Crystal Yen Rebecca Schultz Writing 39C
24 April 2018
Abstract
Females: Nowhere To Be “Scene”
You’re in a movie theater. You’re about to watch “Finding Dory” for the first time, and because you believe in gender equality, you’re excited because there’s a leading female protagonist. The movie is known for being one of the only films in which “over half of dialogue was spoken by women” (Ahmed), a seemingly great movie that represents a good amount of both genders on screen. However, even though the film appears to have a fair amount of dialogue from both genders, the gender bias is still existent. In a movie like this, it’s difficult to place exactly where bias is existent but producers create Dory’s character to seem like more of a comic relief rather than a character capable of succeeding independently without making dimwitted errors along the way, seeming to project the her in a way that makes her seem unstable. It’s almost as if she was emotionally unsteady, which is a trait females are expected to have based on expectations that stem from ideas like “gender roles.” With this example, one can see that gender bias in the film industry has taken on some kind of reform as producers include more lines for females but the issue is merely “redesigned” and still strongly prevalent because female characters are often still being portrayed in a way that is based on stereotypical expectations of what their character should be like. But the gender bias is seen not only on screen but off screen as well, as the ratio of males working off-screen to females is 5:1 between the time period of 2007-2017 (Perrone), and delving into the numbers for how many women receive awards in general for their work whether it be on or off screen only proves the existence of gender bias in the industry even further. Although gender bias in the American film industry has seen minimal attempts for improvement, there has not been an adequate amount of reform to declare
the film industry, in general, anywhere near equitable to both genders (males and females) as the inequality seen off-screen within the industry’s workplace is as well reflected towards the on-screen production.
Gender Roles and Expectations
An issue like such does not just appear out of nowhere; there is always a definite source for any injustice that arises. Gender inequality, found everywhere not only in the film industry, is a problem that dates back to many centuries ago, but within the film industry specifically, gender bias has managed to infiltrate the industry ever since it started growing, which was within the early 1900’s. The stereotypes that characters presented on screen have stem from the idea of gender roles, which was finally coined by psychologist John Money in 1955 (Wikipedia), generalizing the role of a male and female in society. Males were expected to portray “agentic” traits and behaviors that focused on “independence and assertiveness” while women were known for being sensitive, emotional, and caring (iResearch.Net).
Our whole life, humans have been shaped to see the two genders with a hint of gender bias, so even with recognition of bias in the film industry, it would be difficult for directors and filmmakers to not incorporate their own version of gender bias into their work. For example, all the children who grew up watching productions from companies like Disney were given “lessons to the child about the societal norms of their nation” (Maity); it is a “well known fact that Disney princesses certainly influence young girls” (Maity), and it is known that the enterprise company had intentions to shape the thoughts of young girls because “the advertising campaign aims to attract a wide audience of girls with the ultimate goal of encouraging children to personally identify with the characters so that they will purchase the associated products” (Do Rozario). This means the enterprise aimed to be a figure of reference and an inspiration for young girls and hopes viewers feel a similarity in personality between themselves and the Disney princesses, but this could potentially prove to be dangerous because it influences how a young girl should present herself as a woman in the future in front of society due to unsaid expectation.
But what kind of traits are considered stereotypical? Take Snow White for example. Her stereotypical traits are seen when she is found cleaning and being a motherly figure for the dwarves and dreams of meeting a Prince Charming. And when Snow White was poisoned by a jealous Queen, “it seems that Snow White [needed] a man to save her and give her life” (Maity), a representation of women being unable to succeed without a dominant male figure in her life. And in Mulan, initially when her character is getting groomed like a traditional woman should be to meet a matchmaker, the people giving her a makeover inform her that women should have tiny waists and a calm and reserved attitude, and is told that a woman’s main use is to have babies. In both Disney examples provided, they taught viewers that a happy life with an empowering male figure is ideal and appealing women are expected to be reserved and motherly. These stereotypes provides an idealistic vision of a traditional lifestyle and creates a chain of expectations and “requirements,” almost, for young girls in this generation who grew up watching these traditional Disney movies. Of course, one can argue that there have been newer developments in Disney where the female protagonists have been less traditional. Take “Frozen,” for example. The main character is a female who’s antagonist is an evil male as she works to protect her sister. “ However, despite being about two sister princesses, men claim 59% of the lines” (Guo). When the two leading characters in a film are female but receive a low amount of lines despite being in nearly every single scene, something is definitely off. Clearly, this proves the idea that although efforts to change gender bias has been instigated, the issue is still there, just in a different way.
