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Media Representations of Diversity

"The Bold Type" is based on the life of Joanna Coles, the editor in chief of "Cosmopolitan." The show looks at the wild lives and loves of those in charge of a global women's publication. Discovering themselves, maintaining friendships, and having their heart shattered were all problems they faced while wearing the appropriate jeans to flatter any body shape.

The series depicts the flash and glam of the fashion magazine industry and addresses more severe and delicate issues such as immigration, sexual assault, gender equality, sexual orientation, and the risks of online trolls. "Jane Sloan (Katie Stevens), Sutton Brady (Meghann Fahy), and Kat Edison (Aisha Dee) are three millennial women who work at Scarlet, a fictional women's magazine based on the legacy journal Cosmopolitan. They negotiate their way through tumultuous love relationships, self-discovery, and the pressure to make their imprint by 26". Putting together a magazine is a complex process requiring effort to complete and get the publication into newsstand shelves. That is why the editors of Scarlet, a global women's magazine, lean on one another while they struggle to develop their voices. They fight to define their identities, manage friendships, and find love while working together to print each monthly issue.

When it comes to race, the Bold Type has a tumultuous relationship. On the one hand, the cast is varied, with essential characters Kat, played by a biracial actress, and Adena, played by Pakistani-Canadian Nikohl Boosheri. Lauren (Emily Chang), Oliver (Stephen Conrad Moore), and Alex (Matt Ward) all have recurrent small parts, which feels true to the show's setting of midtown New York City. On the other hand, the tv show demonstrated a colorblind perspective when Kat becomes a victim in the internet trolling, and she eventually becomes doxed. The episode gained notoriety for demonstrating how prevalent trolling is for victims and how destructive it is to their mental health. However, the show ignores the fact that when women of color are assaulted online, they are subjected to sexist and racist threats and that sexist threats frequently incorporate racial overtones. Furthermore, this led to one of the characters speaking about the issue on her Instagram post. Aisha Dee, an actress who plays Kat Edison, the department's first Black female head, talked about flaws in The Bold Type's exterior dynamics. She discussed the nuanced depiction and development of white hetero characters in The Bold Type in an Instagram post and "the inconsistencies of the stories involving LGBTQ characters and people of color." "We cannot bring specificity and honesty to situations we have not lived," she continued. Whenever there is a lack of acknowledgment, the treatment of marginalized characters is even more critical, since they can encourage or perpetuate harmful stereotypes that have a long-term and genuine impact on real people."

In plain terms, "intersectional feminism" is the study of how "race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation," and other factors influence how women are discriminated against (Kang et al., 2017). Moreover, The Bold type has been named an intersectional feminist show. However, it was surprising that the show's authors failed to convey how women of color see a world that is racialized in a series acclaimed for its accurate representation of millennial women. It is demonstrated in the scene depicting Kat's encounter with a police officer, and her brief stay in jail also lacked realism or a lack of knowledge of what women of color face regularly. Women of color, on the other hand, are not immune to police brutality. Black women are particularly vulnerable to police violence but less recognized as victims and, as a result, receive less support (Vivian, 2021). Women of color, like males of color, are frequently traumatized by police violence, if not dead.

Everyone desires to see themselves mirrored on television, in movies, and in other media forms. Although I always dreamed of seeing myself depicted on a television character when I was growing old, it was also complicated to come across anyone who experienced almost the same things I did or even go through the things that I went through. In this series, I do not feel represented by any of the characters, and I grew up in a household where I was alone primarily in constant fear of what my step-sister would do to me because my mother left and my dad is in search of a greener pasture. I grew up knowing that I have to care for people and not myself. Finding my identity has been a struggle for me, and seeing a female character friendship in this 'series' helped me understand the importance of keeping like-minded friends with different backgrounds and cultures. I have had trouble making friends, but seeing three successful women stand together throughout their lives and careers encourages me to believe that such friendships exist.

Even while there is a positive range of representation for black women in the film, including representation for them in the LGBTQ community, the series features just a small number of black women and employees behind the cameras, according to one of the characters. The film highlights good variety, including gender diversity, by featuring women and demonstrating how successful women can be. The film shows positive diversity with each character's different work positions. Women are powerful, and the film has represented their voices.

References

Kang, M., Lessard, D., & Heston, L. (2017). Intersectionality. Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies.

Milian Kang, Donovan Lessard, Laura Heston, and Sonny Nordmarken, 2017. Introduction to Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies.

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