re: “race-neutral roles”
Are there any race-neutral roles? I feel like this is an impossiblity (at least right now and in history leading up to now). I agree that getting outside the box of White assumptions is difficult for white writers, directors, and producers right now (and even for some non-white writers, directors, and producers, because these narratives are harder for everyone to tap into when they are suppressed and not as widely disseminated), but I feel like opening people up to the idea that they are making more assumptions about their characters than they realize is the better strategy. I think some of these writers, etc. don’t even realize how their creativity is restricted by their presumptions about the human experience. The creative people I know are generally all about innovation and pushing boundaries, but it’s hard to surmount an obstacle or challenge an assumption you aren’t acknowledging exists. (Of course, I’m sure a fair number just don’t care, but screw ‘em.)
I would love to see fewer “neutral” (e.g., white, straight, cis, TAB, middle-class, male) roles out there, especially when plots focus around identity struggles. I am immensely bored by them, and I think that the potential power of many of these stories is totally undermined by how over-played these identities are. (Also, I may have recently watched WAY too many movies about the midlife crises of exactly these kinds of characters.) I am all for A) more POC involved in the creative processes (without being forced to conform to the current standard or being devalued and marginalized), and B) more white people getting a clue, and learning how to apply their critical and creative thinking to the White default.
