Whenever I hear the liberal argument for greater representation in films, TV, etc., because "it reflects modern reality," I ask: whose reality? Yours? Mine?
I ride public transport to work and therefore sit among all kinds of people. Usually I treat everyone with courtesy. But does that mean I have to befriend them all? At the most my interactions will be superficially necessary (e.g. shopping, asking for directions, saying "Excuse me"). I'm just as marginal to them as they are to me.
A sixth of the world's population may be Chinese, but how relevant is that to a Latina growing up in Spanish Harlem? Is she required to have a Chinese best friend? No, only whites. It's OK for her to mingle in a predominantly Hispanic environment, because . . . well, you know. She's Latina. But if a white person interacts mainly with white family and friends, he or she (especially he) is racist.
The so-called representation in the media is not only simplistic, it's distorted.
I agree entirely when the diverse casting is arbitrary and obviously artificial, mandated by the DEI commissars and designed to meet quota targets. When it is natural to the story and setting, it’s fine. One of the arts of screenwriting is to bend the story in such a way that minority characters — and remember, “minorities” will include whites before long — are present in naturalistic ways. The writers and casting directors can pull this off if they’re good. Or bungle it if they’re wokebots.
After Yang and Montana Story both have some interesting casting choices, but in both cases — at least to me — the diversity feels natural and unforced. The instance that stands out most obviously is “Ace” in Montana Story, a hospice nurse who is an immigrant from Kenya. (He goes by “Ace” because no one in Montana can pronounce his real name. ) Some reviews complain that he’s out of place. He doesn’t feel that way to me — but of course, when I go to see a doctor here in Washington, D.C., most of the medical staff is foreign. (Disproportinately from India but a lot of East Asians as well. I think the American kids today are mostly doing grievance studies, not STEM disciplines where they actually have to study hard.)
So how does a guy like Ace wind up in Montana? Well, you may remember the 1990’s tv show Northern Exposure, which is built around a wisecracking, hopelessly neurotic, young Jewish guy named Joel Fleischman, fresh out of medical school, who had committed to a period of service in Alaska after graduation in return for grant support for his med school tuition. Ace’s backstory is not sketched in detail, but I immediately saw him as another Joel Fleischman type.
I’ve never worked in rural health care, but I have done some work in adjacent fields. Many northern tier counties have been losing population for 60 years. The small towns are hollowing out. A few of the college educated young people will return to teach school or take over the family business or ranch, but most pursue better opportunities in the cities. Just keeping the rural schools open and staffed is hard. Healthcare systems are chronically short staffed. So they recruit. And recruit. And recruit. Immigrants? Heck yeah, bring ‘em on. Ace would have been a smart young kid from Kenya who came to the U.S. (legally) to finish his education, who took financial assistance where he could find it, and who jumped at the opportunity when he was offered a job, both to finance his schooling and probably as part of his path to citizenship. Unusual? Not at all.
But then again, I haven’t had an American born primary care physician in 40 years, and that’s in a big city.
And aside from Ace ... well, did you know there are Native Americans living in Montana? And they dress and act pretty much like everyone else? And most of them don’t live on reservations? And they work regular jobs like everyone else? And they’re often lifelong friends of the Anglo kids they grew up with? In the movie, they’re just there. Nothing is forced; it’s as natural as a suburban setting in which one neighbor is named Gyros Souvlaki and another is named Jerry Wienerschnitzel. Americans all. And nobody notices or cares. That’s how to do diversity right.
Mukki is another story. He’s a reservation guy. But they’re there as well in real life.