I originally clicked on this video because it was discussing black representation in films and moments when different interviewees felt that they had first been represented. I chose to share this video for the blog because intersectionality played a very important role in what made people feel they could relate to a character. It was not a matter of a strong black character, female character, gay character, etc., it was a result of seeing a person who represented multiple identities in one because that’s what made the characters feel real and relatable for the people in the video. This relates to the Crenshaw reading, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex” because it perfectly represents the importance of intersectionality when exploring characters on screen. Crenshaw discusses the importance of exploring the multidimensionality of someone’s experience rather than taking things in from only one perspective. Crenshaw discusses different scenarios where people failed to recognize the intersectionality of black women and therefore approached situations from the perspective that discrimination in a scenario was based on only race or only gender, when really both need to be considered together without ignoring the other. This goes for other identities that a person can have as well. When you only focus on one part of someone’s identity, you miss representing the entire person. The video shows that even when people are being asked when they felt they could identify with a black character on screen, they also considered other factors of themselves and added those into their requirements to be able to identify with someone on screen. The interviewees considered much more than their racial identities when choosing films.
