It takes female direction teams to showcase female protagonists- but why in 2021?

 This week we’ve seen an intriguing report from the Center for the Study of Women in TV and Film, giving deeper insight into how Hollywood is representing women in film. Stats aside, an interesting fact emerges- it appears to be filmed with at least one female director, writer, or another significant influencer role, which employ and represent women. BLAKE & WANG P.A Entertainment Lawyer Los Angeles takes a deeper look.

                                   Brandon Blake- Managing Partner at Entertainment Attorney

How big is the discrepancy we’re talking about? Pretty large, sadly. In films with that qualifying female representation, female protagonists make up 60% of protagonists on screen. Where males exclusively fill direction and writing roles, which drops to 17% of protagonists.

Sadly, it’s not just about representation, either. The same report highlights that more male characters have identifiable occupations (73% vs 57%), and are seen in their work setting doing actual work (59% to 42%). Those may seem like strange considerations at first glance, but they tell us a lot about stereotypes and their portrayal on film. Looking even further into the matter of stereotypes, we also see:

  • Male characters are more likely to be shown in their work-related role primarily (59% vs 41%) where female characters are shown in their personal capacity and home life (54% to 36%). 

  • Male characters also are given work-related goals (41% vs 32%), where female characters show only personal life goals (19% to 10%)

  • Women characters are far more likely to have explicitly identified marital status (47% vs 35%)

So, while there’s definitely some positive takeaways from the results too, it’s clear that progress on the representation of women in cinema has not, perhaps, lived up to its full potential quite yet. In particular, it’s time for Hollywood to dig into the thorny issue of why so many all-male teams don’t consider it worthwhile to use female protagonists in their work. As the female-dominated directors we see in Oscar nominations this year show, the market is open and ready for more diverse content. It’s definitely time to see it get made!

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