Geeks logo

Representation for Representations Sake

Heathers and Gossip Girl

By Alexandrea CallaghanPublished about a year ago 3 min read
Like

Something that has begun to change the scape of Hollywood is the push for representation. Both on the screen and behind the camera, on the small screen and the big screen more roles are being created for, portrayed by and written by marginalized groups. Allowing for a richer and more realistic reflection of the world around us. However some of these pushes for representation are simply bad…and they teach us that representation for representation's sake is not a good thing.

Our first major example is the TV mini-series reboot of Heathers. Now the rest of the world seems to agree with me on this considering that it was canceled almost immediately and the rest of the series will (rightfully) never see the light of day. Just to be clear before we embark on this journey the reason MOST diverse projects might not be successful is due to racism, homophobia and sexism and NOT because they are diverse projects. The problem is the bigots and not the sane human beings of the world. That said, the problem with the two projects I am going to use as examples is in fact the diversity. And here's why; Making projects diverse for the sake of representation without actually understanding the content or the theme, or the purpose of the story does more harm than good. Having a transgender, plus sized Heather Chandler does not work because the entire point of Heathers is that thin, conventionally attractive white girls get by on popularity and privilege. You can’t have the popular group be “inclusive” without shitting on the entire point of the movie. There are several themes to Heathers but they ALL revolve around the fact that 1) pretty privilege is real, 2) that privilege has oppressive power and 3) anyone that doesn’t have pretty privilege (or privilege of any kind) is chopped liver to society. Are we seeing how maybe having marginalized groups play the privileged few kinda destroys the message and isn’t actually empowering at all? The Heathers reboot needs to die in a fiery corner and anyone who genuinely enjoyed it shouldn’t be allowed to talk or procreate.

Next up we have the reboot of Gossip Girl, which just got canceled, something that should have happened before it was ever produced. While I understand that having POC characters front and center is a win, one of the biggest takeaways from the original series is that rich white kids get away with literal murder because they are rich and white. So again rewriting what privilege looks like does more harm than good. Now I tried to watch the whole show but it was so wholeheartedly terrible I simply could not. Now I am not talking about bad storylines, I watched the original Gossip Girl, and I was dedicated to Riverdale for too long, shitty storylines don’t bother me. However (and I really hate this term) politically correct writing does in fact bother me. Gossip Girl is literally about children who have power and influence because they have money, and a seemingly unlimited amount of it. They can do whatever they want because their parents will get them out of whatever trouble they get into, and they are so out of touch it's a wonder they are able to exist in the same world as working class human beings. So writing a group of teenagers, that include people of color and apparently giving them all loving parents and making the marginalized group the teachers, again defeats the purpose of the show. Now reboots have not ever been and will not ever be necessary but when the reboot does nothing but shit on the original, it's a disgrace to the medium as a whole.

Shows like this show us not only that Hollywood is running out of ideas but they think patronizing and placating us is acceptable. It's also tells me that the writers for projects like this are too braindead to create anything of actual substance, and that both gives me hope for my future career and breaks my heart for the writers who are brilliant and have been trying for years but can’t get their foot in the door because garbage like this is being produced.

reviewtvmovieentertainment
Like

About the Creator

Alexandrea Callaghan

Certified nerd, super geek and very proud fangirl.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.