Film is a form of leadership because it has a chance of influencing people’s thoughts about the world. Story telling is an important part of any leadership. 

A good explanation of the importance of story in any leadership role is Stepping into a Leadership Role? Be Ready to Tell Your Story. In this article David Sluss explains leaders need a story to tell of how they will keep things steady and how they would move things forward. In film these stories are told in the workplace and are critical because they help define how films are made.

Nevertheless, storytelling is much more complex and important in film because film itself is a dramatic form of storytelling. 

Telling stories is also a key component in empathy building. In addition, it has the chance of impacting what people think and do politically. Film is also uniquely situated to tell stories in a way that is more immersive and as a result has a larger impact on individuals. As a result, film has the potential to have a large personal and political impact. Story telling is influential leadership, or leadership through influencing and film is an extension and amplification of traditional story telling.

Film has real world influence and impact. A good example of this can be found in the bad representation of Arab individuals and communities in film. There are evidence that inaccurate and harmful portrayals of Arab people in film actually help lead to hate crimes and anti-Arab legislation. More information on this can be found in the film Reel Bad Arabs. However, the opposite situation is also true. Good representation has been shown to have positive impacts.

Diverse stories have impact. They have direct and indirect positive impacts on underrepresented groups. The direct impacts come from seeing someone like oneself on screen. The indirect impacts come from others having a better understanding. A good example of this is Black Panther. Black Panther helped a countless number of Black children see themselves for the first time as superheroes on screen. It also brought positive attention to Black communities around the world and their struggles. 

On top of this films like Black Panther give people agency over their own narrative which is a power that diverse people often do not have. Indeed, seeing your story means more than just seeing representation it also means being allowed to speak in a world that often silences your voice. 

Nevertheless, stories like Black Panther do not come out of nowhere. They come from diverse people, whit diverse backgrounds. The cast and crew of Black Panther was made up of a majority of Black creatives. In recent years, there has been a movement towards more representation in film. But it has been slow and not always done well. Often diverse voices are not key players in the production of these films. This leads to poor or lacking representation. 

In short, if done correctly and often enough films about diverse people can tell multifaceted stories. But if done wrong or infrequently they can contribute to stereotypes and an inaccurate and incomplete singles story. A single story is a story that tells only one perspective on a person or group of people’s humanity. It can be told by one story, one storyteller, or by many stories and many story tellers. The single story can be a stereotype, but it does not have to be. Rather it is a one-dimensional look at a person or people’s personhood or peoplehood. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Danger of a Single Story she explains that a single story robs people of their dignity and personhood. Yet combating the single story is difficult in the film industry even when diverse voices are involved. 

For diverse people sharing their authentic voice can be challenging. A good explanation of this is given by Bradley Akubuir in The Catch 22 Of Authenticity For Minority Leaders. In short it can be othering and emotionally taxing to show your authentic self as a diverse person in a work environment that lacks diversity. The film industry in the United States is one of these diversity lacking environments.

In film it can be even harder to show your authentic voice than in other industries. It takes a great deal of courage to stand up and say something in a film must go or stay in general. When your identity is wrapped up in that thing and there is no guarantee you standing up will make a difference it is even harder. It can also cost an individual his or her job. Diverse people are always forced to be acutely aware of this. As a result, it is often difficult for diverse people to make authentic pieces of art when they are one of a handful diverse people on set. 

Making Diverse Films

How do people make diverse films despite these glaring problems in the film industry? The answer I feel is best described by Chadwick Boseman, the actor who plays Black Panther, in his Howard University 2018 Commencement Speech. That is the answer is to speak out and work towards that authentic voice and representation in film despite the direction the film industry is going in and despite the catch 22. 

This is incredibly difficult work to do because often it will leave you behind the eight ball. It will almost certainly leave you struggling. There will be times you feel like you stuck your head out there and nothing happened. Their will be times, like Boseman described where change will happen, but at your loss.  The only way to do this is have hope that no matter what happens you will be making the world a better place and your voice will eventually find a place.

How do people make diverse films despite these glaring problems in the film industry? The answer I feel is best described by Chadwick Boseman, the actor who plays Black Panther, in his Howard University 2018 Commencement Speech. That is the answer is to speak out and work towards that authentic voice and representation in film despite the direction the film industry is going in and despite the catch 22. 

This is incredibly difficult work to do because often it will leave you behind the eight ball. It will almost certainly leave you struggling. There will be times you feel like you stuck your head out there and nothing happened. Their will be times, like Boseman described where change will happen, but at your loss.  The only way to do this is have hope that no matter what happens you will be making the world a better place and your voice will eventually find a place.

References

Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The danger of a single story [ Video]. TEDGlobal. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story 

Akubuiro, B. (2021, October, 4). The Catch 22 Of Authenticity For Minority Leaders. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2021/10/04/the-catch-22-of-authenticity-for-minority-leaders/?sh=16ff6ac03d2a 

Boseman, C. [Howard University]. (2018, May 14). Chadwick Boseman's Howard University 2018 commencement speech. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=RIHZypMyQ2s 

Coogler, R. (Director). (2018). Black Panther [Film]. Marel Studios. Walt Disney Pictures. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1825683/ 

Earp. J & Jhally. S. (Directors). (2006). Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People [Film]. Media Education Foundation. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0948465/ 

Kubrak, T. (2020, May 2). Impact of Films: Changes in Young People’s Attitudes after Watching a Movie. Behavioral Sciences. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390%2Fbs10050086 

Sluss, D. (2020, April 16). Stepping into a Leadership Role? Be Ready to Tell Your Story. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/04/stepping-into-a-leadership-role-be-ready-to-tell-your-story