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Organic Representation as a Critical Media Approach to Leadership Studies in Popular Culture

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Title: Organic Representation as a Critical Media Approach to Leadership Studies in Popular Culture
Language: English
Authors: Raffi Sarkissian (ORCID 0009-0003-0720-0320)
Source: New Directions for Student Leadership. 2025 (185):75-80.
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 6
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Descriptors: Popular Culture, Interdisciplinary Approach, Ideology, Leadership, Success, Justice, Power Structure, Models, Mass Media Use, Television, Mass Media Role, American Indians, American Indian Reservations, Reservation American Indians, Story Telling, Disproportionate Representation, Production Techniques, Programming (Broadcast), Leadership Training
DOI: 10.1002/yd.20660
ISSN: 2373-3349
2373-3357
Abstract: This article applies the critical media concept of organic representation to leadership studies as an analytic of how various creators in popular culture today are not just writing inclusive storytelling but, more notably, modeling new modes of production and self-presentation that are actively challenging hegemonic industry practices and larger cultural ideologies around power, equity, leadership, and success. In conversation with leadership for liberation (see Patterson-Stephens et al. in this issue), I employ an interdisciplinary approach that bridges critical leadership models with critical media analysis to place their aligned perspectives in direct conversation with one another. In pursuant of adding critical media analysis to the leadership studies toolkit, this article applies organic representation to an original analysis of the television series "Reservation Dogs" and advocates for a critical interrogation of media storytelling, production, and distribution to better understand represented communities also as stakeholders in pop culture narratives.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1462292
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0183689333;[i75m]01mar.25;2025Mar18.06:13;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0183689333-1">Organic Representation as a Critical Media Approach to Leadership Studies in Popular Culture </title> <sbt id="AN0183689333-2">Introduction</sbt> <p>This article applies the critical media concept of organic representation to leadership studies as an analytic of how various creators in popular culture today are not just writing inclusive storytelling but, more notably, modeling new modes of production and self‐presentation that are actively challenging hegemonic industry practices and larger cultural ideologies around power, equity, leadership, and success. In conversation with leadership for liberation (see Patterson‐Stephens et al. in this issue), I employ an interdisciplinary approach that bridges critical leadership models with critical media analysis to place their aligned perspectives in direct conversation with one another. In pursuant of adding critical media analysis to the leadership studies toolkit, this article applies organic representation to an original analysis of the television series Reservation Dogs and advocates for a critical interrogation of media storytelling, production, and distribution to better understand represented communities also as stakeholders in pop culture narratives.</p> <p>Following the popular success of <emph>Abbott Elementary's</emph> debut season, creator and star Quinta Brunson appeared in an hour‐long interview with Oprah that first aired on the cable network OWN in November 2022. In this television special, there was a brief exchange that caught my attention when Brunson was describing her skyrocketing career at that moment as "well earned," and Oprah interjected, "I've never had a moment's imposter syndrome" (OWN [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref1">14</reflink>]). Brunson, in disbelief at sharing this feeling with Oprah, immediately agrees, "Me either. I think it's my biggest flaw that I don't have imposter syndrome." Oprah assures her, "It's not a flaw [...] it looks like overnight success, but this has been coming since that first dance recital." While this is a spontaneous, fleeting part of the longer interview, it is illustrative of the type of leadership we are seeing emerge in various pockets of popular culture. Creators, like Brunson, from traditionally underrepresented communities and underemphasized perspectives in popular culture, are modeling not just exemplary media projects but also demonstrating confidence and ownership of credentials that are usually overlooked and undervalued. In several other readily available interviews, Brunson continued to model this emerging type of leadership in media production today that is not just <emph>informed</emph> by the communities her creative work is drawing from but in active conversation and engagement <emph>with</emph> them–from production practices to viewing audiences as participating stakeholders in her narrative storytelling.</p> <p>This article applies the critical media concept of organic representation (Christian and White [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref2">4</reflink>]) to leadership studies as an analytic of how various creators in popular culture today are not just writing inclusive storytelling but, more notably, modeling new modes of production and self‐presentation that are actively challenging hegemonic industry practices and larger cultural ideologies around power, equity, leadership, and success. In conversation with leadership for liberation (see Patterson‐Stephens et al. [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref3">15</reflink>]), I employ an interdisciplinary approach to bridge critical leadership models with critical media analysis to place their aligned perspectives in direct conversation with one another.