Despite strides made in women’s rights over
the past decades in the United States, there are still major problems in the
film industry with respect to gender inequality. Issues pertaining to gender inequality still exist
in regard to both the portrayal of female characters on onscreen and the
industry’s treatment of women offscreen.
Women are consistently in roles
subordinate to men, which is detrimental to progress for gender equality.
Onscreen,
major differences between male and female character portrayal are readily
apparent. More often than not, men dominate
in lead roles while women are portrayed as mindless sexual objects. Also, in most of the films in which women do
have prominent lead roles, the plots mostly involve romance or drama. If there were an even gender divide, there
would be as many superhero or action films with women in the lead role as there
are with men. Women would be portrayed
in the same number of professional roles as men. However, this is not the case, and audiences
are accustomed to seeing men as their strong, successful heroes.
Female Portrayal in Films Video
The
fact is that the film industry is actually lagging in accurately depicting the progress
women have made. The industry’s portrayal
of women in film does not even reflect gender equality in real life: “There is a growing disconnect or gap between
what we might perceive as being the current status of women in film and their
actual status” (Lang). When it comes to films’ current depictions of
women, “[s]uch representations do not reflect reality. The American Bar
Association reports that in reality 33% of lawyers are female, and the National
Women's Law Center says 35% of federal judges are women. In his first term,
President Barack Obama appointed 72 women to the federal bench, more than any
other president. Meanwhile, the
Association of American Medical Colleges says more than 30% of practicing
doctors are women, and the American Association of University Professors says
45% of professors at bachelors institutions are female” (Winsor).
Yet
women are not seen by audiences in such roles onscreen, for in “the top 100
domestic US grossing films, females were only 15% of the main protagonists (in
other words, the heroine, the main character we root for), 29% of the major
characters, and 30% of all speaking characters. So over two thirds of all
speaking roles were spoken by men. This figure remains virtually the same as
the 1940s” (Jannese). Even in films in which women are shown in the
workplace, there are more professional male characters - 59% to 41%
(Lang). When both men and women onscreen
do have jobs, 85% of men have identifiable jobs, whereas only 75% of women have
defined roles. In addition, “61% percent of male characters
were identified only by their professional roles, whereas only 34% of females
have that kind of designation. In contrast, 58% of females were identified by
the roles they assume in their personal lives such as wives or mothers. That’s
the case for only 31% of male characters” (Lang).
There
are also significant issues with gender inequality offscreen. One problem is equal monetary compensation
for men and women. Sony’s hacked e-mails have revealed a troubling truth — that
even the wealthiest and most powerful women face the ever-present gender pay
gap. In a December 5, 2013 exchange,
Sony and Columbia Pictures executives mulled over that fact that actor Jennifer
Lawrence was being paid less than her male co-stars in American Hustle (Kohn).
According to the hacked e-mails, this pay gap extended to move industry
professionals such as studio executives as well. Studies estimate that women are paid just 77
cents for every $1 made by men. Another
gender inequality issue is the number of women behind in the scenes in the film
industry, in positions such as director, producer, writer, cinematographer, and
editor. Of the top 250 domestic grossing
films in 2012, women comprised only 18% of these roles, which is just a 1%
increase from 1998 (Jannese).
The
film industry clearly has make progress in the area of gender equality. Onscreen, women should be portrayed in roles
that accurately reflect the progress they have made in society and that promote
such progress. Offscreen, women should be paid as much as men are and have the
same number of professional opportunities as men.
Works Cited
Jannese, Suzanne. “New Study Reveals Shocking Statistics About
Women in
Hollywood.”
Babble.com.
14 Mar. 2014. Web.
Kohn,
Sally. “Stop denying the gender pay gap
exists. Even Jennifer Lawrence was
shortchanged.” Washington
Post. 17 Dec. 2014.
Web.
Lang,
Brent. “Study Finds Fewer Lead Roles for
Women in Hollywood.” Variety.
9
Feb. 2015. Web.
Winsor, Ben. “This
Chart Shows Movies Have Even Worse Gender Equality Than Real
Life.” BusinessInsider.com. 27 Oct. 2014.
Web.
In the media industry I can easily name a handful of successful well-know actresses; Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and so on and so on. What about successful actresses prior to the 2000s? The only two names that come to mind are Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. It seems to the average person that women in the acting/movie business are more successful now than they were before but in New studies Reveal Shocking Statistics About Women In Hollywood Suzanne Jannese states that since 19998 there has only be a 1% increase in the number of women in the media industry all together in either the roles of “directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers and editors” (Jannese). I personally do not know names of directors or producers but when I subconsciously assign these roles to men.
