There’s this issue that keeps coming up about Wes Anderson, and now Charlie Kaufman, about storytelling diversity. And I think some people are missing the damn point. 1/9

Look, I adore Charlie Kaufman. I adore Wes Anderson. I'm going to watch their films and bathe in their Blu-Rays no matter who they cast. Because— 2/9

People of color don't have trouble watching and empathizing with white characters on screen. We've been trained in this shit since birth. I never even questioned there being white Stormtroopers. And when they turned out to be Māori… cool? Then @JohnBoyega? Fuck yeah! 3/9

I’m not an impressionable youth any more. I don’t NEED to see myself on screen as an adult to know or grow my self worth. I like it! But I don’t need it. There’s something else we’re talking about when it comes to diversifying complex, adult stories... 4/9

When the above purveyors of ARTFUL cinema with CROSSOVER success fail to cast people of color, it not only reduces the likelihood of people of color being cast in other films of similar kind and quality… 5/9

But, important to the LONG GAME, it reduces the exposure of mainstream audiences to complex characters of color. So smaller stories with them get cold-shouldered into a vicious cycle to nowhere. And then fights over black Stormtroopers ensue at the lowest rungs of the ladder. 6/9

In other words, large swaths of people in this country need more exposure to people of color, and their interiors, not only to grow empathy, but dare I say, love. Roddenberry started a bold mission with Uhura, and we’ve been failing him ever since. #StarTrekDay 7/9

The above cinematic geniuses could trigger a virtuous cycle, one that gives more actors of color jobs, which helps mainstream characters of color, which ultimately grows cross-racial empathy in both storytelling, and in real life. 8/9

TL/DR: Leaning into diverse storytelling in movies and TV shall bring peace unto this earth, says a guy who writes movies and TV.

PS, @WriteInclusion is doing great work. 9/9