</p> <p>Just as critical leadership studies emphasize social critical theories to better contextualize and address capacity and learning, critical media studies borrow many of the same theoretical approaches to analyzing how power establishes and perpetuates dominant industry norms (Dugan [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref4">7</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref5">8</reflink>]). This includes where certain actors are challenging those dynamics by successfully modeling new modes of storytelling. In pursuant of adding critical media analysis to the leadership studies toolkit, this article applies organic representation to an original analysis of the television series <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph> and advocates for a critical interrogation of media storytelling, production, and distribution to better understand represented communities also as stakeholders in pop culture narratives.</p> <hd id="AN0183689333-3">Topic Overview</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0183689333-4">Towards Organic Representation</hd> <p>The contemporary field of leadership studies includes critical and social theory perspectives to its learning models that address socio‐cultural differences, intersectional approaches, and inclusive ways forward. Dugan's ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref6">8</reflink>]) <emph>Leadership Theory</emph> and the <emph>New Directions for Student Leadership</emph> issue, <emph>Integrating Critical Perspectives into Leadership Development</emph> in 2018, have widened considerations of how leadership studies expands while remaining invested in effective pedagogy. Owen et al. ([<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref7">13</reflink>]) homed in on the functions of identity, capacity, and efficacy to create inclusive leadership learning environments. Chunoo and Torres ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref8">5</reflink>]) provided an updated overview of the breadth of such critical avenues for leadership identity development. These newer perspectives add more dimension and complexity to traditional models of leadership. An interdisciplinary approach with these perspectives combined with critical media studies will help draw some of the parallels between these fields and where a critical media approach could add to leadership pedagogy.</p> <p>A critical media approach to studying representation is an intersectional endeavor. Per Newman ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref9">12</reflink>]), two questions–"who speaks?" and "whom does this speak to?" –are central to analyzing media that aim to bolster representations of long‐time marginalized communities in popular culture. These questions interrogate production practices behind the camera and the depth of character and narrative portrayed on screen. Two contemporary concepts–plastic representation and organic representation–provide us with further tools to analyze the conditions and quality of the increasing representation coming through under the umbrella of diversity and inclusion over the past decade.</p> <p>A critical approach to media representation has long denounced the binary positioning of "positive" and "negative" images, especially for representations of marginalized groups. This is because <emph>positive images</emph> are often tied to respectability politics that are defined on terms set by hegemonic interests and identity groups. For Warner ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref10">23</reflink>]), the simplicity of positive images, whereby characters of color are simply provided with respectable characteristics, leads to, "...the production of thinly written characters of color with a mirage of depth added by audience members and pop‐culture critics who labor to thicken the characterizations in public discourse" (para. 8). Consequently, Warner ([<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref11">23</reflink>]) calls this phenomenon plastic representation because it "renders diversity as an artificial additive and not a substantive contribution" (para 15). This type of storytelling that lacks cultural specificity keeps characters of color relatively generic, hollow, or even unintentionally reinforcing stereotypes.</p> <p>For instance, in an analysis of the early seasons of <emph>Grey's Anatomy</emph>, Warner ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref12">22</reflink>]) likens Dr. Bailey's defining role—as a stern but caring and protective supervisor for the mostly White lead interns—without much more to do as an updated version of the mammy trope. While audiences can—and often do—fill in their own imagined backstories, the productions may receive kudos for casting but without leading any new changes in character depth or the underlying issues that have shaped stagnant cultural ideologies and industry practices. Critical media and leadership studies, therefore, are primed to dissect and counter this type of plastic representation.