TELEVISION
REQUIRES US
TO WELCOME
CHARACTERS
INTO OUR
HOMES ON
A DAILY OR
WEEKLY BASIS,
INCREASING
TOLERANCE,
UNDERSTANDING
AND EMPATHY
VIEWPOINT
Janet Mock
TV CAN POINT US TO A FAIRER FUTURE
TV is a consTanT presence in my home, as is The case
with most Americans. According to Nielsen research, U.S.
adults now spend almost six hours per day watching TV. Hon-
estly, I spend more time with my television than I do with
friends and family. Sitting on my couch with popcorn and
gummy bears observing the lives of others unfolding in front of
me is one of my most intimate interactions. We welcome peo-
ple like us, and unlike us, into our homes. They show us what
it means to be human, to love, to struggle and to dream. Televi-
sion commands our attention. Sure, it’s entertainment, fun and
flashy, fast-moving—but it’s also a highly effective communica-
tion tool. TV shows us who we are, where we stand as a society
and how far we must go to reach equality for all.
Studies have shown that television, just like one’s commu-
nity, church and schools, helps us form ideas about our world,
shaping our attitudes and beliefs. What we see on TV can intro-
duce us to people of all colors, communities and classes, shift-
ing consciousness and moving people to action. Many activists
credit Will & Grace with laying the groundwork for marriage
equality and The Mary Tyler Moore Show with boosting the
feminist agenda and single working women. News coverage of
civil rights protests swayed public opinion in favor of the cause
of racial equality, while Julia, Good Times and Roots helped
show white America what it means to be black in America.
Television requires us to welcome characters into our homes
on a daily or weekly basis, increasing tolerance, understanding
and empathy. I’ve seen this impact firsthand, having written and
directed for Pose, a Golden Globe– and Emmy-winning drama
series featuring a trailblazing cast of transgender heroines. I’ve
heard viewers from around the world gush over how the series
moves them—how these low-income LGBTQ characters of color,
existing in the 1980s at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic,
gave them a window into the universal struggle to be free: free
to live as yourself, and free to love whom you want. As a black
trans woman who spent her youth searching for reflection, fi-
nally, with Pose, I saw myself vaunted and dignified on a familiar
screen. Those images assured me that my life mattered.
After POSE’s second seAson, my mentor and frequent col-
laborator Ryan Murphy offered me an opportunity to time-
travel to the gilded age of Hollywood to rewrite some wrongs.
He pitched me his newest Netflix limited series, Hollywood, co-
created with Ian Brennan, which puts a cast of outsiders, gay
people, women over 40, sex workers and people of color at the
center of a major Hollywood production set in 1947—just one
year after Disney released its racist Song of the South, and seven
years after Hattie McDaniel
made history as the first black
actor to win an Academy Award.
We spun a fable about a ne-
glected housewife (Patti Lu-
Pone) stepping into power as
a studio chief. She greenlights
a movie by a gay black writer
(Jeremy Pope), starring a black
woman (Laura Harrier) who is
not a domestic worker or a club
singer, but the heroine.
As we looked to the past,
aware of just how broken it
was, we realized television gave
us an opportunity to imag-
ine what equality could have
looked like then, presenting
a new vision for the future
by centering those pushed to
the margins. As we wrote, we
asked: What would Hollywood
be today if, six decades ago,
the powers that be looked like
us, and the people onscreen
were given an opportunity to
be seen in their totality? That
question became our compass,
allowing us to tell a revisionist
history of what we wished Hol-
lywood could be, fully utiliz-
ing the platform’s powers for
good. And in grappling with
that question, we found our-
selves examining a culture that
too often overlooks the contri-
butions and accomplishments
of people of color, a culture
that persecutes those who don’t
share our beliefs and shuts out
gender and sexual minorities.
Television has the power to
offer millions a gateway to bet-
ter understand and fight for
one another. It’s only in the
act of spending time with each
other—which can happen on
our screens—that we better
understand the fight ahead of
us: to ensure that we are all in-
cluded in the American story.Mock, a member of the 2018
TIME 100, is a writer, director
and producer, best known for
her work on Pose, The Politician
and the upcoming Netflix
limited series Hollywood