Amma Asante’s Belle perfectly illustrates the importance of representation in media. There are several scenes in the film where Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) sees paintings featuring black people as subordinates to their white counterparts. It baffles her because she views herself as an equal to her sister-cousin Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon), and she is even assured by her family that she is loved and valued, yet the art around her tells her this is not so. Even as a woman of title and wealth, Dido is still viewed as inferior because of her race, even though technically she is half white, half black. Her society condemns her because of her skin color, regardless of the fact that she is mixed race (which is a reminder of the One Drop Rule). It also did not seem to matter to others that she is a woman of worth. Her skin color automatically classified her as beneath white people.
There is a scene in the film where it is announced that she and Elizabeth will have their portrait painted next to each other, and Dido is struck with fear because she expects she will be painted next to Elizabeth but, like all the other artwork she has seen of people of her color, she will be depicted as subordinate. In the end, when the portrait is revealed, she is painted side by side to Elizabeth, as her equal. She is relieved, but also shocked, because even she has started to doubt her own self-worth, wishing her skin were a different color. Finally she is seen as an equal, and it drives her to fight for what she believes she deserves as a person instead of resigning herself to what she is told she deserves as a result of her race.
So we should never underestimate the importance of representation in media, because we are always searching for ourselves in our art. What is art, after all, but a reflection of out society? And if we don’t see ourselves as vital members of that society, or even worse, if we don’t see ourselves at all, this perpetuates the oppressive and destructive idea that people of color are worthless. If a young black girl only sees images of black women who are slaves, exoticized or abused, how does she know she can be a doctor? If a young Mexican boy only sees images of Latino men as drug dealers or thugs, how does he know he can aspire to be President?
Representation is important.