Apart from the motherly, emotionally unstable figure women are commonly portrayed as, they are also portrayed as sex symbols in the film industry way more often in comparison to males. From 2007-2017, “25.9% of women wore revealing clothes as opposed to 5.7% of men” (Pasquine), and “25.6% of women actors [got] partially naked while 9.2% of men [did]” (Pasquine).
By referring to these two charts, one can see that the amount of sexualization indicators for the males that appear on screen is blatantly lower in comparison to how much females face sexualization in their acting roles. Looking at the female statistics, it is difficult to not wonder if portrayal of females on screen could be an influencer of physical expectations for women to be thin or to look a certain way, which is harmful for young girls growing up as she would have to struggle excessively with self esteem because she didn’t feel like she looked like all the actresses seen on screen or she didn’t feel as if though she met expected physical requirements. This would also allow males to create their own version of physical expectations for females, which would only worsen the problem of gender bias rather than allowing women to be comfortable with whomever they were, whether it be in character or off-screen. Bechdel Test
Gender roles were incorporated so strongly into the film industry that in 1985, years after the first film was released, a cartoonist by the name of Alison Bechdel created a cartoon that led to the creation of the Bechdel test (Garber). The cartoon was of two women discussing whether they should catch a film or not, but would only allow themselves to watch it if the film fell under three criteria:
1) The film has to have at least two female characters,
2) The two female characters must have verbal interaction with each other,
3) The women must have a conversation about something other than a male figure (Garber).
The creation of a satirical cartoon like such should be a clear sign that women are aware that a woman’s role and focus of conversation in movies seem to be dictated by a male figure and his actions. Upon the cartoon’s publication, the three criteria began to morph into a guideline of criticism when it came to whether a film portrayed women as equivalent to males even though it wasn’t exactly accurate. The Bechdel Test was not an accurate or dependable way to decide whether a movie was gender neutral or not but with the creation of the cartoon itself, one would expect it to serve as a turning point or a wake up call for gender equality on screen. There are a number of movies which pass the Bechdel test to this day but the issue is still predominant in the film industry.
On-Screen Action
Within the past few years, the film industry collectively has not quite grown more equal in regards to portrayal of the genders on screen but has remained relatively the same. From 2007-2012, the percentage of speaking characters on screen that were female was 30.8% according to data collected in 2013, (Pasquine), but when updated statistics from 2007-2017 came in, the percentage of speaking characters on screen that were female was 30.5% (Perrone), clearly proving that not much of an
improvement was made with on screen characters. In fact, the average percentage has decreased, so within 2012 to 2017, the issue of gender bias is still predominant. There may have been individual films such as “Tomb Raider” that have successfully created a movie with a strong, independent female lead but as a collective whole, all of Hollywood and its actors evidently remain biased and favors male actors. Along with those discerning statistics, a USC Viterbi study came up with statistics after comparing “nearly 1,000 films in 2017,” discovering that in the movies they studied, men were given over 4,900 acting roles while women portrayed a few numbers above 2,000 roles (Perrone). Therefore, on screen women are given less action in comparison to males.
Looking at the picture of statistics above, it is seen that the male to female actor ratio is 2.3:1. And sadly, according to further study, “the ratio of male to female characters has been exactly the same since 1946” (Davis). Little to no change has been enforced and women remain having less representation on screen in comparison to males.
Along with the unjust number of casted males to females ratio, the characters of women on screen are usually portrayed as, again, stereotypically emotionally unstable or dependent on a male figure. Refer to Reese Witherspoon, a powerful voice for women in the film industry, and her speech when she was given an award at the Glamour’s 2015 Women of the Year. Witherspoon stated that she “[dreaded]
reading scripts that [had] no women involved in their creation because [Witherspoon gets] to that part where the girl turns to the guy, and she says, ‘What do we do now?!’” (Moslein). Witherspoon argues that women know exactly what to do; there is no female out there who needs to succumb herself to a male lead in a film and feign stupidity, yet it happens. The film industry so naturally places women in a lesser position, an action that often goes unnoticed by viewers because seemingly seeing women as less than a man is a traditional social concept that began centuries ago and is still predominant in our social society today.
But if gender bias is such a serious issue, why do viewers still enjoy the entertainment of the film industry? And why are women responsible for buying half of all the movie tickets that come out despite the gender bias of their own sex on screen (Pasquine)? According to Jenkins, there is a psychological concept known as “unconscious bias,” where women are prone to finding what they witness on screen entertaining rather than demeaning because they subconsciously believe that the stereotypes presented are realistic (Jenkins). And “it’s not because of motherhood. In the U.S., women are 50% of the labor force and 40% of primary wage earners” (Jenkins). Women are perfectly capable of working and being independent. However, unconscious bias is a natural psychological thought process. Women often look at another female who is invariably independent and driven, and immediately see her as “cold, power-hungry, and out for self” while they would perceive a male with the same traits as some sort of role model (Jenkins). Upon recognizing this unconsciousness in humans, in application to the film industry, it is difficult not to subconsciously incorporate biased norms that are embedded into the brains of producers and screenwriters onto the films that are produced. After all, what appears on screen is always the greatest reflection of how a writer expects conversations to occur in real life, so it is possible that those working on films are actually completely unaware of the bias they have integrated into their work.
