The following is an editorial and does not reflect the thoughts or opinions of The Mirror.

We’ve been talking a lot about representation the past few years.  Films like Ghost in the Shell and Doctor Strange came under fire after casting traditionally Asian roles as white actresses, while Get Out and Black Panther have been praised for their inclusion of black actors in major roles.  There has been a huge push for racial minorities appear in more films.

But while racial representation has been talked about quite a bit, what you hear less about are people with disabilities in film.  And that is what has raised John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place above your average horror fare.  When casting the film, the director pushed for a deaf actress to play the role of Regan Abbot.  He felt that it would bring some authenticity to the role. So 15 year old Millicent Simmons was casted, and while working in pre-production taught sign language to everyone in the cast and crew.

And they filmed their movie, and they edited their movie, marketed their movie, and released their movie, and their little $17 million film opened at 50 million the first weekend.  Which is important, because had it been a dud that came and went and was a failure, we probably wouldn’t be talking about it. But John Krasinski and Paramount made a good movie- a successful movie- and we are talking about it.

And the fact that a successful movie has good representation in it is exceptional.  Simmonds said in an interview with “Now This” that, “I think it’s important in the deaf community… [to] inspire directors and other screenwriters to include more deaf talent.”  She goes on to say that the creators in Hollywood could do more to find more ways to include deaf characters in their films. If the deaf aspect had’ve been shoehorned in and felt out of place, it wouldn’t have worked as well.  In Sterling K. Brown’s Golden Globe speech, he discussed how important it is to write parts for minorities. He says, “Throughout the majority of my career, I have benefitted from colorblind casting… [but] what I appreciate so much about [This is Us] is that I am being seen for who I am and appreciated for who I am.”  It’s important not only to put minorities in roles, but also to write roles for minorities.

In the third of 2018 we’ve experienced so far, we’ve had three films- Black Panther, Love, Simon, and A Quiet Place– that have been praised for their representation of minorities.  As the years go on, and people demand better representation, we’re seeing movies get better and better at being inclusive.  Hopefully, as Hollywood sees more and more of these films be successful, and the demand for better representation increases, we’ll see more and more films find ways to naturally incorporate disenfranchised groups into mainstream films.

Article by Jacob Maher.