[Storyteller.]

In the past few years it seems that modern media has been making some progress in terms of diversity (although there's still obviously a long way to go), which personally I've loved to see. Growing up I feel like a lot of media played it safe, so being able to turn on the TV or scroll through a streaming site and see such a variety of shows and movies with characters who are queer, disabled, neurodivergent, POC, or otherwise marginalised is something I'm still getting used to, and I really hope the trend continues.

That said, recently I've been veering away from media where those marginalised identities are a focal point. I have enough lived experience that when I want to watch a show or movie it's generally to unwind, so I mostly stick to more casual representation rather than deep dives into it. If given the choice I opt for media where characters just are [x identity] without the show/movie being about that identity. Obviously those identities will still inform the character's personal storylines and have an effect on the plot, but I prefer it when they aren't the main point of the overarching story. So for example a story about a character who's autistic without the story being about autism, or a story with a gay character who has love interests without having a coming out storyline first.

If you had to pick between them, what kind of representation do you prefer? Does it differ between identities or the type of media?