</p> <p>In response to plastic representation and to account for the media projects that <emph>are</emph> offering not only substantive stories of women and underrepresented groups but also production and distribution practices that serve the communities they represent, Christian and White ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref13">4</reflink>]) coined the term <emph>organic representation</emph>. This type of representation, "...comes from an intersectional perspective and provides a useful framework for considering how to correct systems built for bias in media and journalism. Organic representation begins when systems and institutions empower those who have been historically marginalized not only to appear in their stories but also to own and fine‐tune narratives, marketing, and distribution" (Christian and White [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref14">4</reflink>], 144).</p> <p>Organic representation, thus, encompasses not just the media text audiences see but also its production and distribution practices. Are these parts of the process only serving capitalist markets, or are they also (or primarily) serving the communities and people being represented? For Christian and White ([<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref15">4</reflink>]), the ultimate goal of organic representation should be "...[a] reparative praxis... [which]... requires engagement and restoration, not just taking stories but using them as an opportunity to train, fund, and provide resources to the communities from which these narratives originate" (p. 147). Put another way, are those "for whom it speaks to" represented in all aspects from creation to reception?</p> <p>The tenets of organic representation align with critical perspectives in leadership scholarship. For instance, Chunoo and Torres ([<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref16">5</reflink>]) referenced Solorzano and Yosso's ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref17">19</reflink>]) conceptualization of counter‐stories in their critical Leadership Identity Development (LID) analysis as, "...a tool for exposing, analyzing, and challenging the majoritarian stories of racial privilege" (as cited in Chunoo and Torres [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref18">5</reflink>], 61). This dovetails with the research informing leadership for liberation, especially through media praxis, more fully developed by Patterson‐Stephens et al. ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref19">15</reflink>]) in this issue. Finally, inclusive leadership, which primarily comes up in management literature, connects important concepts seen in organic representation and can possibly be connected in future research. In a meta‐analysis by Veli Korkmaz et al. ([<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref20">21</reflink>]), they identify the following four dimensions of inclusive leadership: fostering employee's uniqueness, strengthening belongingness within a team, showing appreciation, and supporting organizational efforts. As they zoom out, they begin to see themes of promoting diversity, empowering employees, supporting and contributing to employee development, ensuring equity, building relationships, recognizing effort, being open, and promoting organizational inclusion (Veli Korkmaz et al. [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref21">21</reflink>]).</p> <p>All these practices can be teased out into educational opportunities for leadership development using pop culture narratives, as seen in this article. Connecting organic representation from critical media studies with critical perspectives and inclusive leadership can help us understand how authentic portrayals in media and their attendant industry practices can inform and enhance leadership practices that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (Carmeli et al. [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref22">2</reflink>]; Christian and White [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref23">4</reflink>]). Both frameworks advocate for examining structural change to dismantle systemic inequities, whether in leadership practices or media production, emphasizing authenticity, agency, and shared decision‐making (Carmeli et al. [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref24">2</reflink>]; Christian and White [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref25">4</reflink>]).</p> <p>Some of the most nascent antecedents of organic representation in contemporary media can be found in the early days of YouTube or other now‐defunct platforms like Vine, whose use and audience overrepresented marginalized demographics like Black creatives and consumers. For instance, Vine, a platform to broadcast seconds‐long visual stories and gags, is, in fact, where Quinta Brunson first found an audience. Likewise, Issa Rae's second venture into web series, <emph>The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl</emph> on YouTube, is where she garnered not just the media industry's attention (and consequently signed an overall deal with HBO) but, more importantly, where varied audiences connected, engaged, and felt ownership <emph>with</emph> the stories Rae was telling despite what dominant industries will categorize as low production value (Christian [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref26">3</reflink>]). These connections demonstrate the usefulness of an interdisciplinary perspective that considers a critical media approach in leadership models that include popular culture and media representation in identity development.