Non-white figures you'd like to see portrayed

[JakeyRolling]

Inspired by a combination of another AIBU thread and a pods cast I listened to recently, there's loads of BAME historical figures who would make excellent subjects for a tv show.

So who would you like to see on the small screen?

For me it's Zheng Yi Sao, China's pirate queen.

Forget Grace O'Malley and Anne Bonney, this woman commanded a fleet of ships and up to 60,000 pirates.

Also would like to see Mary Seacole and her sticking two fingers up at Florence Nightingale and going to the Crimea anyway.

Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole was a brilliant entrepreneur and self-publicist. It would be nice if we could get to a place where she can be celebrated for her pluck and business acumen, rather than being fetishized as the "Angel of the Crimea".

I hate English and American soaps, so sadly am unlikely to get along with African or Indian ones.
But a Netflix movies and series list would be great.

Mansa Musa is a very interesting character. Fabulously wealthy, but famously generous on his pilgrimage to Mecca.
A very successful Empire builder, expanding the empire of Mali successfully into a large swathe of Africa.

I highly recommend the excellent podcast Black Cowboys about how Black cowboys were the backbone of the American west but were primarily written out of the history.

www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-black-cowboys-77440172/

The author is Zaron Burnett III and he does the podcast with his dad who told him cowboy stories and stories of his ancestors who were cowboys.

Zaron Burnett’s dad didn’t want slavery to be his son’s only image of Black people in American history. So every night, he filled Zaron’s dreams with these incredible stories of Black cowboys.

His Twitter account: twitter.com/zaron3?s=21

sashagabadon
I’d love to know more about South America, the early civilisations inca etc. there was a cartoon set in that world when I was a child on TV maybe 80’s?

The Mysterious Cities of Gold!
I recently watched them again with DS. Its still as good as you remember it!

@TravellingSpoon

There has already been a film about her, and a book, but I would like a proper movie (not a made for TV movie) about Henrietta Lacks.

Yes me too.

@WorriedMumsDontSleep I have always hated the term BAME, I’m Chinese. To me it was lazy as culturally there are huge differences between say me and the Jamaican neighbour I used to have though we both discussed the racism we endured.

Plus policies are often not appropriate as a one size fits all when policy makers say they are targeting BAME groups Educational outcomes by ethnicity are a good example and this is easily measure with exam results.

No, I do get that it's not really appropriate to lump people together.
However, I struggle to say what mean without it or something at times. Like in the op, I couldn't list every single nationality I'd be interested in the history of, as there are probably stories out there in nations I'm not even very familiar with.
And saying non white sounds a bit wrong to my ear.

BAME as a term can surely only be acceptable to people who genuinely believe that Not Being White is the primary and defining characteristic of a huge and amorphous lump of unindividualised semi-human beings.

I don't think anyone wants to say the wrong thing.
But it's very difficult to not say the wrong thing. How can you express something like the op without some sort of word for it?

The op wants to see some diversity in storytelling. She's talking specifically about racial diversity, not sex or disability (although quite a lot of the suggestions have been women)
What is the polite way to say I'd like to see some stories that are more refreshing than the British 'white' stories that are done to death?
How can you.point out lack of diversity without a specific word for racial diversity? Because some films might have racial diversity but not other types and vice versa.

There was a film on Amazon Prime not long ago about Sardar Udham Singh, as I have an interest in Sikh religious and Indian history it caught my eye, It was very moving and sadly reminded me that despite India becoming free of British rule, problems still exist to this day with racism.

Thomas Sankara

I immediately thought of Robert Smalls so googled it first and Amazon are making a movie!

Jessie Turnbull ( aka John O'Malley)
A true hero.

Oh yes and Jung Chang as per pp.

@Simonjt

No, I mean films/TVs shows being made for a white audience.

I think most big English films are made to appeal to a wide English speaking audience. You can find films that are intended for a niche audience but usually with less money behind them since they can expect a smaller viewership.

The best way to see films directed to a different kind of audience is to watch films from a different country.

But the technique of using characters the viewers will relate to in order to bring them into a story about people they will have more trouble relating to is common wherever stories like that are made. It's not the only way to approach it but it's one way that can work well, and that isn't a bad thing.

Mary Seacole as others have said.

@Onetraumaatatimeplease

Tz'u-Hsi the dragon empress. I would definitely watch a movie about her. From what I've read a truly terrifying woman.

Yes, I think this would make a good film, and I think it could be a really amazing role for an actress.

I think Louie Riel could be a great film topic, but difficult, he doesn't fit very well into any simple modern political/social narrative.

‘ It would just be nice if non-white figures weren’t presented in the white view, virtually everytime something is made it is from the white perspective.’

It would And that means non-white writers writing the stories and scripts.
TV is crying out for good scriptwriters - there are so few that it’s one area that it’s not hard to get into ( unlike novel writing for eg) So if there are any MNetters out there who want to come up with an idea, story or script who can actually write it then give it a go!

@YourenutsmiLord

Maybe some African or Indian or any other country's soaps - so you find out about others' lives today. A good storyline and I don't think it matters much what colour or culture it is. Some of these are tucked away on odd channels but I'm sure it could replace some of the tedious day time quiz/ home improvements we get constantly. BBC needs to try harder imv.

I take it you haven’t had the horror of watching a Pakistani soap 😂

@WorriedMumsDontSleep

I hate English and American soaps, so sadly am unlikely to get along with African or Indian ones. But a Netflix movies and series list would be great.

You can find lots of Indian dramas on Netflix. I haven't noticed as many African ones. But you can google something like "Indian series Netflix" and you will get a lot of options. Sacred Games was one that was on Netflix that I enjoyed.

And it's now pretty easy to get films from other places, China, for example has a good sized film industry.

What's interesting about that I find is that you realize watching series intended for a different audience why sometimes English language films tell the story in a way that helps the viewer relate to a different culture. I find it's quite common for me to realize that there is something important that is being said, or some subtext between the characters, or importance to the setting, and I am not getting it at all. Or I don't have the historical knowledge they expect in the viewers.

That doesn't usually make them unwatchable, but I think it does limit cross-cultural viewing in some ways. And as much as subtitles can be well done you don't get the same language subtitles.

Saladin! A mighty warrior and ruler

Princess Noor Inayat Khan- spied for Allies, killed by Nazis I was going to suggest her as well.

@JuergenSchwarzwald

Princess Noor Inayat Khan- spied for Allies, killed by Nazis I was going to suggest her as well.

Ohhh that's sad😥