No, Roxanne Gay, Diversity and Quality Are Not Synonymous
The Godfather
On the Waterfront
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Raging Bull
12 Angry Men
Chinatown
Unforgiven
The Apartment
Bonnie and Clyde
Casablanca
Citizen Kane
This short list has a few things to note. First, all of them are on almost every single Top 100 Films of All Time list. Second, with a few exceptions, none could be said to be diverse in their creation (all featuring mostly white casts, written and directed by white men, centered around the issues of, yes, white men again). Third, they are all eleven amazing films of the highest quality.
In the rush to deify diversity, we make the mistake of assuming that diversity and quality are synonymous and they simply aren’t. Diversity has as much to with quality as homogeny does — that is to say, relatively nothing.
A dish with lots of ingredients is not de facto better than a dish with few ingredients. A painting with more colors is not automatically better than one with fewer. And art with multiple cultural influences and perspectives is not better than art with a more singular approach.
Is diversity a desired goal in a society and artistic industry that has rewarded white men to the exclusion of all others? Of course it is. To intentionally confuse this leveling of the playing field culturally with quality is a hopeful load of quasi-religious horseshit. To conflate diversity with better indicates that a poem written by a man is automatically less than a poem by a woman because of the presence of a cock and balls which has fuckall to do with the reception of the poem.
I’m unwilling to concede that Jordan Peele is a better director than David Lean simply due to the color of their skin. Greta Gerwig is a great filmmaker but she hasn’t quite hit the stride of a David Fincher which has less to do with the genders in place and more to do with experience and talent.
Conversely, Regina King is not a higher quality actor than Gerard Butler because she’s a black woman. She’s a better actor.
The landscape is changing and with the advent of streaming services there is more art being made that is being seen by more eyeballs than ever in history. Diversity in voice and perspective is a universal good and should be lobbied for but to make the leap to advocate that diversity is somehow an indicator of greatness is ludicrous.
Art is not a sport and awards are not based on quality but on preferences and money. The argument for more diversity is not about quality but about control and influence, commerce and distribution.
So, no, Roxanne Gay, diversity is not synonymous with quality. It is synonymous with power.