</p> <hd id="AN0183689333-5">Pedagogy</hd> <p>Expanding leadership development models to include critical media approaches to studying popular culture provides scholars, learners, leaders, and followers a sharper toolkit to interpret more of the world and representations around us. Critical media analysis uses many of the same foundational perspectives that inform recent critical leadership scholarship, making this interdisciplinary approach an opportunity to map language across fields of study to more effectively forge aligned analytic pathways. Below, I use organic representation from critical media studies to frame the analysis of what Solorzano and Yosso ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref27">19</reflink>]) termed counter‐stories. First, I summarize King's ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref28">10</reflink>]) application of organic representation to <emph>Vida</emph>. Then, I model an original application to <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph>. Organic representation looks not just at media texts but also at production and distribution. Adding those vectors to leadership studies' approaches to the role popular culture plays in modeling efficacy can more fully contextualize the conditions of representation and identify when it is challenging hegemonic norms.</p> <hd id="AN0183689333-6">Modeling Organic Representation: Vida</hd> <p>King ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref29">10</reflink>]) applied organic representation to analyze the production and narrative of <emph>Vida</emph>; a television series that follows two Latina sisters who return home to Boyle Heights, CA, to deal with the aftermath of their mother's death as the neighborhood faces gentefication– "...the gentrification of old school, established Latinx spaces by younger Latinx people or businesses" (Davis [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref30">6</reflink>], para. 5). A cornerstone of <emph>Vida's</emph> organic representation is <emph>how</emph> the story is told, including who it centers (both as lead characters and the type of audience it invites). King ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref31">10</reflink>]) explained, "<emph>Vida</emph> rejects the totalizing and assimilationist white gaze. Nothing is explained for a white audience: not the rituals, not the food, not the music, not even the language as there are no subtitles to help viewers as characters shift seamlessly between Spanish and English" (p. 117).</p> <p>King ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref32">10</reflink>]) analyzed characters and stories on‐screen as well as the culture of production using an interview with its creator, Tanya Saracho. Per Saracho, the series had all Latinx and a mostly queer writer's room, including some writers who shared neighborhood affiliation with the story and shoot location. Accordingly, Saracho claimed this allowed them to be "guardians of the characters" and the specificity of Mexican American culture (King [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref33">10</reflink>], 116). In a different interview for the online publication <emph>Colorlines</emph>, Saracho discussed staffing an all‐Latinx writers' room: "I do think when you see those first six episodes, you get that intimacy you couldn't have. Everyone has cultural shorthand in this room. It happened too with the directors and the cinematographers" (Rao [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref34">17</reflink>], para. 4).</p> <p>While <emph>Vida</emph> was initially distributed on the premium cable network STARZ, many levels of its production and storytelling embody organic representation. It is helpful to think of plastic and organic representation as two poles at opposite ends of a spectrum; a way to analyze how well representations now reflect, serve, employ, and empower the people and places their stories depict. As creator and showrunner, Saracho is a leader in the professional sense. By insisting on the cultural authenticity of <emph>Vida's</emph> characters and setting, Saracho also displays leadership in a broader capacity by implementing and safeguarding an organic representation approach.</p> <hd id="AN0183689333-7">Modeling Organic Representation: Reservation Dogs</hd> <p>Taking King's ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref35">10</reflink>]) application of organic representation to <emph>Vida</emph> as a model, this chapter provides an analysis of the pilot episode for <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph> that can be used in the classroom or workshops on practices of inclusive leadership in popular media.</p> <p> <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph> is an ensemble half‐hour dramedy that follows the lives and friendships of four indigenous teenagers–Bear, Elora, Cheese, and Willie Jack–on a Muscogee Nation reservation in rural Oklahoma. The series embodies many aspects of organic representation in both its production practices and narrative and character development. In my critical media courses, students screen the pilot episode and are asked to complete a take‐home prompt asking: "Where does Reservation Dogs fall on the spectrum between plastic and organic representation? Provide specific examples from the pilot episode." What follows is a model response I have crafted to this prompt with some references beyond the pilot episode and some light research outside the text to bring in production analysis. With many press interviews and behind‐the‐scenes articles available nowadays, students should likewise be encouraged to research outside the text to contextualize production and industry conditions.