While television is enjoying a golden age of creativity and an unprecdented range of diverse characters, Hollywood, it seems, is content to pump out the same bloated superhero sequels with the same homogenous cast of characters. Of the top 100 films in 2014, only two were directed by female filmmakers. For example, movies written by women included more female characters (34.8%, compared with 25.9%), and 7.8% more middle-aged female characters. “No female leads or co leads were Lesbian or Bisexual characters”. Women actors and directors are still few and far between, a study out this week says. Of those characters, 84.2% were white. That’s 2.3 men for every one woman. Film characters are overwhelmingly White and male, despite both population statistics and viewing patterns. Within the 100 prime movies in 2014, lower than 27% of talking characters have been from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group, in accordance with the report, which famous that 17 of these 100 movies featured no African American characters. “Hollywood continues to marginalize or exclude certain members of society”. There were no transgender characters.
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Underrepresented directors also fare poorly. Across the group of 700 films, there were 28 female directors, with only three female directors who were black and one who was Asian. There were no Asian directors in 2014.
Looking at the report, New York Times critic Manhole Dargis writes in regards to lack of women in movies: “Among other things, the findings are a blunt reminder that female-driven blockbusters like “The Hunger Games” and African-American dramas like “Selma” remain exceptions in a largely homogeneous field”. “Reframing the requests made to writers and decision-makers may be one way forward”, the study said.
The researchers found that the frequency of gender, race and LGBT portrayals have not significantly changed over time.
It was found that only 0.4% of leading characters were gay.
“Instead of acting as a leader, film lags behind when it comes to representing this community”, said Marc Choueiti, the second author of the report.
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A new report from the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative has just been released, offering what they claim is the most comprehensive analysis of diversity in recent popular films (annual top 100) ever conducted, bringing together data assessing gender, race/ethnicity and LGBT status in movies.
