books aren't the only thing lacking multicultural characters

[Jacinda]

So, of course, it's pretty apparent that Hollywood doesn't have an abundance of multicultural characters. Does this stem from the fact that the majority of stories and books that movies are derived from don't have many multicultural characters? That would seem to be a big part of it, though it doesn't explain the numerous TV shows that aren't derived from books. Whatever the cause, there is no denying the fact that there is a huge under-representation of multicultural characters on the big screen.

This fact became glaringly clear last night as I stayed up late, scouring the internet for pictures of actors or even models that looked like the characters from my recent book, Indigo Incite. Wow, did I have a hard time!! Most of my characters are teenagers, and the first one that I looked up, Liliana, is Chinese. I managed to come up with 2! Yeah, only 2 who even slightly resembled the girl that I imagine in my mind. Next I moved on to Eddie, a sexy college student, half Native American, half Mexican. Um, can you say impossible? For him I kinda picture a Taylor Lautner but a little more scholarly looking. How many did I come up with? ZERO!!! Seriously? I was disgusted! So, then I moved on to my next main characters, Tyler & Toby, identical twins. They're just typical, good looking white boys. Wanna guess how many actors I came up with in only a minute? THREE! THREE actors who looked exactly like Tyler/Toby, and I'm sure if I had kept searching I could have found several more! You can't tell me that there aren't dozens of young and talented Chinese, Mexican, and Native American teenagers out there who would love to be actors.

The point is, it's time for a change in the representation of multicultural characters in both books and movies. It was never a question for me to create a variety of multicultural characters in the Indigo Trilogy, and I hope that this will eventually become the norm in all forms of entertainment, both in books and on screen.

[[deleted user]]

I hope that everyone is becoming more aware of this. :)

Thanks for the great comment. I think it can't be said enough that multiculturalism is a pretty small window of characters , that are often not as important as what's considered "normal" = "white".

I definitely don't see anything with either route, but it's just not enough anymore to only rely on white men and women(non latino whites)to be influential characters in movies and books :)

[Aya]

I know, right? Though with movies, I heard somewhere that the targeted audience is supposedly young white males. Just look at most of the blockbuster posters and how the cast is arranged.

Speaking of images, I've also had a hard time looking for stock for my book covers. I believe that for my next book I'll use just objects, because it's SO hard to find a decent non-white model.

[[deleted user]]

Aya wrote: "I know, right? Though with movies, I heard somewhere that the targeted audience is supposedly young white males. Just look at most of the blockbuster posters and how the cast is arranged.

Speaking..."

Wow, Guinevere and I haven't had this problem with finding a decent model for the cover of our books because we usually commission artists to create the looks we want, but it can be expensive so i see why others choose stock art.But i swear i've seen the SAME women on several covers that feature black women on their covers so it had us really reluctant to use stock art. Particularly because our heroines have a non modern way of dressing so to use a girl wearing a sundress or something similar wasn't working for us. Good luck with your cover, Aya.

[Aya]

Come to think of it, I even see the same white models on multiple books so imagine how difficult it is to find ethnic characters :( I want a Chinese girl in historical costume that is not from the Qing dynasty, and she should be holding a dagger, so no way I could find that. If I had the budget, I'd rent a costume and get someone to model for me :P

Good luck with your book too! Is your cover done completely from scratch?