</p> <p>Reservation Dogs is crafted with and through organic representation in production and narrative. The pilot episode is unusually sparse in exposition, which means the context of these characters and what some viewers might be used to as essential information for understanding unfamiliar stories, settings, and characters–why are they friends, where are their parents, how do reservations functions and what is their relation to surrounding US states–are not spelled out. Instead, audiences see slices of reservation life through the daily events and activities of the characters and piece together how contemporary Indigenous teens straddle home, culture, and conflict.</p> <p>In one specific way, cultural and spiritual lore and rituals are usually shown or alluded to but are rarely explained through exposition for audiences (at least upon first references). One such case is <emph>Deer Lady</emph>, a mythic spirit who is casually referenced in the pilot episode without any clarification. Deer Lady does indeed show up in a handful of episodes across three seasons, but the nature of her existence and magic are neither confirmed nor explained. The pilot episode also introduced a warrior spirit who becomes a regular visitor to Bear. Here, again, there is no narrative commitment to the spirit's existence or whether it is simply a figment of Bear's subconscious.</p> <p>The warrior spirit often functions as both a guide and comic relief. In an interview, series co‐creator Sterlin Harjo remarked, "Most of the time people are very precious with Native people... and that's kind of how the world is trained to view us. We realize we need to bake into the show permission to laugh with us" (Gross [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref36">9</reflink>], para. 12). Overall, the spiritual world and Native lore are rarely, if ever, contextualized in a way to offer non‐Indigenous viewers reasons, explanations, confirmations, or resolutions about these aspects of Indigenous and Muscogee culture. In this way, the series firmly speaks to an Indigenous‐knowing audience first.</p> <p>All the characters in Reservation Dogs–from the lead Indigenous teens to their parents, authority figures, and even spiritual characters–eschew the "positive" and respectable representations that usually inhibit marginalized characters when represented in popular culture. The pilot episode starts with the four teens stealing a food truck and selling it to a junkyard to raise their own funds for leaving the reservation. In a montage later in the episode, they are also seen hotwiring cars, stealing copper wiring from streetlamps, and shoplifting steaks from the grocery store. These actions, though, stir conflict within a couple of the characters, who then question and weigh their desire to escape to a better life with the consequences of their petty crimes.</p> <p>The pilot episode is also framed around the 1‐year memorial of Daniel, the fifth member of the group who took his own life, and whose dream of leaving the reservation undergirds the four teens' motivation to search for a better life. These are rich and complex portraits of characters who embody the human messiness and contradictions of surviving the doldrums and systemic decay of reservation life. The series is steeped in this world, and pays tribute to its history and relevance, while also showing an unflinching experience of what it means to come of age on the reservation.</p> <p> <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph> also embodies organic representation through its production–its creator, crew, and storytellers. The series was created by Sterlin Harjo, who is part of the Seminole and Muscogee Nations, and Taika Waititi, who is of New Zealand Indigenous descent. As reported, <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph> is the first and only TV series where every writer, director, and series regular is Indigenous (Gross [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref37">9</reflink>]). When it came to its principal actors, co‐creator Harjo explained the following:</p> <p>...there's not a big pool of Native actors in L.A. So we went to the communities, and shout out to Angelique Midthunder, who was our casting director. She went in and we went to different communities and we also had tapes sent to us from communities, but it was important that they were from an Indigenous community. ... It wasn't unnecessarily unorthodox for me, because I've been making these films for so long, and I know that there's talent out there. There's just not opportunities for Native actors to even know that there's an opportunity to be in a movie. (Gross [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref38">9</reflink>], para. 25)</p> <p>This casting process speaks to how organic representation comes through most strongly when its stakes are more directly tied to the community. These strengths of the series led to a breakthrough lead acting nomination for D'Pharaoh Woon‐A‐Tai–the first for an Indigenous actor in his comedy category–at the 2024 Emmys.</p> <p>Behind the camera, roles were also game‐changing for Native and Indigenous storytellers. Earning these writing, producing, and/or directing credits is an incredible boon for filmmakers who are otherwise not plugged into the networks of privilege that typically gatekeep access in Hollywood. In a <emph>New York Times</emph> group interview, Sydney Freeland remarked how typically, "...the words 'film industry' and 'community' don't necessarily go together," which is a reason why Reservation Dogs' crew stands out (Boutsalis [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref39">1</reflink>], para. 22). Responding to a question about hiring less experienced Indigenous crew, Jana Schmieding asserted, "It's my responsibility as a person who has a bit of leverage at this point to do everything that I can to share any skills that I've learned," (Boutsalis [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref40">1</reflink>]). Schmieding followed this up by claiming, "...capacity building is also a kind of cultural value," which directly corresponds to Christian and White's theorizing about organic representation at the level of production. Thus, <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph> proves to be among the leaders in today's entertainment industry, modeling how to both tell new stories from marginalized perspectives and produce those stories with and for the communities they represent.