In 2015, Emma Stone, a white woman, was cast to portray a half-white, quarter-Chinese, quarter-Native Hawaiian character, Allison Ng, in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha (Brammer, 2015). Why? This cast choice is completely ridiculous. An actress of diverse heritage was deprived of an excellent role that would have made Aloha a success in theaters. This makes the accusation of prejudice at the most recent Oscars seem far too credible. There should be more representation of multiracial people in the media because it will boost racially mixed people’s self-esteem, the multiracial population is increasing, and movies with people of diverse heritage have been very popular and profitable.

Firstly, as we can imagine, the self esteem of multiracial people is pushed further and further down each time a white actress such as Emma Stone is cast to play a diverse character such as Allison Ng. A multiracial person has heritage from more than one race. Hollywood and major producers should use more actors or actresses of racially mixed backgrounds, because it would boost the self-esteem of multiracial people. It is crucial, especially in today’s one-touch-away media, for people to see themselves represented accurately and positively anywhere. As John Paul Brammer precisely states in his article on the Blue Nation Review website, “Why Media Representation Matters to Biracial And Multiracial People,” representation is extremely important: “When multiracial people see their identity struggle represented in the media, it lets them know they are not alone and that, contrary to what they have been told, they are not ‘nothing.’ They do exist” (2015). On a personal note, I hate that I grew up without an explicitly multiracial role model. I almost cried when I discovered that there is a word to describe a part-asian individual, hapa. It is exceedingly important to me that my little sister and eleven year old cousins grow up knowing that they are not alone. When multiracial people see themselves represented favorably, they are reminded that they exist and are important.

In addition to self esteem benefits, with better multiracial representation, the rising population of people of mixed heritage will also feel better about their identity. The multiracial population is increasing because the number of interracial marriages has swelled, after being legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967 (Wang, 2015). As Wendy Wang told us in her article on the Pew Research Center website, “Interracial marriage: Who is ‘marrying out’?”, we can expect interracial marriages to increase in the future: “Looking beyond newlyweds, 6.3% of all marriages were between spouses of different races in 2013, up from less than 1% in 1970” (2015). When the media adapts to the rising number of interracial marriages, so will the people. Hopefully one day, waiters and waitresses will stop asking my parents if they want separate checks. Is it so shocking that a white woman and Asian man are married with children? Is that crazy? With the multiracial population growing so rapidly, it is vital for the media to adapt to the change.

Of course, when the media adapt to the population, there will need to be more popular and profitable movies with multiracial actors. Not many movies have a strong, positively represented multiracial character, let alone a cast, but the few movies that do have dominated the theaters and the hearts of the audience. As Kimberly Cooper tells us in her article on the Huffington Post website, “Disney Animation’s Big Hero 6: Far More Than Meets the Eye…,” Big Hero 6 is more than just animation: “Younger and older generations alike will identify ‘Big Hero 6’ for a variety of reasons, … that with each new viewing of the film, another layer of insight- whether cultural, generational, or emotional- is uncovered” (2014). In my fourteen years of existence, the only clear multiracial representation I have seen is in Big Hero 6. Though it was good to see Brenda Song in Wendy Wu Homecoming Warrior, she is not of mixed descent and I was just happy to see an Asian actress. Disney has been a leading company in depicting more diverse characters, but they can still do better. Putting more multiracial people in movies will positively affect both the production companies and the diverse audiences.

On the other hand, some people believe that it is more important to represent people of one full race in the media because there is not enough Latino and Asian representation. Those people think that individuals of mixed backgrounds can get by with representation at least one of their races. This argument is not valid, however, because it is morally wrong to value one race over another. While Asian and Latino representation needs to improve, so does multiracial representation. Together, people of mixed descent and people of color can push to be represented equally and positively in the media.

As we have seen from these arguments, there should be more multiracial people in the media because it would improve racially mixed people’s self-esteem, the multiracial population is increasing rapidly, and some of the most popular and profitable movies have starred people of diverse heritage in lead roles. So, increased representation of people with diverse backgrounds would benefit everyone, not just multiracial people. It only makes sense that the media depicts more racially mixed people in accurate and positive ways so there is not another Emma Stone Aloha incident.

Sources Cited
Brammer, John Paul. "Why Media Representation Matters To Biracial And Multiracial People."   Blue Nation Review. True Blue Media, 04 June 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.  

Cooper, Kimberly. "Disney Animation's Big Hero 6: Far More Than Meets the Eye..." The Huffington
Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.

Wang, Wendy. "Interracial Marriage: Who Is 'marrying Out'?" Pew Research Center RSS. Pew 
Research Center, 12 June 2015. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.