Win McNamee/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Michelle Obama is adding her voice to those calling for more diversity in television and film.
While admitting to Variety that she’s a product of pop culture and uses the medium to promote things that matter to her, the first lady finds fault with the entertainment industry for its lack of diversity.
“For so many people, television and movies may be the only way they understand people who aren’t like them,” she says.
Mrs. Obama believes the industry can influence perceptions in the way it did in the ’70s, when TV viewers “developed a love for Archie Bunker, and empathy for George Jefferson.”
Archie Bunker, a white bigot, was the main character in the groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family. George Jefferson, an African-American bigot, was the main character in the All in the Family spinoff, The Jeffersons.
“There are folks who now know black families — like the Johnsons on black-ish or the folks on Modern Family,” said Mrs. Obama. “They make you laugh, and they change how you see the world. And that is particularly true in a country where there are still millions of people who live in communities where they can live their whole lives not having contact or exposure with people who aren’t like them, whether that is race or religion or simply lifestyle.”
“The only way that millions of people get to know other folks and the way they live,” Mrs. Obama says, “is through the power of television and movies.”
The new issue of Variety is available now.
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