Op-Ed

stories are outlets for diverse stories about diverse people. We as a human race are diverse so why can'y our stories be too? Not all people are a white male teenage boy trying to capture the attention of the hot mysterious girl in his biology class. No all people are a straight couple who lost the luster in their marriage and are searching for it again. Not all people are them. You may be, but not everyone is. You've seen then walking down the street, post on twitter, or order a cup of coffee at Starbucks. You've seen them, they exist. Why can't stories be about them too? Everyone wants to see themselves as apart of the story - as the character. We naturally do that as we engage om a story; we relate. Is it harder to relate when the character is drastically different from you? Can't we give everyone the privilege of seeing themselves apart of the narrative? It's natural for a human to want to belong. So why can't more stories be allowing all people to see themselves as you've seen you. I saw a post on Facebook complaining about how "all the TV shows this day have gay couples and black people" and how it was annoying. Why can't they be represented in a story as well? Why can't different perspectives and experiences be shown as well? You've seen yourself in the story, now it's their turn. Doesn't it give an exciting and fresh story in front of your eyes? Something new, original, and not what we've seen over and over and over again. Essentially, what I'm saying is that representation in the media matters. I like to relate this to when I was a little girl and my favorite princess was Sleeping Beauty. Why? The only reason was because she looked like me. I asked a coworker of mine who her favorite princess was. Her response was "Tiana, of course" like it was obvious. Of course she would pick the princess that looked like her. Every single girl I've asked this question to has picked the princess that has the closest resemblance to their own appearance - even when they don't even realize it. We love the characters who look like us. We all want that. Why can't we give that to everyone? As a little girl, I had three options for my princess. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel. My coworker didn't have any until 2009. My friend? One although distressed in how Mulan is Chinese and she isn't "but she will take what she can get". Let stories have diverse people and backgrounds. I want something new - and so do they.
This was inspired by an Op-Ed I read in the New York Times about a man wishing the Super Mario Games would stop having Peach get kidnapped and Mario save her and all the the stereotypes that this enforces. One comment on the article read, "so you want the games to suck?". My response for you, nameless commenter, is for you to name how many mario games have this plot. I'll do it for you. The original Super Mario, Super Mario World, Super Mario Land, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario 64 and more. Yes I have played every single one of these so I know what I'm talking about. Do you know which of the countless mario games was my favorite? Super Mario 64 and Paper Mario. Paper Mario in particular because it was different and you could play as Peach for moments. I loved how it was fresh and new. We've seen the story hundreds of times so I agree with the author. Let's have something new! We've already had a male jedi protagonist, so why not a female one? We've seen the high school turmoil of a teenage white girl so why not one of a teenage japanese girl? We've seen a world war two move a million times so why not about another war between other countries? Representation can give us a new fresh breathe of air when watching the media we all love.