</p> <hd id="AN0183689333-8">Recommendations, Implications, and Critiques</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0183689333-9">Hollywood Trends</hd> <p>As organic representation entails, analyzing media narratives in popular culture today also means understanding the conditions of their distribution. It would be remiss not to acknowledge how <emph>Abbott Elementary</emph> (broadcast on Disney‐owned ABC), <emph>Vida</emph> (first available on pay‐cable STARZ), and <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph> (released on Disney‐controlled Hulu) are all under dominant corporate banners. While these series–particularly through the visionary leadership of their creators, Brunson, Saracho, and Harjo–are examples of new and noteworthy shifts in popular culture, the majority of mainstream Hollywood and media industries are still lagging when it comes to more widespread equity and inclusion. Pedagogically, it is now imperative, when teaching students to analyze popular culture, to also consider, as organic representation impels us, the conditions and practices of production and distribution in addition to the stories and characters we see on screen. By doing this work, we can locate the impactful models of inclusive leadership that are driving true change in these industries.</p> <p>Several university‐based research groups like SDSU's Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, UCLA's Hollywood Diversity Report, and USC Annenberg's Inclusion Initiative have been studying industry representation and employment trends, in some cases for 25 years. Their annual and longitudinal studies largely tell the same story across varying categories and metrics: representations and industry employment for women both behind and in front of the camera have stagnated for decades, with only minor improvements in the past 5 years. Behind the camera, underrepresented racial and ethnic filmmakers have slightly improved over the decades, though they still lag significantly behind their White counterparts.</p> <p>For instance, Lauzen ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref41">11</reflink>]) illustrated how the percentage of women's employment in all major filmmaking categories (e.g., directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers, among others) has only ticked up a few points (from 17% in 1998 to 22% in 2023). While there has been a small increase in the past 5 years, 2023 represented a reversal of the trend. For non‐White directors, Ramón et al. ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref42">16</reflink>]) reported an all‐time high in 2023 (22.9%), though this number could be an outlier as their longitudinal data more closely resembles the 15.5% 17‐year average that Smith et al. ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref43">18</reflink>]) have found for this same category. These studies demonstrate that there is <emph>some</emph> movement behind the screen, even if it is much slower and less linear than it appears.</p> <hd id="AN0183689333-10">Changemakers</hd> <p>The noticeable, if small, uptick of the past 5–10 years in several of the categories above correlates with a different trend observed during the same period: more and more women and people of color in entertainment have been investing in their own production studios, which tend to pursue projects centered more on women and people of color's stories. In 2011, star Viola Davis and director Ava DuVernay both launched their own production companies, JuVee Productions and Array, respectively. Jordan Peele launched Monkeypaw Productions in 2012, which produced <emph>Key & Peele</emph> for television and box office phenomena <emph>Get Out</emph> (2017) and <emph>Us</emph> (2019), among others.</p> <p>In 2016, Reese Witherspoon created Hello Sunshine. Octavia Spencer founded Orit Entertainment in 2019, while Issa Rae consolidated several business endeavors, including a management company, an audio label, and a production company under Hoorae Media in 2020. Both Amy Poehler and Elizabeth Banks created their own media companies in 2002 but noticeably started gaining more traction in the 2010s. For instance, Poehler's Paper Kite backed the TV series <emph>Broad City</emph> in 2014 to popular success (running for five seasons on Comedy Central), while Banks's Brownstone Productions really took off in 2012 after the box office success of <emph>Pitch Perfect</emph>.</p> <p>While this phenomenon is not new–preceded notably by Spike Lee's 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks (1979), Oprah's Harpo (1986), and Rhimes's Shondaland (2005)–the volume of independent media production ventures during the 2010s speaks loudly to limited opportunities the data from the studies above show for women‐centered and people of color‐focused media in the mainstream distribution channels.