I found this article just published today on mic.com, titled “Who Has the Right to Tell the Stories of Marginalized People?”

It was a great read, so here’s the link: http://mic.com/articles/101230/who-has-the-right-to-tell-the-stories-of-marginalized-americans

This was so appropriate for our class and multiple conversations we’ve been having in class the past few weeks. It touches on our discussion on the criticism surrounding The Help and what it did (or rather, did not) include and why or how that matters, to issues of responsible film making and the lengths to which we can or ought to go when producing a narrative. It gets at the ways in which Brandon Teena’s story was told and retold through different news stories about his “betrayal” versus the documentary several people posted about versus Peirce’s portrayal. Even what we were talking about today, the significance of casting actors in opposite gender roles in Orlando, and the inclusion of women with experience as mothers in leadership positions in the hopes of changing policy to enact social change (think Sheryl Sandberg’s parking space example).

I haven’t watched the Amazon series the article talks about, but I have seen some of the episodes of Orange is the New Black and have heard much of the celebration of Laverne Cox and the importance of her inclusion in the show and the ways in which the producers have authentically told her character’s story (like the article mentions, for example, using Laverne’s twin brother to play her character’s pre-transition self).

I would love to hear people’s thoughts about either series, if they’ve watched them, or just general thoughts about this topic!