Can texts ever be truly representative of groups of people?
I don’t think any medium can ever truly represent a group of people and have everyone be happy about it as everyone has a different perspective on their culture or race. For example, Crazy Rich Asians, I felt it did represent the crazy rich side of Singapore very well and as that was the title I didn’t expect it to go any farther. However, some people were angry that it didn’t showcase some of the other people of Singapore such as the middle class. I think it was able to provide a good amount of Asian representation in film and more Asians can see themselves in these actors. It also didn’t feel too forced or like it had an agenda as it followed a pretty basic storyline and just focused on the love story between the two main characters. I don’t think it’s the author or filmmakers duty to represent every single culture in what they choose to write as they are telling their own stories about what they know. For example, Toni Morrison was asked by an interview if she would include any white characters in her work and Morrison replied saying “you can’t understand how powerfully racist that question is, can you?” However you could say that if a white author were asked that question and replied in that way, they would face a lot of backlash and criticism.
