Movies That Can Broaden Your Understanding of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Movies touch us all and can be a great way to expand on DEI conversations with family and friends. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and Employee Resource Groups have assembled a great list of movies, ranging in genre and age-appropriateness, for you to enjoy.

At first glance, these movies don't have much in common. Looking deeper, you see they each have one thing in common; diversity.

Take a look at the full list of movies, and where you can find them, below.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and Google Play

This animated Marvel adventure centers on Brooklyn teen Miles Morales who becomes a new Spider-Man and ends up meeting other Spider-people from parallel universes. Kids won’t fail to notice the movie’s diverse characters and clear messages about friendship, courage, mentoring, perseverance, teamwork, and (of course!) the nature of power and responsibility.

Moana

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+

The animated film Moana is about the action-filled voyage of Moana, the daughter of a Polynesian chief, as she sails across the ocean. Moana learns powerful lessons along the way as she discovers her own identity. This movie showcases a strong female lead from the Pacific Islands, a diverse setting that isn’t represented in many films.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Rated: PG

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video

Since this Dora is a teen rather than a very young girl, the movie is geared toward older viewers than the show. The story is a mix of high school comedy and true Dora adventure with themes of teamwork, communication, compassion, courage, curiosity, and perseverance.

Wonder

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and Google Play

Auggie, the main character in Wonder (which is based on a book), was born with facial differences and is entering a mainstream school for the first time. This movie features themes of compassion and acceptance and teaches us that the differences we all have simply add to the richness of our lives, not take away from it.

Coco

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: YouTube, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+

This animated film features an all-Latino cast and shares the story of Miguel, a 12-year-old Mexican boy who is an aspiring musician. Miguel goes into the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather and the movie highlights many details of daily life in Mexico.

Hidden Figures

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: YouTube, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, and Hulu

Hidden Figures is based on the incredible true story of three female mathematicians who dealt with many challenges around race and gender as they became an important part of NASA and the U.S. space program.

Home

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube, and iTunes

This movie creates a world in which aliens known as The Boov, running from their enemies, must find a new planet to inhabit, so they take over Earth. Human families get broken up in the forced relocations that follow, and Tip (voiced by Rihanna) is separated from her mother. She teams up with Oh, the most human-friendly of The Boov, and an adventure ensues.

Akeelah and the Bee

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu

Akeelah is an 11-year-old that lives in a predominately Black neighborhood and goes to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The film explores the unique pressure that Akeelah feels, as well as the discrimination she faces from the families of other competitors.

Mulan

Rated: G

Where to Watch: Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, YouTube, and Google Play

Mulan is a decidedly Disneyfied take on a Chinese fairy tale, but its elements of Chinese culture and history ring true. This movie focuses on a strong, female lead (like Moana and Merida) who doesn’t align with the typical Disney princess. While Mulan ultimately becomes a hero and helps her people, she does so by rebelling against authority, which is worth discussing.

A Ballerina’s Tale

Rated: N/A

Where to Watch: YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, and Sling TV

A Ballerina’s Tale shows the struggles and successes of Misty Copeland, the first Black principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre. The film explores themes around race as well as body image.

Lilo & Stitch

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, iTunes, and Google Play

Stitch, a small but powerful intergalactic creature, is destructive and angry; he bares his sharp teeth and angry attitude frequently throughout, causing chaos and mayhem wherever he goes. Lilo and her sister Nani are orphans, and though the circumstance of their parents’ death is referenced only once, there are themes of possible separation, social worker visits, and the weight of being a single guardian.

Black Panther

Rated: PG-13

Where to Watch: Disney Plus and Netflix

This movie has enthralled audiences with its action-packed tale of T’Challa, aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), battling for his place as King of Wakanda. Part of what makes this film notable is how it breaks the mold of the superhero movie, as the first to feature a black director and black actors in all the leading roles.

Remember the Titans

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+

Taking place in Virginia in 1971, Remember the Titans is based on the true story of a newly integrated high school football team and the struggles around racial tensions, both on and off the field.

The Princess and the Frog

Rated: G

Where to Watch: Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, and Amazon Prime Video

The Princess and the Frog Rated: G Where to Watch: Netflix, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, and Amazon Prime Video

This animated film features Disney’s first Black princess, Tiana. The movie doesn’t explicitly discuss race, and that’s a good way to show young children representation and diversity in movies.

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: Netflix

This is another film based on a true story. The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind is about 13-year old William Kamkwamba and how he discovers a way to save his Malawian village from famine. The movie explores themes around poverty and political unrest.

Big Hero 6

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, and Disney+

The movie is an unconventional origin story that focuses on the power of brotherhood, friendship, and using your gifts to help others. The movie does deal with grief and a bit of violence, but with its diverse cast and uplifting message, Big Hero 6 is a captivating adventure story for the entire family.

Wadjda

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and Netflix

Wadjda is the first Saudi Arabian movie to be directed by a woman, and it centers on a feisty, independent girl who wants to ride a bicycle, wear sneakers, and be able to compete against her best friend—a boy in the neighborhood. The movie explores the various religious traditions and laws that many Muslim girls and women have to follow, especially when it comes to dress and submitting to men in authority. It is subtitled, so better suited for older kids and teens.

Ruby Bridges

Rated: PG

Where to Watch: YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+

You may have been hearing about Ruby Bridges recently. Ruby was the first African American child to attend an all-white school in the south. While this seems like it should have taken place so long ago, it actually wasn’t that long ago, only taking place in 1960. Ruby Bridges, now age 65, is an American civil rights activist. Ruby Bridges shares Ruby’s real-life experience.