</p> <p>This trend of actors and filmmakers, especially women and creators from routinely underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, taking decision‐making power for what stories to tell illustrates a new type of leadership in Hollywood that is not just broadening the tent but investing in all different scales of cultural media production. For instance, Issa Rae and <emph>Broad City's</emph> Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson all started with their own web series. Quinta Brunson got noticed for her Vine and Instagram posts and made her way to producing video content for BuzzFeed. Now that all these women are in creator, showrunner, producer, and executive roles, they are leading the more sustained, if slower, change that is sometimes overshadowed by cultural lightning rods like <emph>Barbie</emph> and <emph>Black Panther</emph>, which deserve their own appraisals (see Callahan article in this issue).</p> <hd id="AN0183689333-11">Conclusion: Modeling Change in Leadership</hd> <p>In <emph>Variety's</emph>[<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref44">20</reflink>] Actors on Actors, a dual interview format, Quinta Brunson is paired with Jennifer Aniston and, in a key exchange, divulges that when it comes to representation and audiences, "I have a hard time trying to figure out what my responsibility is. Sometimes I don't want any responsibility ... sometimes I don't want my characters to have any responsibility but it just comes with it" (Variety [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref45">20</reflink>]). This is another demonstration of Brunson using these high‐profile promotional opportunities for forthright engagement with the norms and double standards for people and characters of color, especially women. Further, who she shares that with, Jennifer Aniston of <emph>Friends</emph> fame, is paramount. She brings to the fore the privileges of White sitcom characters and the comparative ease with which their writers shape their comedy and personalities. Brunson admits, "Janine started to carry a lot of weight in a way those other characters [Rachel Green, Leslie Knope, Liz Lemon] had a freedom Janine did not," (Variety [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref46">20</reflink>]). In nearly every press opportunity, Brunson not only pulls the curtain back to illustrate the professional practices she spearheads but also models confidence and capacity for leadership in her position, a tenet of self‐efficacy.</p> <p>Paratexts for a piece of popular culture, like these Brunson interviews for <emph>Abbott Elementary</emph> and behind‐the‐scenes interviews for <emph>Reservation Dogs</emph>, are more readily available nowadays and can also provide important context and insight into the production and storytelling process. A critical media approach considers these sources, along with analysis of the media texts themselves and industry trends like the aforementioned spike in independent production companies, which is central to a holistic measure of the shifts we are observing in the popular culture landscape. An applied analytic like organic representation encompasses all of these to bring perspective to how popular culture <emph>can</emph> model leadership through equity, capacity, investment, and self‐efficacy. Critical approaches to leadership are already emphasizing more expansive and intersectional perspectives. A critical media approach provides additional tools and terminology to support an interdisciplinary analysis.</p> <ref id="AN0183689333-12"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref39" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Boutsalis, K. 2021. " This Is What We Should Have Had All Along." New York Times, August 9. https://<ulink href="http://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/arts/television/reservation‐dogs‐rutherford‐falls.html">www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/arts/television/reservation‐dogs‐rutherford‐falls.html</ulink>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref22" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Carmeli, A., R. Reiter‐Palmon, and E. Ziv. 2010. " Inclusive Leadership and Employee Involvement in Creative Tasks in the Workplace: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety." Creativity Research Journal 22, no. 3 : 250 – 260. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2010.504654.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" idref="ref26" type="bt">3</bibl> <bibtext> Christian, A. J. 2018. OpenTV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television. NYU Press.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib4" idref="ref2" type="bt">4</bibl> <bibtext> Christian, A. J., and K. C. White. 2020. " Organic Representation as Cultural Reparation." Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 60, no. 1 : 143 – 147. doi.org/10.1353/cj.2020.0068.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib5" idref="ref8" type="bt">5</bibl> <bibtext> Chunoo, V. S., and M. Torres. 2023. " Critical Perspectives on Leadership Identity Development." New Directions for Student Leadership 2023, no. 178 : 55 – 64. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.20554.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib6" idref="ref30" type="bt">6</bibl> <bibtext> Davis, A. 2018. " How STARZ Is Making History With Its Addictive New Show, Vida." Refinery29. May 4. https://<ulink href="http://www.refinery29.com/en‐us/2018/05/198202/vida‐starz‐historic‐latinx‐cast">www.refinery29.com/en‐us/2018/05/198202/vida‐starz‐historic‐latinx‐cast</ulink>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib7" idref="ref4" type="bt">7</bibl> <bibtext> Dugan J. P., ed. 2018. " Integrating Critical Perspectives Into Leadership Development." New Directions for Student Leadership 2018, no. 159 : 9 – 26.