Erasure

Works of art are supposed to represent people, but so often art only represents a small minority of the worlds population. Today, we discuss the importance of representation in our art and how we may unknowingly be erasing certain parts of our population if we look at the status quo and never question it. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

I find it really interesting how as a mother I can watch myself grow and go through something and change for the better of it. And then I will simultaneously then watch my children go through something very similar. For the past few months, I've really been working on bringing alignment into myself in the sense that I've been very I've become very selective about who I spend my time with, what I spend my time on. And if for some reason those things don't align with who I am, then I have let them go. It's meant I've gone through a lot of growing pains because even when you're actively choosing to let something go, it still hurts because there's that grief of not having it in your life anymore and that void essentially inside of you and in your life that isn't filled with that thing anymore. Anyhow, I noticed over the last few weeks that my kids have been really struggling with deciding whether they want to keep going with their dance class. And I know you're probably wondering at this point what the fuck this has to do with creativity or writing, but just stay with me for a moment. Basically, I've been watching them kind of struggle with deciding whether they want to stay with dance. And the reason being that one of my children really didn't want to do it anymore was because she felt like the teacher had changed. And I could see it too that somehow this teacher had changed over the last few months and just wasn't quite what she was before. And it's interesting because my other daughter, who previously didn't do this dance class, started this year, and even she was feeling a bit meh by it, especially by the choice of the dance choreography they were learning. Because the dance choreography that they were learning had them being boys and was set to a very fast-paced song that made the whole dance fast and it was just very confusing. Anyhow, because I know kids are pretty fickle with deciding things and you know, deciding whether they want to do something or not, or let it go, I kind of gave it a few weeks and we had lots of conversations about it, just trying to figure out exactly what the issue was. Anyway, I finally got to a point where I just accepted that my elders didn't want to go back and do it because she'd had a really bad experience learning this dance, and she didn't really like who the teacher was now. And my youngest, I think she just sort of lost interest because she seemed to do that. She's got that amazing personality where she really wants to give something a go for about six months and then fuck off and do something else, which is as it's fine. Like, you know, as a parent, you really want to support your child exploring things and figuring out who they are. But when it comes at a cost at your budget and you having to repurchase new supplies that get shelved in a closet six months later can be a bit of a hassle, anyhow. So I decided to basically just let the school know the hearts, the dance school know that my girls had wanted to basically pull out of the dance class, and I gave them the reasons, and I kind of mentioned the fact that the dance and the choreography wasn't very inclusive to all abilities because my eldest is neurodivergent, so she naturally just has some limitations in what she's comfortable to do with her body. But even in saying that, I just I think everyone has limitations on what they're comfortable with doing. So it was basically just highlighting that their choreography wasn't very inclusive and how they were teaching it wasn't inclusive because basically the school had expected the kids to learn how to do forward rules on a hard dance floor as opposed to giving them mats or pillows or anything soft to cushion them, and anyhow. So, and then the other problem was the whole fact that the choreography, the dance required the girls to dress up and participate as boys, and it's it's only a choice at this point, I think, to make girls change their gender to tell a story through a piece of art. Like, this isn't just an issue for women, but I am gonna just focus mainly on the issue that it is for women and the fact that our stories, our history has been erased so much over history and even in present day. And there are so many wonderful artists and people in the world who are doing such wonderful work in trying to make these stories reach audiences and be told and remembered because women have historically just been undermined, forgotten, and overlooked, or worse, they've had their work stolen from them and been given to a man. So for me, I found it very interesting that this dance school would choose to make these girls be male characters for a dance, because the dance school had, like, obviously, a theme that that all the dances that they were choreographing had to fit into. And I just thought it was such a wasted opportunity to dig deeper and either just make the male characters female or to just find a story from that same theme or era that represents girls. And as a woman, I generally find it very tiring that people are continuously okay with this erasure, especially seeing as how one of the most powerful Western governments in the world is basically doing everything they can to erase women's rights. It just feels so senseless to me to add to that erasure, even if it's something so simple as a choreography in a dance studio that no one will basically see or know about except the parents and extended family. I just find it baffling because on the flip side, I also find it very hard to believe that if this same dance school had ever been able to get a group of boys in a class that they would