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jezebel.com: A Hollywood diversity report just released by USC’s Annenberg School of Media and Journalism notes that, among other things, Latinas and Black women are most likely to star in Hollywood films only when they are dressed in “sexy attire.”
4 comments:
Ruth Pace
said...
After reading this article, I decided to do a little bit of research of my own. I wanted to know if there was any parallel between the American elite of film (Hollywood) and the American elite of stage (Broadway) in terms of the genders of the directors found therein. According to the Jezebel article, only two of the directors in the top 100 grossing films in America were female. That's right folks, two. Hoping desperately for some good news, I decided to hop on over to the trusty New York Times, where an article from 2013 caught my eye. The article (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/theater/female-directors-more-prominent-in-new-york.html?_r=0)is well researched and lengthy, but ultimately told me what I wanted to know. According to the article, "15-20 percent" of the directors in Broadway shows were female. While this information is a tad outdated, and much could have changed since then, this small foray into research succeeded in reassuring me that change is certainly possible.
This is a topic that I'm extremely concerned about. Last year I extensively researched the topic and competed in speech and debate with an oratory piece about the general whitewashing in media, and the exclusive nature of the film industry. It is alarming how few people of color are in non-stereotypical roles when the diversity in our country is so high. Filmmakers such as Ridley Scott have opted to hire white actors even when the role calls for a person of color. And directors who gain a lot of attention and have a lot of impressionable viewers such as Michael Bay continue to perpetuate racial stereotypes in movies. Directors don't cast people of color, especially Latinos and Asian Americans, as leads simply because they aren't as big of stars as white people, yet that's sort of a catch-22, when they will never become stars without being hired to play non-stereotypical, small roles. An interesting documentary series by HBO came out this summer which addressed these concerns that I'd recommend anyone to watch on specifically Asian stereotyping in media. It's called East of Main Street: Taking the Lead.
Reading this is extremely sad, and reinforces how deeply ingrained the patriarchy is in our interconnected systems of government, media, and business, among surely other places. The information that makes it all the more difficult is that, even those few females artists who have the opportunity to be employed in Hollywood are backed and controlled by production companies also run by primarily white males, many of whom may actively seek to continue the interests of white, capitalist, imperialist control.
The question that I consider as I think about this, is how to make this type of news more widespread. How can our work light a fire underneath its audiences in order for someone who has the ability to, to actively seek to break down the institutions of the patriarchy and move us into a greater world of equality. While I recognize that that seems idealistic and without planning, the fact of the matter is that without considering these things in an idealistic way, we will simply continue to read articles such as this and continue to bemoan the state of our world as a patriarchal society that is out of our control.
The entertainment industry is more or less run by men. Over the past few years, more and more women have been able to rise up in the worlds of theatre, film, and television, but it is still clear how much more influence men have. While there are few powerful women in show business, even less are women of color. People of color, specifically women, almost always are forced into character parts that are stereotypical and fit one cookie cutter role for their skin color.
4 comments:
After reading this article, I decided to do a little bit of research of my own. I wanted to know if there was any parallel between the American elite of film (Hollywood) and the American elite of stage (Broadway) in terms of the genders of the directors found therein. According to the Jezebel article, only two of the directors in the top 100 grossing films in America were female. That's right folks, two. Hoping desperately for some good news, I decided to hop on over to the trusty New York Times, where an article from 2013 caught my eye. The article (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/theater/female-directors-more-prominent-in-new-york.html?_r=0)is well researched and lengthy, but ultimately told me what I wanted to know. According to the article, "15-20 percent" of the directors in Broadway shows were female. While this information is a tad outdated, and much could have changed since then, this small foray into research succeeded in reassuring me that change is certainly possible.
This is a topic that I'm extremely concerned about. Last year I extensively researched the topic and competed in speech and debate with an oratory piece about the general whitewashing in media, and the exclusive nature of the film industry. It is alarming how few people of color are in non-stereotypical roles when the diversity in our country is so high. Filmmakers such as Ridley Scott have opted to hire white actors even when the role calls for a person of color. And directors who gain a lot of attention and have a lot of impressionable viewers such as Michael Bay continue to perpetuate racial stereotypes in movies. Directors don't cast people of color, especially Latinos and Asian Americans, as leads simply because they aren't as big of stars as white people, yet that's sort of a catch-22, when they will never become stars without being hired to play non-stereotypical, small roles.
An interesting documentary series by HBO came out this summer which addressed these concerns that I'd recommend anyone to watch on specifically Asian stereotyping in media. It's called East of Main Street: Taking the Lead.
Reading this is extremely sad, and reinforces how deeply ingrained the patriarchy is in our interconnected systems of government, media, and business, among surely other places. The information that makes it all the more difficult is that, even those few females artists who have the opportunity to be employed in Hollywood are backed and controlled by production companies also run by primarily white males, many of whom may actively seek to continue the interests of white, capitalist, imperialist control.
The question that I consider as I think about this, is how to make this type of news more widespread. How can our work light a fire underneath its audiences in order for someone who has the ability to, to actively seek to break down the institutions of the patriarchy and move us into a greater world of equality. While I recognize that that seems idealistic and without planning, the fact of the matter is that without considering these things in an idealistic way, we will simply continue to read articles such as this and continue to bemoan the state of our world as a patriarchal society that is out of our control.
The entertainment industry is more or less run by men. Over the past few years, more and more women have been able to rise up in the worlds of theatre, film, and television, but it is still clear how much more influence men have. While there are few powerful women in show business, even less are women of color. People of color, specifically women, almost always are forced into character parts that are stereotypical and fit one cookie cutter role for their skin color.
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