Diverse Cast

Look at our diverse cast

They say,

Print it in big bold letter

On the posters

They hang everywhere

We’ve got a black character,

The poster declares

And a queer one too,

And here’s the catch -

They don’t die within the first

15 minutes of the film

Look at our diverse cast

How we’re being all-inclusive

And somewhere across America

People are working over-time, teens

Hiding the money under their bed

Because maybe

maybe

They have finally been seen

And wouldn’t they be fools,

To pass up the opportunity to see?

Look at our diverse cast,

How we follow the trend

And somewhere else

People are cheering

And jumping with victory,

Feeling like they’ve won a race and

They’ve been running for a long time,

But finally they can rest

Because finally

Finally

They can relate

And then the movie comes

Everyone has heard of it

It’s new, the critics say,

Refreshing, unlike anything else out there

Adults, and kids, alike

They go to see

And what is it that is depicted on the screen?

Nothing but carbon copies

The same stereotypes,

Copied and pasted

Over and over

They’ve got no personality

Hello, the character mechanically says

Hello, I am gay

Hello, I am black,

There’s nothing you need to know

About me but that

This isn’t right

This isn’t right

This isn’t right

They think,

As they leave the movie theater.

This isn’t what I am.

And will I ever see myself in them?

And then a thought crosses their mind

Am I the one who’s

Really wrong?

Is that what I should be like?

Am I the one who needs to

Fix, to be fixed?

How dare you

Act like you’ve given them a feast?

How dare you

Tell them to be happy with what they’ve got?

How dare you

Tell them you’re being all-inclusive,

When the catch is

Those characters don’t die

In the first 15 minutes,

They die in the last five.