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib8" idref="ref5" type="bt">8</bibl> <bibtext> Dugan, J. P. 2024. Leadership Theory: Cultivating Critical Perspectives. 2nd ed. Jossey‐Bass.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib9" idref="ref36" type="bt">9</bibl> <bibtext> Gross, T. 2022. " 'Reservation Dogs' Co‐Creator Says the Show Gives Audiences Permission to Laugh." NPR. September 19. https://<ulink href="http://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123452609/reservation‐dogs‐sterlin‐harjo‐native‐stories">www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123452609/reservation‐dogs‐sterlin‐harjo‐native‐stories</ulink>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> King, J. 2022. Inclusive Screenwriting for Film and Television. Routledge.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Lauzen, M. M. 2024. " Living Archive: The Celluloid Ceiling." SDSU Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film. https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp‐content/uploads/2024/07/2023‐living‐archive‐report.pdf.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Newman, M. 2022. Media Studies Toolkit. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003007708.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Owen, J. E., S. Hassell‐Goodman, and A. Yamanaka. 2017. " Culturally Relevant Leadership Learning: Identity, Capacity, and Efficacy." Journal of Leadership Studies 11, no. 3 : 48 – 54. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.21545.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> OWN. 2022. " OWN Spotlight: Oprah & Quinta Brunson [Television Special]." OWN. November 26.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Patterson‐Stephens, S., C. Beatty, and F. Smith. 2025. " Creating to Transgress: Supporting Student Leadership Development Through Culturally Informed Media Praxis." New Directions for Student Leadership 2025, no. 185.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ramón, A., M. Tran, and D. Hunt. 2024. " Hollywood Diversity Report 2024." UCLA Entertainment & Media Research Initiative. https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/wp‐content/uploads/2024/06/ucla‐hollywood‐diversity‐report‐2024‐film‐3‐7‐2024.pdf.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Rao, S. 2018. " 'Vida' Crew Discusses TV's First All‐Latinx Writers Room." Colorlines. May 4. https://colorlines.com/article/vida‐crew‐discusses‐tvs‐first‐all‐latinx‐writers‐room/.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Smith, S., K. Peiper, and S. Wheeler. 2024. " Inequality in 1,700 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBTQ+ & Disability From 2007 to 2023." USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. https://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/aii‐popular‐films‐2024‐08‐02.pdf.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Solorzano, D. G., and T. J. Yosso. 2002. " Critical Race Methodology: Counter‐Storytelling as an Analytical Framework for Education Research." Qualitative Inquiry 8, no. 1 : 23 – 44. https://doi.org/10.1177/107780040200800103.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Variety. 2024. Jennifer Aniston & Quinta Brunson l Actors on Actors [Video]. YouTube. June 6. https://<ulink href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iigcu2sr4i">www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iigcu2sr4i</ulink>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Veli Korkmaz, A., M. L. van Engen, L. Knappert, and R. Schalk. 2022. " About and Beyond Leading Uniqueness and Belongingness: A Systematic Review of Inclusive Leadership Research." Human Resource Management Review 32, no. 4 : 100894. doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2022.100894.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Warner, K. 2015. The Cultural Politics of Colorblind TV Casting. Routledge.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Warner, K. J. 2017. " In the Time of Plastic Representation." Film Quarterly 71, no. 2 : 32 – 37. https://filmquarterly.org/2017/12/04/in‐the‐time‐of‐plastic‐representation/.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Raffi Sarkissian</p> <p>Reported by Author</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref1"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref17"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref41"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref42"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref44"></nolink>
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  Data: This article applies the critical media concept of organic representation to leadership studies as an analytic of how various creators in popular culture today are not just writing inclusive storytelling but, more notably, modeling new modes of production and self-presentation that are actively challenging hegemonic industry practices and larger cultural ideologies around power, equity, leadership, and success. In conversation with leadership for liberation (see Patterson-Stephens et al. in this issue), I employ an interdisciplinary approach that bridges critical leadership models with critical media analysis to place their aligned perspectives in direct conversation with one another. In pursuant of adding critical media analysis to the leadership studies toolkit, this article applies organic representation to an original analysis of the television series "Reservation Dogs" and advocates for a critical interrogation of media storytelling, production, and distribution to better understand represented communities also as stakeholders in pop culture narratives.
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