The Flash Cast and Creative Team Talk Diversity and the Importance of Representation
In a recent interview with Blastr, The Flash showrunner Andrew Kreisberg and stars Carlos Valdes and Danielle Panabaker spoke about diversity in the comic book world and in Central City. According to Kreisberg,
We’ve never slammed people over the head or made The Flash an after school special. With us it’s always been presenting the world in which we live. The world in which we live, men and women work together; different races work together and you have gay friends and people have relationships. We just try to show that.
[…] Hopefully, especially kids who are growing up, get to watch (The Flash) and see the world is a wide, beautiful place filled with different kinds of people. Being one thing doesn’t preclude you from being in a relationship or being a superhero. We live in a world where all of us are mixed, especially here (in California), whether it’s gender, racial or sexual diversity–that’s the world we live in.
When we met Jesse Martin (who plays Detective Joe West) in New York to convince him to be a part of this show, he said he always loved comics but never saw his face in them. Now he can. Now there’s a whole generation of kids who can watch these shows (and see his face, too).
Kreisberg also shared his favorite moment of LGBTQ+ representation on the show:
Carlos Valdes, (Cisco Ramon and a musical collaborator with Jesse L. Martin), spoke about the support he’s received from Latin@ fans and the need to normalize representation like The Flash‘s:
Using Spanish as part of the dialogue really furthers that. It creates a deeper connection between this character and the Latino fan base that are not only proud that a Latino character is being portrayed so well on television, but also, that their language and culture is being represented. I feel incredibly privileged that I get to have that opportunity.
[…] This isn’t anything – it shouldn’t be anything special to have a smart Latino character, because we’re employing casting that reflects the world we live in. In the real world we live in, we have smart people of all types.
Danielle Panabaker (Dr. Caitlin Snow) says the series’ positive representation of women is rare:
I am so proud of our show. Our writers are fearless. I think it’s so important. It’s so great to play a strong female character who is intelligent and successful in her own right. It’s just Caitlin in S.T.A.R. Labs, generally, so she stands up to these boys and is not afraid to take any crap.
To read more about what The Flash has in store for fans, make sure to check out the full interview over on Blastr. In the meantime, what do you guys think of the series overall? Is there anything you’d like to see The Flash do differently, or anything you’d like other shows to emulate?
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