Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07

Our society has changed dramatically due to 20 th century immigration
of a range of people representing different cultures; gender attitudes
to equality in the home and the workplace are rapidly changing;
citizens who feel excluded such as disabled and older people, and
lesbians and gay men are developing stronger campaigning voices and
are influencing brand reputations. At the same time, since the media
bridge cultural changes in society, they can also affirm equality and
cultural diversity (Cottle 2000). The media have an important influence
in informing the public about ethnicity and ‘race’, disability and sexual
orientation since large sections of the public may have few or no
alternative sources of information on these issues. As a recent study
on inter-racial friendships shows, many white people have little or
highly superficial everyday contact with ‘ethnic’ minorities
(Commission for Racial Equality 2004; van Dijk 1993). Similarly a
Danish study showed that, given that 85% of Danes had no contact
with minorities, it was not surprising that 83% of them confessed to
having low to high racist attitudes (Hussain 2000). Hussain argues
that the media in Denmark exert a very important influence on the
perception of minorities, particularly of Muslims.
The case for change is not simply a moral one however. There are
sound business arguments for change, as forward-looking
practitioners have realised. The rest of this chapter sets out the case.
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