADORE the character with the stretch marks, or the fuzzy underarms, the hijab, and so on!