Why It Matters.

I was asked a few years ago by a friend of mine who was born and raised in Asia if representation in film and television was actually a big deal. I explained to him that while we're both Asian in ethnicity, the difference is I grew up in the West. I grew up seeing primarily Caucasian faces in movies, TV shows, news casts, sports commentary. He may have watched Hollywood movies growing up too, but he saw his people on many other forms of media.

I didn't grow up thinking, "man I really wish there were more Asians in Hollywood movies". But then, Michelle Yeoh is by far my favourite "Bond girl" and while I'm not the biggest Lucy Liu fan, I kept an eye on everything she did. I remember seeing behind the scenes clips of 'The Matrix' (1999) and hearing, "yut, yee, sam!" ("one, two, three" in Cantonese) shouted out to Keanu before doing a stunt, and the excitement I had that the language my parents spoke was somehow on a Hollywood film set. So maybe I did have a desire for more representation before I even knew what that meant.

Young minorities today are extremely lucky. They won't ever have to wonder if it's a big deal, because of course it is, and it's because of actors like Chadwick Boseman that a new generation will be sure of this.

Boseman had a relatively short career, but as President Obama so eloquently said: "what a use of his years". He brought to life legendary figures of Black history and inspired a generation with Black Panther. And if there ever was a question of whether or not representation matters, a quick search of reactions to Chadwick's death should answer that.

I'll end this piece with this clip, a tribute Chadwick Boseman gave to Denzel Washington at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2019. His eloquence, intelligence, and power are on fully display here. We can only imagine the impact he would have had on film, much like Denzel has, but we can be sure of the impact he did have.

The news of Chadwick Boseman's passing was shocking and immensely heartbreaking. I like, so many others, felt a profound sadness for someone who I had never met, which is such an odd feeling but a common one when public figures pass on. It's been a few days since this news and the constant thought I've had is, this is why representation matters.

I've seen all the beautiful tributes to him from those who knew him and from those who only knew him through his film work. The comments that have stuck out to me are from Black parents fearful of how their children will take it that the King had passed on. Not only did Boseman bring to life one of the most significant comic book heroes for the Black community, he was also Jackie Robinson, the baseball player who broke the colour barrier in America; Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; and, James Brown, a musical legend known for his tireless civil rights advocacy.

I obviously didn't know Boseman, but I want to believe that these choices were intentional.

Chadwick Boseman was a graduate of Howard University with the intention of becoming a director, but his on-screen talents were clearly undeniable. So it would seem, he put away his directorial aspirations temporarily, and made each acting part he took on count. As a movie buff, I do wonder what the industry missed out on. The stories he would have told, the directorial decisions he would have made.