Watch with Awareness

Rather than remove tv shows and movies that depict 'behaviours and beliefs of the time,' streaming services and tv stations are adding a disclaimer before airing. Some may disagree with me and that’s okay, but I believe it’s better to acknowledge and talk about wrong-doings of the past. It would be more harmful to merely remove everything that could be offensive without saying a word. It would be like acting as though it never happened, and I think that’s worse than not doing anything at all. One example comes from Disney+, which has put the following disclaimer on some of their shows and movies.

"This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together," (O’Kane, 2020). Or “this program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures... These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now.” 

Rather than remove the content and act like it never happened, take watching it as an opportunity to acknowledge that what happened in the past was wrong and have conversations about what we can do better moving forward. For social justice, we need to know what has happened - own those mistakes, bias, discrimination, and negative behaviours of the past - so that we can learn better behaviours and move forward together for a more positive future.

The difference between these titles and other works on this site is that these titles were created when the depictions shown were sincerely held beliefs, whereas the others on this site are meant to spread awareness, support, inform, debunk misconceptions, and spread hope.