Let’s start with the good stuff.
Things are better than they were, at least on our screens. You only have to visit the cinema or switch on the TV (or more likely your phone or laptop) to see that when it comes to diversity there’s been an improvement.
The 2021 Hollywood Diversity report showed that when it came to cast, writers and directors, there has been progress. Women made up 47% of lead roles, and for once people of colour were cast proportionally to their population. The picture gets less rosy when you start to break it down further though. Behind the camera women and people of colour are still woefully underrepresented in Hollywood. Meanwhile, the Creative Diversity Network report found that the TV industry in the UK had marginally improved but not in senior roles and that the industry still has a long way to go.
That being said, there have been some big wins when it comes to LGBTQ+ characters on screen. Netflix series Heartstopper, about two teenagers, Charlie and Nick, discovering young love, was a huge success. It was refreshing because for once we were seeing realistic stories about LGBTQ people falling in love that weren’t grounded in pain.