get away with making those boys perform as girls and that none of those boys would end up leaving the class. It's it forever baffles me how we expect girls to conform and change to fit in with boys stereotypes, but the flip on the but on the flip side, we don't expect the same thing of boys. We're quite happy for boys to stick in their male-centric lane, but it is totally okay to expect girls to be comfortable flipping to a male-centric lane. It it just doesn't make sense. I mean, it does make sense when you realize how sexist the world is, but beyond that, when you look at it from just a logical perspective, it doesn't make any fucking sense at all. So the reason why I'm rambling to you all about this is that I think as creators, it's really important to be really aware of what our art is doing in the sense of who is it representing and who is it erasing. I know it's very hard to write a story that represents all people because people are so different and unique all across the world. And I don't think any reader or consumer believes that a piece of art should represent all people. I think, though, what pieces of art should do is at least try to represent a diverse range of people, in that there is a mix of genders and race and sexualities and even opposing political opinions, because that creates not just a more interesting story, but a more authentic story as well. It sort of amazes me how much we have just been fine with the fact that so many of our consumed media is really just targeting a certain part of the population. Like if we look at novels for children, most novels for children are boy-centric, the main characters are male leads, and then we look at, you know, very popular TV shows, and generally they're white people, they're they're led, the main characters are white. Yeah, there are some female white-led shows, but I couldn't tell you of a female-led show with a black woman as the main character. And it's sort of interesting, really, how this isn't really changing. I think if we want to kind of equalize the conversation and start talking about male creators, you know, I could tell you the names of three white male fantasy writers. I couldn't tell you the name of even one black male fantasy writer. I don't even know if there is an Asian fantasy writer book to be found on the shelves alongside the famous white male writers. And then, of course, moving beyond just skin colour, we're also looking at different backgrounds and sexualities. And again, it's when you think about the most famous people that you can name, whether that's in art or science or mathematics, they're usually white and they're usually male. And it's very interesting to me because that's not a true representation of the world at all, and certainly not with the people that are in those fields. So I feel, as creators that are telling fictional stories, it's really important that we start to look at these things and we start to question them, and then better yet, we start to be we start to create pieces of art that change this and show people how it can be or what it should be like, because that is the power of fiction, and I think in a way we've sort of forgotten that we've got so caught up in remakes and prequels and sequels that we've forgotten the benefit of original artwork, and that is basically that it can help move us forward, it can help move society forward. Because when I look at this situation with my girls' old dance school, they had an opportunity to do something different and be forward thinking. They could have chosen a dance or a choreography and a story within that choreography and dance where girls were represented. They could have made that effort to make that change, to change that representation and sort of equalize that gap between male stories and female stories being represented in art. And they chose not to, which I guess is fine if you just want to be someone who sticks with the status quo. But I would question then, what is it that you're bringing to the table? What is it about your story that makes it unique and different? And I hate to say it because it really shouldn't take flipping genders and races and sexualities to make a story different. We shouldn't be at this point in history where we can still do those things and it makes a story unique or an outlier. These should just be basic fundamental building blocks in every single fucking story. But we're not there yet. But the thing is, we're never gonna get there unless artists push for it. Like it's not governments that change things, it's the people. You know, governments are stuck in a system that is so fucking old and slow that they will never freaking change. But it's the people, the people will and will enforce the change because they demand something better. Look at history, look at the biggest movements that have ever come from history, it all came from people. So if you are listening to this and feeling like a complete hopeless civilian against these dinosaur systems, look at your own stories, look at the representation, look at what you are unknowingly erasing, and perhaps how you can change that. Because I can promise you, it's not actually that hard to include representation and to quote unquote be seen as forward thinking. You just have to stop for a second and look at the status quo and question whether this is actually appropriate, like the situation with my girls' dance school, having to be boys and learning a too fast choreography for their aid. And whether there is something that you can do in the stories that you create to change that. Because you might not be in control of the world, honestly, you probably don't even want to be. Pretty fucked up place, pretty tiresome job. No one will thank you for it. But when it comes to our stories, we are the creators, we are the masters of those worlds. So, what sort of world do you want to create? Who are you going to represent? And who are you going to end up erasing?