POC in media rant

I just need to vent and tumblr is the only place i can… sooo, where do i start??

It makes me so happy to see white people rant about the lack of POC representation in western media because it shows progression, but I’ve noticed something. Most of the time when people say ‘POC’ they typically mean black people. And you know we do need more black people in movies and tv shows, but we also need other races. When there’s a movie  coming out with lots of black people in the main cast, it kind of makes me mad when i see comments claiming that that is how every movie should be because it shouldn’t. Having black characters isn’t enough. You know what’s more lacking than black characters? Asians. Even when there’s only one POC character, they are black nearly all the time. I’ve noticed more Hispanic characters than Asians. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with any type of POC, but I don’t get the full fulfillment when I see a black leading role because I’m a POC but I’m not black. I feel like the world has forgotten that the world isn’t white and African, that Asia is an actual continent that exists. 

Yes, I know there are many movies and shows with Asian characters, but nearly all the time that Asian character is just a walking stereotype. Someone who’s obsessed with grades because otherwise their parents won’t love them. That’s literally all there ever is to an Asian character. I know there are exceptions, but the number of exceptions is too small. It makes me think that all people see in me is this need to do well in school. What annoys me even more is the fact that whenever you do see an Asian character they are usually always from east Asian (Japanese, Korean, Chinese etc). We do get Asian characters who are more than just studying and actually play a big part, but they’re always eastern Asian. Arabian and people from the Indian subcontinent exist too. But people don’t seem to understand that representation doesn’t mean having one special black character but a range of POC from all over the world. I want my race to be seen in movies, but not as a nerdy background character. It’s just infuriating.

What prompted me to write this rant is the fact that there’s a movie by Dreamworks coming out in the next few years that’s set in India (Mumbai Musical). I got really excited because finally this is what I wanted - some Indian characters (though I’m not Indian, I’m just happy with seeing a brown character). So, then I did some research and it turns out the characters are animals! They’re not even human and that’s really disappointed me :/ I love Dreamworks so much, they’re my favourite animation institution, but this has just made me kind of upset.