Representation is vital. There is nothing like flipping through a magazine or turning on a television show or film and seeing someone who looks like you. At a time when people of color continue to be stereotyped and under-represented in media, television and film, it’s important to have programming that accurately depicts them.
Today, more and more Black, femme, and LGBTQ-identifying film and television creators are producing and sharing content on their own terms — without the permission of gatekeepers. Black Chicago creatives Elijah McKinnon, Ashley O’Shay and Morgan Elise Johnson joined TRiiBE TV’s “We Real Chicago” show on Aug. 13 to talk about their latest projects: “Good Enough,” an episodic series that dropped on Open Television this month; and Unapologetic, a new verite documentary film premiering at the virtual Black Star Film Festival on Aug. 20.
“Hollywood has historically, erased or silenced, marginalized voices, specifically intersectional voices,” said Elijah McKinnon, who uses they/their/them pronouns. McKinnon is an artist, activist, abolitionist co-founder and executive director of Open Television (OTV). “During this time, we’re at this sort of diversity boom, where there’s so much push and strive for diverse and intersectional stories to break through the mold.”
McKinnon is the writer, director and star of OTV’s new show, “Good Enough.” The show centers around Thyme, a Black genderqueer social media influencer played by McKinnon, and follows a group of friends as they face their flaws and learn to love themselves and each other as they navigate life’s everyday challenges. They were inspired by 1990s and early 2000s Black sitcoms and films such as “Girlfriends” and Soul Food, and the series challenges the idea of the nuclear family to show that the families and communities that we choose are just as important as those we are born into.