Representation on The 100

Recently there was a huge outcry from LGBTQ fans all over the Internet when Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), a white lesbian character was killed on Jason Rothenberg’s CW show, The 100. This outrage was definitely not unfounded, due to the lack of representation of LGBTQ characters. Although it does call into the question that such uproar has never followed the shock kills and sidelining of people of colour on this particular show.

In season 1, Wells Jaha (Eli Goree) was one of two significant black male characters on The 100, the other being his father. His character had a lot to offer to the story: he was the best friend of the main character, son of the Chancellor, and he took the fall for the death of his best friend’s father, even though it wasn’t his fault. Regardless of all this, he was killed in the third episode for shock factor, something that the writers of the show have openly admitted. The creator of The 100, Jason Rothenberg can be seen in this video, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMonVBXE1Sw), admitting that Wells died because the writers wanted to show that “nobody is safe” in the “biggest way”. Furthermore, Rothenberg admits that it was Jasper (a white character) who was meant to die early in the first season, but his death was replaced by Wells’ because he was “too good”.

Well’s death in season 1 was last-minute, and it took away a significant piece of representation from a marginalised community, all because the writers wanted to keep a white actor. Yet after this, there was no huge outrage, the likes of raising nearly $50,000 for an LGBT charity in the actor’s name, as there was after Lexa’s death in season 3.

(https://www.classy.org/fundraise?fcid=625415)

In season 2, Anya, a leader of the “grounders” (the “savages” that live on the earth), played by Dichen Lachman, a Nepalese woman, was killed after only appearing in seven episodes. Her entire characterisation on the show was shown through the point of view of the white protagonist. Just like Lexa, Anya was shot by mistake – an avoidable and unpredictable death, for shock value. Just like Lexa, she was killed off immediately following a storyline where her relationship with the white protagonist humanised her.

After Anya’s death in season 2, countless open letters were not written to Jason Rothenberg and the other writers of The 100 about the misrepresentation of people of colour, as there were after Lexa’s death in season 3.

(http://www.fandomfollowing.com/an-open-letter-to-jason-rothenberg-of-the-100/

http://commanderlexasjawline.tumblr.com/post/140448386236/an-open-letter-to-jason-rothenberg-and-the-writers

http://kimwetter.com/2016/03/07/open-letter-jason-rothenberg/)

There are many other characters portrayed by people of colour who have been mistreated on The 100. For example, Lincoln (Ricky Whittle), a black man, has been countlessly tortured – and his torture has been shown on-screen, whereas when white characters such as Murphy are tortured, it is off-screen. Or the fact that Monty (Christopher Larkin), a Korean man, constantly has his story lines sidelined or is used to prop up the story lines of his white best friend. 

In this post I have only mentioned a few instances of poor representation of people of colour on The 100.  Yet after all these instances, there was never such uproar as when a white lesbian character was killed. Which begs the question, do we care more about issues of social justice and oppression, misrepresentation and lack of representation, when these issues are affecting white people?

I am in no way trying to belittle or undermine the feelings of a community who feel robbed of their representation. This is just one example, represented through reactions to a piece of popular media, of how the plight for social justice issues that affect white people can overshadow or ignore the plight of those who are not white, as well as where those issues intersect.