Behind The Scenes
Gender inequality is prevalent off-screen as well, which is incredibly questionable, considering the fact that an equal amount of females and males have graduated from colleges as film majors. Of the film graduates at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, 51% of the graduates are female, and 46% of the graduates at the USC School of Cinematic Arts are female (Laham). Clearly, women are equally capable of succeeding so why is the ratio of men to women working behind the scenes known to be 5:1 (Perrone)?
Over the past few years, a student run film festival entitled the “Film Fusion Festival” was created by NYU's Tisch School of the Arts (Murphy). Susan Sandler, a faculty advisor, explains, "Studies… look at what happens when a woman comes out of [film school], brings her film to the festival circuit, and debuts and tracks what happens after that debut. The statistics we see — the fall out is shocking. The talent is equal, and the opportunities just drop off for women completely. Studios are not trusting women with big budgets; they are not trusting women all across the board in terms of films that are studio-generated” (Murphy). According to this explanation, Sandler believes that women are not given the role of directing because companies simply don’t have the interest to support and hire women who are independent (which relates to the concept of subconscious bias mentioned earlier) because the idea of a talented female dominating just seems so “subconsciously” threatening, and therefore “subconsciously” turns off interest in a female’s work.
But of course, despite the unconscious bias, those women who DO make it to the film industry are rarely given high paying jobs such as being a director or screenwriter. If women were on the job working for a film, they primarily occupied jobs that were traditionally dominated by the female sex such as costuming (68.8% women) and casting (66.5% women) departments (Laham). And if women were equally capable which was proven with the statistics of them graduating, the statistic that “only 16% of all directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 100 domestic grossing films of 2015 were women” (Laham) is definitely unjust and unfair. Where did all the film graduates go?
And the numbers are not improving either.
Looking at this image, it is clear that for said roles, the number of women working actively is way below the number of males working those positions. And as previously established, women are capable of filling those occupations as the rate of female film graduates is nearly equivalent to male graduates.
The lack of women working on incorporating their visions into the film industry is shocking. In off screen work, women are not given the opportunity to let their ideas meet the big screen because they are female.
“And pay is far from equivalent for women in the film industry as well. In 2017, the highest paid male actor, Mark Wahlberg, made $68 million, while the highest paid female actor, Emma Stone, made $26 million, less than the top 14 highest paid men” (Pasquine). Both actors have been part of incredibly successful movies, Mark Wahlberg performing in “Transformers: The Last Knight,” and Emma Stone acting in “La La Land” that released at the end of December, 2016.
The Academy Awards
“Since the Academy Awards began in 1928, on average 16% of the nominees have been women” (Pasquine). Take the Best Director category, for example. In Academy Award history, how many women have been nominated for Best Director? Five. And of the five, only one female director so far has won; Kathryn Bigelow, in 2010 (Pasquine). The number of women who have ever been nominated for the category since the beginning of the awarding ceremony back in 1928 has been five (Pasquine). Five nominees are nominated yearly for the category so assuming the Academy Awards has been existent for 88 years, that means out of 440 total nominees, only five have been female, and only one woman has won within the past 89 years of the ceremony and its existence. It doesn’t help that of the voters, 72% of voters are, on average, male (Pasquine). The number of women recognized for their work is ridiculously low. Conclusion
Ever since the establishment of the film industry, it has been a powerful method in regards to giving viewers a worthwhile viewing experience, but the way characters are portrayed and presented in the films serve as an even more powerful method of influencing the mindset of viewers, and are the ultimate portrayal of how a film production perceives gender roles as he or she incorporates his or her visions on screen. Over the course of time, females have often been portrayed in a traditional way and as attempts for reform break out, little to no change has been enforced because gender bias has only found other ways to resurface in films and the amount of females given opportunity to work behind the scenes as director, screenwriter, and etc. have remained the same for the past twenty years. There are various individuals who attempt to bring attention to the issue but it is not taken seriously enough for producers and creators of films to actually instigate more change on screen and off screen, a problem that has now been proven with numerous statistics. The influential power of the film industry is underestimated, for films are a reflection and representation of society and its social norms of the time, and the film industry is certainly doing an incredible job of portraying a lack for serious attempts to achieve gender equality.