The lack of diversity in the entertainment industry has been an issue for decades. Hollywood is spilling over with straight, white cis people who, while talented, simply cannot relate to the billions of humans across the globe who differ from religious beliefs to sexuality to race.
People want to be able to watch a show or a movie and see themselves in a character. And they want it to be done seriously. LGBT folk want to see LGBT characters who aren’t there to throw glitter and offer scathing fashion advice.
People want to see their religion represented, not appropriated by white girls who have adopted feathers in their hair as part of their aesthetic or ?reduced it to a trend by some hippy dippy down-to-earth flower child who likes to burn incense and wear sandals.
People of color want to see their race outside of the stereotypical Asian nerd or the ridiculous ratio of one black person per every five white people tossed in to add some sass or be the target for the privileged to direct their half-assed pity and guilt toward.
Netflix is here to give the people what they want.
“Sense8” links eight people all over the world together by means of a psychic bond allowing them to hear, smell and even see what the others are ? experiencing.
Splitting the screen between eight main characters is a difficult task and makes it harder to get to know each person. But I’ll try to keep it organized.
First stop: Riley Blue, a reclusive DJ living in London.
Down in Mexico, we have Lito, a Hispanic actor who seems a little sexually frustrated.
Travel north with me, and we’ll find Nomi Marks, a transgender woman in San Francisco living a happy life with her partner, Amanita.
While we’re in the U.S. we’ll drop in on Will Gorski, a Chicago police officer.
Then we’ll just pop over to South Korea and say hi to Sun Bak, a woman trying to thrive in the business world with her brother and a bunch of sexist pigs.
In India we’ll find Kala Rasal, a proud college graduate and young doctor who’s engaged. The hitch: she’s not in love with her fiancé.
From India we head to Nairobi to check in on Capheus van Dammne, a young African man trying to make money by transporting people.
Finally, we end our world tour in Germany with Wolfgang, a thief who had a troubled relationship with his late father.
And as if getting to know each of these individuals and learn their backstories wouldn’t be interesting enough, we get to go on a 12-episode journey to find out what this link between them is and why it exists is the first place.
Though I am in love with the writing of this show, I have to give a special nod to the production and editing. We’re dealing with characters in seven different countries across four different continents. And their senses are linked. What this creates is an intricate sequence of cuts and shots and a beautiful sound design so you become as confused as the characters.
But I cannot stop gushing over the diversity, you guys.
It is not every day you get to see a interracial lesbian couple, one of which is a transgender woman played by an actress who is actually transgender — a million gold stars for that one, Netflix.
And while dazzling us with it’s diverse cast, “Sense8” managed to address serious human rights issues, such as transphobia, misogyny, classism and racism. And that was just in the first episode.
This is what we have been waiting for.
We asked for diversity, and Netflix didn’t just deliver, it punched us in the face with it.
Lexia Banks
