Same Old Monsters: Race and Representation in Vertical Drama
As a person of colour, when watching verticals, I often play the game of: “How many people of colour are in this?”
And often, the follow-up question:
“Are they being portrayed in a way that isn’t racist?”
The answers to these questions are usually abysmal.
Despite originating as Chinese media, verticals have largely failed to centre people of colour in Western productions. When they are depicted, it is often as monsters or villains in a way that echoes the racial fears behind classic American horror films — specifically regarding Black and brown bodies.
I was watching Dumped by a Cheater, Spoiled by a Billionaire on DramaBox, and there is a scene — like in many verticals — where the main female character ends up in a dangerous situation with a group of men threatening to rape and abuse her.
Up until this point, there had only been white characters. But suddenly, the rapists and thugs were Black and brown men — leering and excited to attack the beautiful white female lead.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time I have noticed this racial change when criminals or thugs appear in verticals.
Monsters in American Film Have Been About Race
While watching, I was reminded of the historic American movie The Birth of a Nation, a silent film released in 1915 that became an enormously successful early Hollywood blockbuster (Britannica: The Birth of a Nation).
The villain of the movie is a Black man — played by a white actor in blackface — who terrorises the white women of the movie and attempts to assault them.
He is depicted as a monstrous, inhuman brute who does not understand concepts such as consent, going so far as to chase a white woman off a cliff because she refuses to give up her virtue.
The movie glamorised the Ku Klux Klan as saviours, contributed to the organisation's revival and was used as a recruitment tool (HISTORY: How The Birth of a Nation Revived the Ku Klux Klan).
Film has a profound effect on people, and perpetuating racist ideas can be extremely damaging.
Monster movies in America have historically embodied the racial fears of white society, depicting monsters as the “other” and often creating parallels with the way people of colour have been represented.
The iconic 1954 horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon depicts the Gill-man — a creature from South America — with visuals that align with the non-European or “primitive” beings portrayed in media at that time (University of Michigan: Gill-man). His behaviour and unfamiliarity with Western society mirror the way colonised peoples were depicted as “savages” in early American films.
Now, verticals never go as far as encouraging the lynching of Black people, as The Birth of a Nation did. But it brings into question why these racist tropes are being portrayed in modern media at all.
With verticals being seen as a new frontier of Hollywood, these old racist ideas and predominantly white casts risk repeating the same battles over representation that film and television have already been through.
You would think that, with the historical record and vocal criticism of the poor portrayal of people of colour in media, filmmaking would have moved past this — especially when the format itself originated in China.
Diversity and the Future of Vertical Drama
Thankfully, many people involved in verticals do advocate for diversity and proper representation.
I’ve heard from several actors, writers and creators about their desire to have more diverse casts and stories that don’t display racist tropes or the abuse of women.
Verticals are getting better at their representation, and this is largely due to people of colour being behind these projects.
HOORAE Media’s Screen Time featured an all-Black cast with an amazing storyline.
Mansa is a Black-owned streaming platform focused on celebrating Black culture and stories.
And Jollof and Kimchi on TikTok is an immensely successful vertical series featuring a romance between a Black woman and a Korean man.
These projects demonstrate what becomes possible when people of colour aren't simply added to an existing story, but are given space within the storytelling itself.
Representation Is More Than Casting
When it comes to incorporating people of colour into predominantly white stories, however, that is often where verticals still struggle.
The visually stunning thriller Ashton Heights on Chera TV did feature men of colour as love interests.
But their lack of character development — I could not describe Nik or Dennis’s personalities to you if held at gunpoint — can make it feel as though they are merely vehicles to establish that the main white female lead is not racist.
(I’m sorry, Val, but it did feel that way.)
The people we see distinctly brutalised are also people of colour, with the opening episode featuring an Asian man gasping for breath as if he is being choked.
This is probably a metaphor for Val’s treatment of her business partners, but the only people who die — and implied death counts here — in Ashton Heights are minorities.
And although this was not necessarily the intention of the story, it still plays into familiar tropes, such as people of colour dying first in horror films, while the most prominent characters with developed personalities remain white.
Now, this might come across as nitpicking.
But as a person of colour — and as a writer writing stories about people of colour — all of these things are practically impossible not to notice.
What Can We Do as Viewers?
Going forward as vertical viewers, we need to be aware and voice our discontent when we see media continuing to perpetuate racist tropes.
There are a handful of minority side characters in verticals, but they are often incredibly insignificant.
We do have actresses such as Halle Fletcher and Olivia Rose Williams, who are both half Asian, but they are often cast in roles where the character's ethnicity has little or no relevance to the story.
And it’s not just the casts that lack diversity.
The stories themselves lack diversity.
People of colour can’t be portrayed well if there isn’t a place for them in the story.
So when you see people of colour being misrepresented — or notice their significant absence from a vertical — add it to your review. Write about it. Talk about it.
Verticals have become incredibly successful because of the power of their viewers, and we need to remember that as this medium expands.
We can get new and more diverse stories, as long as we voice what we want to see.
Writer - Ash
About Ash
Ash is a Korean Latina writer, filmmaker and content creator with six years of experience building passionate online communities around the things she loves most: Star Wars and nerd culture.
After years of writing fanfiction and horror short stories, she is now focused on horror in the vertical space, developing several original vertical horror series and believing the format’s intimacy makes it perfect for the genre.
She’s here to find the horror fans hiding in the vertical space — and make more content for them.
Follow Ash on Instagram: @ashmakesmonstrs
This article is an opinion piece. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author and are based on the author's own observations and interpretation of publicly available content.
Publication by Vertical Drama Love does not constitute endorsement of every opinion expressed. Vertical Drama Love remains committed to encouraging thoughtful discussion on issues affecting the vertical drama industry while maintaining editorial independence.