ReplyDeleteWhy is this happening? Is it because women are not as interested in the business of acting and or movie producing? Or are there not enough scripts that require as many actresses than actors? Whatever the case is, a major change is needed.
I think we can all agree that media plays a major part in influencing the masses. People are highly influenced by what they see on screen. More often than not people use films as a reference point to what is acceptable and what is not. As Colten mentioned in his lead blog, women constantly are in supporting roles to men and or are portrayed a sexual objects. Women in most films either play the role or wife, girlfriend, stressed mother, side-kick, murder victim, victim (Jannese) whereas men are often in the roles of successful business man, superhero and or hero who solves the mystery.
Jannese also makes the great point that where men are leaders women are bossy. Where men are seen as driven, women are seen as having cold ambition. Why is there such a negative view on women who go after their dreams and are successful? And why are women always portrayed in a negative light where as men are positive and capable. I for one would like to see more movies about clever women detectives, women superhero’s and or comedic, funny women.
Women are not only pay less then men like Colten stated, but they are also treated differently than men. In one incident Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures, was fired from her position ultimately due to leaked emails (Donnelly). Although she stated that she is stepping some people believe other wise. I can’t help but to wonder how the situation would differ if Amy Pascal was a man instead of a woman. Would the man with the leaked emails be force out of his position like this woman was? The inequality between men and women in the media takes a concrete form when jobs are being lost due to gender.
I think two changes need to happen in the media industry to obtain gender equality. More script should be written with the plot involving a prominent, strong female leads and more women should be in the position of producers and directors where their ambition and success should not be look upon negatively.
Work Cited
Donnelly, Matt. “Amy Pascal Says she was ‘Fired,’ talks leaked Sony Emails and Angelina Jolie (Video).” The Wrap. 11 Feb. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Jannese, Suzanne. “New Study Reveals Shocking Statistics About Women in Hollywood.” Babble.com. 14 Mar. 2014. Web.
As an avid movie watcher myself, I do agree with Colten that there are gender inequalities in the film industry. I have seen a ton of movies, and the majority of the main roles were given to male actors. Women seem to have huge roles in films, but they are barely the main character in any of them. If you look at the past movies that one best picture, such as Birdman, 12 Years a Slave, and Argo, a male actor played the main role. Like Colten said, women have played the supporting role to men in several films, and in some films they are portrayed as sexual objects, like in The Wolf of Wall Street. When looking at the top 100 domestic U.S. grossing films, women make up only “29% of major characters” (Jannese 1).
ReplyDeleteAside from actor roles, men even have dominance in producing and directing.
Clint Eastwood is one male actor who has acted and directed successfully. He directed best picture, Million Dollar Baby, where he also performed in his own film. Tom Hanks is another male actor where he produced and acted in the same movie. He produced Charlie Wilson’s War and played the main role in it as well. This shows that women are not only falling behind in acting but also in directing and producing. In a separate study, it was found that women made up “18% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors - a 1% improvement since 1998” (Jannese 1). This shows that there is barely any improvement with women having both large roles and positions in the industry. Men are dominant in film, and it’s not just in acting.
This is also shown in superhero movies where female actors always play the supporting role to the main superhero character that is played by a male actor. In most recent superhero films, such as The Amazing Spider-Man and Batman v. Supermen: Dawn of Justice, male dominance is shown. Oscar winner Ben Affleck, plays the new Batman, and actress Amy Adams plays the supporting role of Lois Lane (Sneider 1). In The Amazing Spider-Man movie, female actor Emma Stone plays the supporting role of Gwen Stacy (Sneider 1). As you can see, male actors have always dominated the superhero role compared to women who have always been the supporting role to them.
There is not only a struggle though for women to have large roles in the film industry. African-American stars are struggling as well. We all know that Will Smith, Denzel Washington, and Eddie Murphy have been the most successful African-American actors. What about the next generation of African-American actors? Hollywood has been recently struggling in this department with portraying younger and newer African-American actors that are making it big. According to Clint Culpepper, “we have to look at roles that are written and not assume that just because they don’t say African-American or they don’t say black, we can’t cast African-Americans” (Ford 1).
