Disney has long been criticized for a lack of diversity in their movies, especially when it comes to their lack of queer characters. Recently, however, they have been including more gay and lesbian characters in their movies. But, is this good representation, or just another example of tokenism being mistaken for representation?
Tokenism is the practice of making a symbolic or minimal effort toward inclusion and representation in media, typically through recruiting a small number of people from these underrepresented groups to give the illusion of diversity. And, unfortunately, this is as close as most mainstream media has gotten to proper representation.
Tokenism of marginalized groups has been a longstanding, unfortunate media tradition. It’s the lazy choice made by movies and show runners when they want the people-pleasing bonus points of having diverse characters, without actually going through the effort to write, cast and star these groups to their full, unique potential.
So how can you tell tokenism apart from real representation? Well, there isn’t an exact, clear answer. But a good indicator of whether a character is there due to tokenism rather than representation is how one-dimensional they are. If a character lacks personality, story or dialogue that doesn’t relate to their sexuality, race, etc, chances are they aren’t there as representation.
The reduction of what is meant to be a unique character and person to a single aspect of their personality in a movie or show is the typical sign of tokenism. When all the audience really knows about these one-dimensional characters is that they are a member of a marginalized group, the character does nothing to service representation of that group.
In fact, it can often lead to the opposite. The character of Damien from “Mean Girls,” for example, is a classic token stereotype. Nothing is known of him or his life aside from the fact that he is gay, despite being one of the main characters and best friends to the protagonist.
These token characters are often caricatures of the groups they are meant to represent. They are riddled with stereotypes that are then reinforced even further in our culture, causing more damage to these groups.
Disney has recently been placing more non-straight characters in their films, a move that could be seen as a push for representation but, in reality, is another example of the bare minimum. These queer characters are either unimportant background characters, such as the two women who kissed in the background of the end of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Their sexuality is shown in a split-second instance that can later be cropped from the movie, making no change or difference at all, as is the case in movies like “Lightyear,” where the kiss between two women was removed when the film was added to Disney+.
Tokenism is the bare minimum for all marginalized groups. As we near the end of 2022, it’s baffling that seeing diverse races, sexualities and identities on screen is still a struggle. Simply placing a person of color or a queer person in a show isn’t enough anymore, nor was it ever.
These token characters can no longer be just that, because it isn’t representation. Representation only comes when a character can be seen as people really are complex, multifaceted beings with more to show the audience than a single aspect of who they are.
Tracy Mullinax can be reached at [email protected]