Inclusion struggles in Hollywood
A new study says that representation in films have gone stagnant since 2007
D‘Girl’s Trip’ was a flash in the pan. espite women and people of colour at the helm of highprofile successes like Black Panther, Get Out, Girls Trip and Wonder Woman, a new study has found that diversity of representation among Hollywood films remains largely unchanged from a decade ago.
The study, published by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, found that among 1,100 popular films released between 2007 and 2017, there’s been little to no improvement regarding the inclusion of women, people of colour, or members of the LGBTQ or disabled communities.
Though 33 of 2017’s top 100 films featured a woman as a lead or colead, just four of them were led by a woman of colour, the study found.
“When Hollywood discusses women they are thinking of white women,” said Stacy L. Smith, the report’s co-writer. “But these trends seem to be relatively stable in terms of who’s getting work, whether it’s driving storytelling or it’s the entire ecosystem of all speaking characters. We’re seeing very little movement across the board, but once we cross gender with other factors, the story becomes really problematic.” ‘Black Panther’ was seen as a boost for both women and Black Americans. missing a white female character).
Characters from the LGBTQ and disabled communities fared far worse: LGBTQ women were not included in 94 films while disabled women were absent from 78 films. Of 400 popular films released between 2014 to 2017, only one transgender character appeared on screen.
Behind the scenes, representation is just as bad. 81.7 per cent of people working as directors, writers and producers on the top 100 releases of 2017 were men and 18.2 per cent were women.
Among 1,223 directors over 11 years, 5.2 per cent were black or African American, 4.3 per cent were women and 3.1 Films like ‘Get Out’ are a drop in the ocean. per cent were of Asian descent. That translates to four black or African American women, three Asian or Asian American women and one Latina directing a film across the 1,100 examined.
“The behind-the-camera numbers are absolutely at a standstill,” said Smith. “If we’re not seeing inclusion behind the camera, then the patterns on screen are going to be impervious to change. The only way to make storytelling move is by thinking differently in how directors, writers, etc get attached to projects.”
JUST NOT ENOUGH
While it’s easy to interpret films like The Spy Who Dumped Me and Crazy Rich Asians as representing verifiable change in Hollywood, there are still more than two men appearing on screen for every one female among speaking roles.
Ageism also remains an issue in the industry. Among the top 100 movies of 2017, 30 included a male character over the age of 45 and only five films featured a woman in the same age bracket. Only one was led by a woman of colour 45 or older.
Although change has been slow in coming, Smith is hopeful that heightened awareness about these issues can lead to change if supported with industrywide action.