As a consistent movie watcher, I have never realized the inequality in gender and race in the film industry until now. I would like to see women take on more lead roles to show that male actors are not the only ones capable of leading or creating a movie. Rather than the typical white male actor taking on major parts, I would like to see more diversity between leading roles as well. I think this will help the film industry grow and show the potential of anyone who has talent to act, produce, or direct.
Works Cited
Ford, Rebecca. "Who Is the New Denzel? Hollywood Struggles to Launch Next Black
Stars." The Hollywood Reporter. N.p., 1 Aug. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Jannese, Suzanne. “New Study Reveals Shocking Statistics About Women in
Hollywood.” Babble.com. N.p.,14 Mar. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
Sneider, Jeff. "Superhero Movies Dissed at Oscars Despite 9 Acting Nominees With
Comic Book Roles." TheWrap. N.p., 22 Feb. 2015. Web. 16 Mar. 2015.
The final argument you make is about the wage gap and you give the example of Jennifer Lawrence’s salary in American Hustle which has become the poster child of gender inequality in Hollywood. Lawrence’s salary became public knowledge after Sony Pictures Entertainment co-Chairman Amy Pascal’s email was hacked. (Donnelly) During last months “Women in the World” conference Pascal said sexism didn’t play a role in determining Lawrence’s salary but rather it was a business decision, “I run a business. People want to work for less money, I’ll pay them less money. I don’t call them up and go, can I give you some more?” (Jacobs) Pascal has a point, if you know anything about the entertainment industry it’s the actors agents that do most of the negotiation when it comes to salary not the actors themselves. In an interview with the guardian, Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe in Friends said, “An actor is not the one on the phone saying, ‘what’s he getting? I should get the same thing.’ Women – and their agents – needed to push harder, What Pascal was saying to women was, ‘make me pay you more’.” (Carroll) Although Lawrence’s story may not be the best example it is representative of a larger trend that exists both in Hollywood and the world at large.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited
Jannese, Suzanne. “New Study Reveals Shocking Statistics About Women in Hollywood.” Babble.com. 14 Mar. 2014. Web.
"The Women of the Marvel Universe." Marvel.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2015. .
Hickey, Walt. "The Dollar-And-Cents Case Against Hollywood's Exclusion of Women." FiveThirtyEight. N.p., 01 Apr. 2014. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
Donnelly, Matt. "Amy Pascal Says She Was 'Fired,' Talks Leaked Sony Emails and Angelina Jolie (Video)." TheWrap. N.p., 11 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
Jacobs, Matthew. "Amy Pascal Comments On Jennifer Lawrence's Pay Disparity." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
Carroll, Rory. "Patricia Arquette and the Hollywood Pay Gap: Who's to Blame?" The Guardian. The Guardian, 26 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
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ReplyDeleteHello Colten,
You make a lot of good points in this blog post and I think your argument could be even stronger. I read your blog post through the perspective of a critic and there are a few holes in your arguments that should be filled.
First, you argue that men often dominate in lead roles and in films in which women do have prominent lead roles, they are mostly part of a romantic subplot. You go on to give the example of super hero movies and argue that “If there were an even gender divide, there would be as many superhero or action films with women in the lead role as there are with men.”
Your arguments are statistically true. A San Diego State University Stud found, “of the top 100 domestic US grossing films, females were only 15% of the main protagonists 29% of the major characters, and 30% of all speaking characters.” (Jannese) There are still a few arguments a critic would make to try to poke holes in your line of thinking.
1.“Superhero movies are based off comic books and there are more male comic book heroes than female”
2.“Movies with lead male characters make more money”
Now to debunk both of these arguments:
The First argument is easy, on Marvels website they list 641 women characters that appear in there comics. Although this number is still less than male characters it is defiantly now equivalent to the small number of female characters in superhero movies. (The Women of the Marvel Universe)
The second argument is a bit more complicated. Last year the statistics blog fivethirtyeight.com did a study where they put 1,615 films released from 1990 to 2013 through the “Bechdel” test ( based off this comic strip). In order for a film to past the test it needs to include one scene where two named women in the picture, have a conversation with each other that isn't about a male character. It seems like a simple test but of the 1,615 films Fivethirtyeight analyzed only 56% passed. The article goes on to quote a few Hollywood insiders such as Vanity Fair editor Krista Smith, and Hollywood producer Michael Shamberg, who both argue the widely held belief in Hollywood that audiences are not interested in movies with female characters. But after looking at the box office numbers for movies that passed the Bechdel test Fivethirtyeight found that, “films that pass the Bechdel test tend to do better dollar for dollar than those that don’t”. (Hickey)