The Gaming Industry Understands and Embraces Diversity, Yet Hollywood doesn't?

Nowadays, games are available on basically all platforms: mobiles, laptops, tablets and consoles, meaning everyone and anyone can play. It doesn’t matter what colour your skin, gender, sexuality, ability or taste, you can pick up a controller and jump right in. Subsequently, we’re seeing a fantastic and diverse range of stories and games, catering to all sorts of demographics and players. You want to explore the early world as a tribesman in Far Cry? You can. You want to blow some evil insects to bits as a badass female marine in Gears of War? You sure can. You want to play as a young lesbian women searching for meaning in her life? Yep, you can. Gaming has never been more diverse and inclusive than it is now, yet it has been around for around a quarter of the time as the film industry, so why is the film industry still brimming with institutional racism and sexism after 100+ years, while the gaming industry has none?

There's no one answer, as these issues do not exist in a vacuum. There are an overwhelming amount of mitigating factors. Though a fairly large part of it is the 'proven' studio system that brings in the most money, even though it is based on an ailing formula. A formula that means we get the same old actors, directors, producers, screenwriters and cinematographers, leaving all the films feeling as though they're made on an assembly line.  Disney's Marvel superhero films are a great example of this conveyor belt filmmaking: every film looks exactly the same, is structured the same and they're all setup for endless sequels. Yet, regardless of the this, people line up to see The Avengers 35 in troves.

Producers will continue to produce these manufactured films because they sell. They don't want to alter or change this formula, because aside from Star Wars, when they do it leads to less money in their pockets. And unless your name is Morgan Freeman or Samuel L. Jackson, the studio formula seems to forget minorities and continue to cast white actors. It's like a catch 22, where the studios don't want to take a 'risk', because a minority actor is not a household name, though they haven't been given the opportunity to become a household name.  Whereas the gaming industry doesn't bank on characters and actors to sell a product, rather they act as a 'feature'. The studio responsible for the IP have become the selling point, such as Naughty Dog Studios, who made the revered Crash Bandicoot and Uncharted series.

Another part of the diversity issue stems from the dreadful writing Hollywood puts out. We are constantly bombarded with stereotypes, marginalized minority characters, reductive themes of racism and preachy writing dealt with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. And while what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ writing is mostly subjective, we know that a good writer will apply the old adage of ‘show, don't tell’. A great writer will create complex and diverse characters. Take the progressive game Borderlands 2 for example. Here, gay characters aren’t defined by their sexuality. They're not caricatures, and we discover their sexual orientation through the clever writing. At one point in the game, a character reminisces on the past with the player. He talks about his anthropological work and his ex-husband. We’re able to deduce that the character is gay without the character directly saying it. It’s dealt with beautifully. It feels natural and organic, and his character is not defined by it. He’s just a character who happens to be gay. This subtlety and nuance is incredibly important as it normalizes ‘gayness’, and I feel as though it may in fact help a few less tolerant players to humanize those they would normally judge or disregard. Hollywood needs to take note, especially when a lot of the gay representation in the industry comes down to the effeminate lispy man.

With the dying studio system, Hollywood should really be taking a look at their options, one of which should be branching out and taking risks. Establishing new stars, investing in new directors and screenwriters. They need to take a look at indie hits and Quentin Tarantino’s female characters in Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. Look at George Miller’s depiction of Furiosa in Fury Road. These are all great works with diversity. It's amazing that after this long, there's still issues in the industry, especially when compared to the still relatively young video game industry.