REPRESENTATION POST

 In the workplace comedy, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, representation is done right with a diverse cast of characters and serious topics.

The show follows a cast of cops of different backgrounds and identities, each with their own unique personality and individuality. The captain of the police precinct, Raymond Holt, who is gay and black, doesn't get exoticized or negatively stereotyped because of his identity. Holt is treated the same as all the other characters in the show with only his strict, organized, robotic personality being used for jokes instead of his sexuality and race. Holt's identity is just only few of the facets that make up his character and is not the only thing that defines who he is entirely.

Video of Raymond asking the squad why they aren't having a good time because he "specifically requested it."^^

The show's selection allows many characters from all kinds of different ethnicities to play a major role. One of the other main characters, Amy Santiago, is a Latina woman. Santiago has not been sexualized or stereotyped, she is shown to be strong and capable of defending herself without the need of a man, and her personality is not based off of the fact that she is a woman. The same thing goes with her ethnicity as the show never points out the fact that she's Latina in a misdemeaning or othering manner. Santiago's background is only an extension of her character, and is only brought up casually in the show like it would in real life. Like Raymond Holt, her identity isn't used as the punchline for jokes, her ambitious, perfectionist personality however, is used instead.

Video of Amy Santiago being late to work for the first time ever!

Not only does the show represent it's characters right, it also tackles serious topics with great care and awareness. For example, in season 4, episode 16 titled "Moo Moo", precinct sergeant, Terry Jeffords unexpectedly gets arrested by another cop, only for the reason that he is black. In our society, racial profiling and police brutality against black people is a major issue that affects many everyday. For this issue and many others to be represented well in a show can be such an important and meaningful thing to so many people. Once more, the show's selection allows for heavy topics such as police brutality to be shown respectfully, in order to bring out awareness to the audience.

Racial profiling getting recognized in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.^^

Brooklyn Nine-Nine overall does an amazing job with representing it's cast of diverse characters and serious issues and remains to be a great example of how to use diversity and representation correctly in comedic television.