Jessica Alba is not impressed with the lack of diversity in Hollywood. Talking to Glamour, the movie star, momma, and entrepreneur mentioned how it was hard to get leading roles when she was younger due to her Latina heritage. She’s spoken out about this extensively in the past, and while she has seen some change, she doesn’t think it’s enough.
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“It’s a business initiative for people now that they realize how much money they can make. It’s something they care about, which is fine. How they get there really doesn’t matter. You’re like, ‘Great. Now you realize there’s a whole group of folks that you just frankly left out of the conversation because you just didn’t even see them. They were there the whole time.’ And I guess it’s the people in charge. However they get there, it really genuinely doesn’t matter.”
So, there’s been some noticeable attempts at making Hollywood more diverse. But it seems like Alba perceives these attempts as business-oriented and superficial, rather than striving to make a deeper change.
Alba Still Sees White Hegemony
She said it’s important for future generations and leaders “to see the world on screen, or in stories, in the dreams that we create as entertainers; it reflects the world that they’re in.”
One example Alba gave was the Marvel movies of recent years, which she deems as still primarily white.
“Even if you look at the Marvel movies – that’s the biggest driver of fantasy and what’s happening right now in entertainment, because it’s sort of the family thing – it’s still quite Caucasian,” she says before referring to when she starred in the Fantastic Four Marvel franchise in the ’90s. “I would say I was one of the few back in the day… And it was before Marvel was sold to Disney… but it’s still quite… more of the same.”
Alba’s father is Mexican-American and her mother has Danish and French roots. This makes Alba a third-generation Mexican-American, which is slightly noticeable in her gorgeous skin tone.
Alba also mentioned the lack of diversity in executive positions in Hollywood. She says that this reflects in the end-products, because there isn’t adequate representation on the creative end.
“It’s the same in business and in Hollywood – if you have people in charge who aren’t really reflective of the audience you’re appealing to, they only know what they know. They only know what they like. And so they’re going to gravitate towards more of the same. And 50% of the population, we’re women….
“The system just has to be more diverse. Especially when 60% of people entering the workforce are women. But then when you get to executive level and C-suite, VP and above, it really diminishes to [around] 14%, 15%. So, you’re like, ‘What the hell happened?’”