Clickbait title is clickbait HAHAHA
Before I go any further, I'd like to point out that the title is written to mean 'the wrong way to promote diversity', not 'instructions on how to avoid promoting diversity'. Hopefully anyone thinking of yelling at me for daring to start such a thread will read this first. ^^;
Anyway, what I'd really like to discuss is how those who write and produce content with diversity in mind actually TALK about what they've done, because it matters. And so often it's done in a very shallow, ultimately detrimental way.
Recently, I was forced to watch the Extra Features on the Into the Spiderverse DVD...nothing against the film; I just generally avoid Extra Features like the plague. They're usually just a compilation of short clips of the production crew throwing buzzwords around and talking exclusively about things that you probably already noticed if you have two eyes and/or a functioning brain. =/
This was reflected in the way they spoke about Miles Morales, who is supposed to be the main character, by the way. As I recall, about 75% of it was basically "he's Black and Latino so he's different from your usual main character and that's important because diversity and kids get a chance to see themselves represented in a way they don't usually get to because he's a minority being Black and also Latino so he's mixed and this is reflected in his character because he has two different perspectives and he's an inner city kid and he's just like a normal kid ALSO did we mention he's Black AND Latino??"
Like, it was just a mess of the same ideas regurgitated over and over, with little to no mention of his personality, his journey as a hero, or even his design, which I love and would have appreciated hearing more about. T_T Hell, we learn more pertinent information about him from their talks about the OTHER characters.
And we learn more pertinent information about the other characters than we learn about him, period...because, apparently, since they're not "the diversity symbol", they get to be presented as actual characters with thought put into them, despite being SECONDARY.
I see the same thing happen ALL the time with female main characters, too, which is even more frustrating because attempts at gender diversity are so much more common than those for racial diversity, at least from what I've seen.
And yet, whenever a new female lead pops up in anything that's not a romcom, all I hear is 'STRONG FEMALE ROLE MODEL' over and over and over! X[
Like, WHY is she strong? Why is she even a role model?? And DON'T say 'because she doesn't care what anyone thinks' because 80% of the time that's not even true and it barely means anything anyway. T_T Like, depending on context that could be a positive or a negative; say something real, PLEASE.
My point is, it's not enough to just write stories with diverse casts and put spotlights on marginalized characters. When it comes time to talk about why you made these choices and what you want your fans to take away from them, you need to do something other than tokenize your own work. Introduce them as bi, black, or female, sure, but NEXT start talking about them as human beings with identities and value beyond those labels. Emphasize the actual work you put into the character, rather than wasting an entire interview patting yourself on the back for being 'so culturally relevant'.