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

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3.4.5 Attitudes towards women actors A study in the US found that, in outstanding feature films, exceptional women’s performances are less likely to be noted than men’s, when films are subject to both quantitative and qualitative analysis (Simonton 2004). It is argued that the impact of male actors is about twice that of women and women actors playing leading roles have less impact than men playing supporting roles. This discrepancy is not declining, perhaps due to sexist attitudes or to the presence of stronger male roles derived from the central male character of successful novels, who is more conspicuous than women (Simonton op.cit.). A further study in the US, carried out by the Screen Actors Guild (quoted in Lincoln and Allen 2004) found women appear as lead actors in fewer films than men and earn half as much as their male counterparts. Another study in 2005 (Lauzen and Dozier) examined 100 of the top grossing films and found that male characters outnumbered female characters, with the majority of men being in their 30s and 40s and women likely to be in their 20s and 30s. Both women and men who were elderly were under-represented compared to their proportion in the US population. Lincoln and Allen (2004) posit that the intersection of gender and age creates a ‘double jeopardy’ for women actors. They argue that television actors have grown younger in the last 20 years, and that C:\Documents and Settings\mcorless\Desktop\Intranet\Barriers to Diversity in Film_DS_RB 20 Aug 07.doc 70
women experience ageing differently. For example women over 40 received only 24% of all women’s acting roles, compared to men aged over 40 who received 37% of all acting roles. The term ‘older’, they argue, applies to women over 30 and men over 40. This discrimination in acting roles and age also extends to screenwriters. Reasons for this age and gender discrepancy include the film producers’ preferences and the fact that they are acting out of beliefs about audience preferences, including the attractiveness of women. For example, one quarter of previous actresses had been models (Lincoln and Allen 2004). Men’s perceived attractiveness remains unaffected by age, whereas women’s perceived attractiveness decreases with age. These practices have serious implications for cultural role models, whereby the film tells the audience men are more important and produces idealised images of them, whereas women are culturally devalued (Lincoln and Allen op. cit.). There do not appear to be any research studies in the UK of this kind. 3.4.6 Assumptions about minority ethnic groups’ and women’s competence Some interviewees in screenwriting feel that working relationships between people were affected by gender for women in power-based roles, such as director or producer roles. The authors quote a screenwriter who expressed the challenges as: C:\Documents and Settings\mcorless\Desktop\Intranet\Barriers to Diversity in Film_DS_RB 20 Aug 07.doc 71
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Barriers to Diversity in Film A Res
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CONTENTS Executive summary 7 1 Intr
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3.4 Barriers to progression through
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6.2 The business context 106 6.3 Th
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Executive Summary The review has in
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• Young people need advice on the
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• Disabled people are under-repre
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• Monitor sexual orientation, but
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1.1 Aims 1 Introduction: aims and s
Page 19 and 20: This review brings together researc
Page 21 and 22: The Select Committee on Culture, Me
Page 23 and 24: 2.2 Cinema audiences and film relea
Page 25 and 26: including tackling social exclusion
Page 27 and 28: 2.4 The changing population The UK
Page 29 and 30: 2.5 Diversity and equality of oppor
Page 31 and 32: The Act also has implications for c
Page 33 and 34: A new inclusive equalities agenda t
Page 35 and 36: sectoral and labour market change.
Page 37 and 38: critical of the failure of equality
Page 39 and 40: • If the film sector increased th
Page 41 and 42: 3: The film workforce Getting the r
Page 43 and 44: 3.2 Workforce data on under-represe
Page 45 and 46: Table 3.1 Film and video industry w
Page 47 and 48: data in these statistics on gender
Page 49 and 50: London 2006 s 2006 London 2002 e (L
Page 51 and 52: Other 65 35 All 61 39 Source : 2006
Page 53 and 54: ecause film professionals from mino
Page 55 and 56: male respondents earned £50,000 or
Page 57 and 58: Of 106 applications to the New Cine
Page 59 and 60: South West 6 23 Source: Skillset an
Page 61 and 62: Most employees are recruited inform
Page 63 and 64: and minority ethnic people tending
Page 65 and 66: 3.3.7 Qualifications The 2005 Featu
Page 67 and 68: very small numbers reported going o
Page 69: over their future finances. They al
Page 73 and 74: stereotyped as working class, even
Page 75 and 76: 3.4.9 Commissioning and ‘ghettois
Page 77 and 78: older than the rest of the workforc
Page 79 and 80: Social benefits from the projects w
Page 81 and 82: for women who have caring responsib
Page 83 and 84: involved in a regular dialogue abou
Page 85 and 86: population, though the regional dis
Page 87 and 88: Table 4.1 Cinema audience by gender
Page 89 and 90: Table 4.3 Cinema audience by gender
Page 91 and 92: Cinema goers 13.1 86.9 PPV buyers 1
Page 93 and 94: general population (perhaps excludi
Page 95 and 96: 4.4 Audiences for film on televisio
Page 97 and 98: Science fiction 1.7 7.1 1.8 7 1.1 3
Page 99 and 100: they were charming and displayed a
Page 101 and 102: ‘Respectable cinema’ including
Page 103 and 104: 4.6 Barriers to cinema attendance B
Page 105 and 106: launched an online Diversity Toolki
Page 107 and 108: • Half of people over 55 never go
Page 109 and 110: o initiatives to improve the distri
Page 111 and 112: All these debates are considered be
Page 113 and 114: 5.3 Employment and portrayal Does e
Page 115 and 116: 5.5 Stereotypes The stereotypical p
Page 117 and 118: Russo analysed representation of ga
Page 119 and 120: than homosexual (Cover op.cit.). Ho
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ecause she is lesbian specifically
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analyses 150 films and concludes th
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The reasons for this under-represen
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Reasons behind the illnesses and th
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In a major report on the black and
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national stereotyping such as funny
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indiscriminate killing implies that
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people who live abroad like to hang
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However, a study in Sweden analysed
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the ways these film types have deve
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and ethnicity, and in any case, mon
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• A study of on-screen representa
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occupational groups, people from di
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Our society has changed dramaticall
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6.3 The business case - an overview
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2007). The Commission for Racial Eq
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eing disabled. The importance of th
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in Western style holidays, but UK t
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this specific audience and making a
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Positive actions on race equality i
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For example, women’s presence in
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6.3.7 Legal compliance Companies ha
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• Studies on the business case in
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Access to employment in the sector
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cinema tickets and rental films, an
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have children. Women scientists are
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teams encourage creativity. Recruit
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minority ethnic women writers or pr
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7.5.7 Decision makers’ attitudes
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There is also a need for policy int
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has rarely been evaluated for its l
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The Leadership on Diversity Forum,
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as the key intervention in diversit
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housing management. Trainees felt c
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voice to otherwise marginalised and
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targeted funding for black and mino
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Bhavnani R (1994) Black Women in th
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Cowan K and Valentine G (2006) “T
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European Commission (2005) “The B
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199 Institute for Employment Studie
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Murphy R (ed.) (2000) British Cinem
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Skillset and Equity (2006) “Analy
Page 205:
UN (2000) “Gender and Racial Disc
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Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07

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