Natural Diversity

One of the least intelligent and most artistically ineffective ways to include diversity in entertainment is always, on the level of how they are presented, trying to reduce a character down to the trait/traits that just emphasize their diverse status alone.  The closely related error is having the characters draw attention to the person's trait, whether it is their skin color or something else, without having any valid philosophical or storytelling reason to do so beyond simply fitting into perceived cultural trends.  Not every film, show, video game, or book stoops to these pathetic failures, but natural diversity--the kind that both benefits stories in general and directly or indirectly gives vital philosophical acknowledgment of the fact that diversity is already present in humanity with or without entertainment--is what might best provoke thought among sexist or racist people and what objectively deepens worldbuilding better.

Some of the best recent examples that come to my mind of works that have this natural diversity include Zack Snyder's Justice League, which has a large ensemble cast of both men and women from multiple races, from the Amazons to the different members of the titular Justice League itself.  Then there is the 2021 sequel The Suicide Squad, also part of the DCEU, which centers on a set of characters with diverse talents and ethnicity but even features prominent side characters from either gender and with various skin colors.  Even the asymmetrical multiplayer game Dead by Daylight has male, female, white, black, and Asian (and so on) survivors or killers, all without any of them being out of place in the multiverse of the game, as the Entity takes miscellaneous figures from the universes of other franchises and the game's new universe to pit them against each other.

At no point in any of these films or video games does the diversity of the characters get specifically pointed out--of course, some other works of entertainment actually need to call attention to diversity or lack of it in order to make a thematic or artistic point.  The characters of the aforementioned titles, including the various killers of Dead by Daylight, are simply diverse and integrated well into their respective projects.  It was likely an intentional and valid choice to make them diverse, yet a person, and even a person who routinely thinks about philosophical matters as they relate to individual and cultural experiences, could watch or play them and never even be struck by the realization that the whole project is riddled with diverse characters that are not reduced to token characters or stereotypes.

Outside of art that needs to have a specifically male, female, white, black, young, old, or other kind of cast for the sake of historical accuracy, thematic potency, or storytelling purposes, this is exactly what the most natural and impactful diversity looks like: it is so organic that it might not even be until well after a very rational, thoughtful person has viewed the film or played the game that he or she realizes just how diverse the characters were, if it strikes them at all.  For this to happen, the philosophical errors and idiocy of stereotypes must be avoided, but the results are by far the most intellectually and personally insightful.  The humanity (or inhumanity of some creatures), individuality, and characterization of each person is on full display to the point that their gender or race might melt away from one's focus.

The goal, after all, of rational intentions behind diversity in entertainment is ultimately to emphasize the shared humanity of people who might not look like oneself or come from the same chance background, of people with different genitalia, skin color, nationality, or economic class.  The rationality of this intention lies in approaching art and broader life itself without the shallow, epistemologically invalid, objectively false errors of assuming that being a man or woman, white, brown, or black, rich or poor, old or young, or many other such things fates one to have a given personality, worldview, or lifestyle.  People are individual humans and any belief that gender, race, or class defines a person's true nature is inherently contradicted by reality.  When people understand and accept this, they can see parts of themselves in others even though the outward appearances might differ.