Alice Vol. 2 No. 1

THE DOUBLE
STANDARD:
Females in the entertainment industry
By Natalie Brown
Identity Thief, a popular film released
in 2013 starring Jason Bateman and
Melissa McCarthy, made more than
$134 million at the domestic box
office. McCarthy, known for her strong
comedic performances in both lead and
supporting roles, takes the audience
on a hilarious journey. However, even
though it features a woman in the lead
role, Identity Thief does not pass what
has become known as the Bechdel Test,
which is used to determine if a work
of fiction displays women in a strong
way and if story lines featuring female
characters are focused on something
other than a man.
Movies have an incredible power to
influence society, and for many years
now the film industry has often used
that power for worse. In order for a
movie to pass the Bechdel Test, it must
feature at least two named female
characters who talk to each other
about something other than a man,
and far fewer films pass this test than
you might think. Because a majority of
female characters have empty motives,
are hypersexualized, lack dialogue,
and are squeezed into tiny, not at all
comprehensive gender roles, oftentimes
audiences reflect those archetypes into
their own reality.
According to a study by the New
York Film Academy, of the people
working on the top 250 films of 2012,
only 9 percent of directors, 15 percent
of writers, 17 percent of executive
producers, 20 percent of editors, and
only two percent of cinematographers
were female. With men dominating the
Alice November 2016 [77]