These are unformed thoughts that I’m still working through, but I want to get them out there:
Can we please move past the tedious circle of arguing about the need for greater representation of women and minorities in fiction? It’s important. There. That‘s a solved question.
What’s more important, and far more interesting I think, is what you do once you’ve decided that your narrative defaults are going to represent the world as it is–a place where white men are a global minority. It’s actually a real easy switch to make, and there’s no excuse not to.
But once you’ve done that, where do you go from there? Can representation be an artistic goal in and of itself?
NO. NOT EVEN FUCKING CLOSE.
You know what happens if you make diverse representation your main artistic objective? You get the left-wing equivalent of the runny gruel that passes for Evangelical Christian “alternatives” to mainstream culture.
At this point, I think it’s more feminist to make art about women that’s grungy, rude, painful, and raw than it is to pound your chest about how many times you pass the Bechdel Test. Having representation of a diverse population is literally the very least you can do–letting it be your gold standard is to embrace mediocrity. It should be a prerequisite, not an achievement.