Just Mercy

Rated: PG-13

Where to Watch: YouTube, Vudu, Google Play, and Amazon Prime Video

This movie, starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, hit theaters in January but is now available to watch at home via the streaming platforms listed above. The legal drama tells the true story of a young defense attorney named Bryan Stevenson who helped appeal a murder conviction for an incarcerated Alabama man named Walter McMillian.

13TH

Rated: NA

Where to Watch: Netflix and YouTube

This 2016 documentary from Academy Award-nominated Black filmmaker Ava DuVernay explores the U.S.’s deep history of racial inequality. Featuring scholars, activists, and politicians, this thought-provoking documentary analyzes the criminalization and mass incarceration of Black Americans over time. The film is so well done, and while some scenes are, frankly, very hard to watch, its messaging is incredibly important and educational—especially now. You can watch it on Netflix, but the film was also recently released in full on YouTube.

The Hate U Give

Rated: PG-13

Where to Watch: Hulu

This film, directed by George Tillman Jr., is based on a 2017 young adult novel of the same name by author Angie Thomas. It tells the fictional story of a high school student named Starr Carter who witnesses her unarmed male friend killed by police after they’re pulled over for failing to signal a lane change. Starring Amandla Stenberg (you may know her from The Hunger Games franchise), Regina Hall, Common, Issa Rae, and Anthony Mackie, this movie is a powerful must-watch.

Dear White People

Rated: R

Where to Watch: Netflix

This Netflix comedy-drama series follows a group of young Black students at an Ivy League college as they encounter injustice and micro-aggressions from their white peers. It debuted in 2017 and has three seasons—plenty to catch up on if you haven’t seen this show already!

If Beale Street Could Talk

Rated: R

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video

This 2018 movie—directed and written by Black filmmaker Barry Jenkins—is a romantic drama set in 1970s New York City that tells the story of a young Black woman working to prove her incarcerated partner’s innocence before the birth of their first child. It was later nominated for three Academy Awards and one of the film’s stars, Regina King, won the “Best Supporting Actress” Oscar for her role.

The Prom

Rated: PG-13

Where to watch: Netflix

A group of down-on-their-luck Broadway stars shake up a small Indiana town as they rally behind a teen who just wants to attend prom with her girlfriend.

Selma

Rated: PG-13

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, and iTunes

This 2014 historical drama—another by Oscar-nominated Black filmmaker Ava DuVernay— chronicles the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by civil rights leaders James Bevel, Hosea Williams, Martin Luther King Jr., and John Lewis. It stars David Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Oprah Winfrey and scored a “Best Picture” Academy Award nomination at the 2015 Oscars.

Black Klansmen

Rated: R

Where to Watch: Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play

Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace, this 2018 movie—directed by famed Black director Spike Lee—is a biographical crime comedy that takes place in the 1970s and follows a Black detective who aims to infiltrate and expose his local Ku Klux Klan chapter.

Joe Bell

Rated: R

Where to Watch: YouTube and Amazon Prime

Joe Bell is a 2020 American biographical drama road film directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, from a screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Reid Miller and Connie Britton, and follows the true story of a father and his gay son who set out to bond while walking across the country. — heralded as a vital portrait of black gay masculinity in America.

Moonlight

Rated: R

Where to watch: Google Play or Amazon

“Moonlight” (2016) is a poignant drama based on Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semiautobiographical play “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue.” It follows the story of Chiron, a young black man growing up in Miami, in three defining chapters of his life as he struggles to suppress his sexuality and true identity. Moonlight won three Academy Awards including Best Picture — heralded as a vital portrait of black gay masculinity in America.?

The Farewell

Rated: PG

Where to watch: Amazon Prime or YouTube

A film based on an actual lie “The Farewell” (2019) stars Awkwafina as the headstrong Billi, as she travels with her family from New York to China to visit their grandmother who is dying of cancer. The problem? Everyone knows that she’s dying except the grandma herself, and the family intends to keep things that way as they devise an elaborate scheme to fake a wedding as a reason to visit her one last time. It masterfully captures the cultural divide between East and West while weaving in complicated family dynamics in a playful way.

Dangal

Rated: NA

Where to Watch: Netflix

“Dangal” (2017), another film based on a true story, is about a wrestler in India who wasn’t able to take home the gold for his country. Mahavir Phogat, played by Aamir Khan, plays the former wrestler who then turns his attention to his daughters and helps train them to become prizewinning fighters despite societal pressures to do otherwise. The film is set in the northern state of Haryana, an area with some of the worst gender ratios in the country. It was also a hit in China, the country with the most serious gender imbalances in the world, quickly becoming the top-grossing non-Hollywood foreign film in the country.

Wonder Woman

Rated: PG-13

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime or Google Play

Gal Gadot plays one of the most beloved superheroes of all time in “Wonder Woman” (2017). Once the princess of the Amazons on a sheltered island paradise who was being trained to become an undefeatable warrior, her life is suddenly turned on its head. When an American pilot crashlands on her island and warns her of the destruction happening in the outside world, Wonder Woman leaves the island the fight for the pursuit of justice.

Shang-Chi: Legend of the 10 Rings

Rated: PG-13

Where to watch: Disney Plus on Nov. 12

Marvel Studios' "Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings" stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, who must confront the past he thought he left behind when he is drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization. The groundbreaking flick features Marvel's first Chinese superhero and an all-Asian-led cast from the U.S. and Asia, and it was directed by Japanese American Destin Daniel Cretton.

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything

Rated: PG-13

Where to watch: Amazon Prime and Netflix

"To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything" is a 1995 American road comedy film directed by Beeban Kidron and starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as three New York City drag queens who embark on a road trip. Its title refers to an iconic autographed photo of Julie Newmar that they carry with them on their journey. She additionally appears in the film as herself.

Milk

Rated: R

Where to Watch: YouTube and Amazon Prime

Milk is a 2008 American biographical film based on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.