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By Maire Murphy Opening your eyes, you find yourself looking in the mirror. You blink, and your reflection mimics, you allow yourself to be as you are, and your reflection copies, without hesitation.
Turning on your screen, you catch a glimpse of your reflection again- except this time it looks slightly different; a little taller, nose minorly longer, no birthmark between the freckles on your cheek. But there it is, staring back at you; a version of yourself only separated from you in minor surface incontinuities, sharing your dreams, your values, the realities of your life; blinking with you, reflecting you. You can see yourself, you hear your voice speak to you, and to me, this is the ideal film industry. Without wanting to seem cliché, I truly believe there really is no end to the degree of power in representation. With the recent pushes towards a more diverse variety of character types in the film industry, we see a broader range of voices reaching larger audiences, sparking a conversation on representation, and what inherently makes good representation. Whilst these strides have been far larger recently than they have been historically, we still have so much further to go in accurately telling every story. In my ideal film industry, representation would not come in the form of a token character, thrown in to promote the modern, progressive views of the creator. It is not the character added to gain a show a positive media image, but rather the character that has been researched, the character you invest time into trying to represent accurately, a character speaking to the real people who see themselves in it. It is the character written by the people who feel its impact the most, or the character written by the person who has taken the time to learn how that character would act, free of stereotypes, full of life. Good representation is not about destroying everything about the modern film industry; it is about incorporating in more diverse voices, about allowing the space for new narratives. In my ideal film industry, the people recruited behind the scenes would be an accurate representation of a real society; allowing different voices to provide new understanding and perspective. When one begins to argue that the people who are likely to succeed in an industry are swayed to a certain demographic, people begin to put up walls of defense. It can make people who fit that demographic feel uncomfortable, because of their wishes and dreams of succeeding in the profession, or irked, because the media often blames the lack of off and on-screen representation on them. To criticise all in that demographic is to miss the point of representation: it is not about getting rid of those whom cultural and ethnic reasons have previously favoured, but opening up the discussion on how improvement could be made with better diversity behind the lens. With statistics from most national film boards, we see the progress we have made in increasing the range of stories that reach media attention, and in who is likely to get a position in the film industry. But we can also see how far we have to go in allowing more diverse representation, and the only way to move forward with this topic is to discuss it. Seeing oneself onscreen is an incredible and healing thing for so many, as they are finally able to see their reflection represented, their stories told, a space to grieve the hardships they share with the characters and to celebrate the obstacles overcome to get there. It can change how people view others; opening their eyes to new perspectives, and it can change how we view ourselves, allowing us the space to accept our differences as a positive thing. It is for these reasons that my ideal film industry is a place of equal opportunity for all. Representation is powerful, and necessary in creating the films of tomorrow. It redefines what it is to be normal, and what it is to be human, and paves a new future for storytelling.
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UCC Film WritersEditorials and reviews by students at University College Cork. Archives
April 2024
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