I find myself increasingly skeptical of the prescription "have more ____ in the writing room" of shows and other media. Clearly, I want to see people get that money, because I& #39;m far more concerned about fair and compensated representation in labor than just the final product
But so often I see it used as a reductive sort of fail-safe against "Bad Stories." Like, whew boy, this story is sure problematical, this would never happen if you had a ____ in the writing room

As if these creators are just here to temper the most vile impulses of corporate art
"We certainly wouldn& #39;t have all these sexual assault storylines if we had more women in the writing room!!!"

I mean, if that& #39;s the sole function of women writers, we have a larger problem
"We can fix this [PROBLEM] in my favorite thing by shoving a writer in there to prevent it" is a woefully unhelpful way to look at the collaborative process of any work (yes, even a corporate product) and the contributions of marginalized artists on their own terms
Because I rarely see it framed as bringing in people who are good at what they do and deserve the opportunity, and more so just a check on the ticky box to avoid good faith criticism of the lack of opportunties in the first place

You know

Structural shit!
Also, to be clear, I don& #39;t believe Representation = Good Art, especially good corporate products, because a corporate product exists to make money, not serve the public. But reducing underrepresented artists to safeguards against "bad stuff" sucks a whole lot
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