Missing: Any Non-binary people

Think of a major non-binary character in a blockbuster movie. How many come to mind??

This shouldn’t be controversial to say, but non-binary people exist. Not only that, but they always have existed, though it’s only recently that their awareness has entered the mainstream.

Of course, non-binary people face a lot of discrimination and injustice today. I think it’s worth taking a look at the role Hollywood plays in perpetuating that.

Representation is important for any marginalized group. Children get to see people like them in the media they watch, and the majority group gets a reminder that they are not the only ones.

In the media, many people still see straight white men as the default—anything else must be a statement. I think this mindset exists because our movies, TV shows, commercials, and just about everything else, HAVE largely featured straight, white leading men.

Of course, things are changing for the better. In recent years, there have been major pushes for more equal representation on the lines of race and sex. But when it comes to sexuality and gender identity, there has been almost no progress.

Same-sex relationships are hardly ever depicted by the major movie studios, and when they are, they’re usually relegated to the background and censored for international releases.

Transgender and non-binary representation are even worse. In GLAAD’s 2021 Studio Responsibility Index report, they found that the number of trans and non-binary characters in major Hollywood films was exactly zero.

As someone who works with so many diverse, talented people, I can speak from experience when I say that there is plenty of non-binary talent out there. So what gives?

The issue isn’t that there’s a lack of non-binary talent, but a lack of non-binary roles. This gets at a major disconnect between the way Hollywood wants to be seen—progressive, inclusive, accepting—and what Hollywood actually is.

The truth is that Hollywood is still largely run by people who don’t particularly care about representation beyond how it can help their image. Despite our progress, not just as an industry but as a society, Hollywood still thinks the way it did many years ago.

A big part of my motivation here at TLYNT is to help make Hollywood and our media look a little more like the world we actually live in. That starts with making it easier for underrepresented people to break into the industry, but ultimately we can only make a dent in the Hollywood media machine.

The only way that we’ve come so far in other forms of representation is due to mounting public pressure. There’s enough demand for racial representation that now we’re seeing more of it.

Of course, that’s a great thing, but it’s important that we don’t neglect other forms of representation too. Gender identity, among many others like body type, age, and religion, are all equally important. But that representation will only happen when people no longer let Hollywood get away with neglecting these groups.