Women Leaders in Series & Movies: How Women Succeed as Characters and as (Fictional) Leaders
“I believe any woman who is in the political arena is aware of the issues faced by all much more than men. Women have more compassion and common sense and want to do things that are correct and binding.”
According to a recent study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film, the story around representations of women as protagonists is trending upwards — but we’d be hard-pressed to say it’s a completed hero’s journey. While 40% of films in 2019 featured female protagonists (up from 31% in 2018), women only made up 26% of leaders.
To explore further — and to riff on our own recent study on effective qualities among real-world women leaders — we took an in-depth look at representations of women leaders in series and films (that is, among the few that do exist!)
Using a Lumiere channel, we asked 150 viewers — comprising a representative mix of women and men across different age groups — to watch several scenes portraying female characters who are political or national leaders (i.e., heads of state).
We included 8 leaders, with a mix of characters from series and films — all of which are currently available to watch on streaming platforms.
The characters included in our study were:
- Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Game of Thrones
- Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright), Black Panther
- Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy), The Crown
- Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), The Iron Lady
- President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss), Veep
- President Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young), Scandal
- President Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), House of Cards
- President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), 24
We collected feedback both around characters’ overall affinity (or lack thereof) among viewers, as well as their effectiveness as leaders within their fictional worlds. As seen in the summary table below, the overall “winners” by these metrics were Daenerys and Shuri — though nuances abound in how viewers connect with, admire, and are entertained by each of these characters. Take a look at the visualization below with full ratings for all the scenes we included, and read on to check out our in-depth findings.
- Strength & inspiration make for a potent combination
Some of the more highly-rated leaders exercise expert diplomacy by demonstrating strength while inspiring those around (or under) them. Daenerys and Margaret Thatcher in particular exemplify this combination.
Viewers appreciated Daenerys’s strong yet compassionate freeing of the slaves of Meereen, demonstrating the power and potential dominance of her Unsullied army while imploring the slaves to take control of their own destiny and liberate themselves from their masters.
2. Intelligence & humor help women leaders create a following (in the fictional world, and among viewers)
A viewer favorite in our study was Black Panther’s Shuri, who doesn’t function as a traditional head-of-state but nonetheless leads effectively with ingenuity, creativity, and humor. She’s particularly quick with a witty response to anyone confused by her technological expertise, like Agent Ross (after she healed his bullet wounds overnight).
“I like how she was extremely calm and collected because it comforted the other character in the scene. She is also quick-witted and has a funny personality, which I think makes her a more realistic character to watch.”
3. Precision & clarity can cut through challenges unique to women leaders
Another favorite, The Crown’s Queen Elizabeth II, is particularly good at communicating with precision and clarity — especially in situations where she must exercise her authority in the face of subtle (or overt) challenges. Viewers applauded her pithy and cutting dressing down of PM Harold Macmillan in a scene they interpreted as representative of a typical undermining attitude men have towards women leaders.
“She kept her cool and delivered a fatal dose of insults to the retiring Prime Minister. She was so cool and inspiring.”
4. Female viewers gravitate strongly towards Queen Elizabeth II
With a caveat for our small sample size of 8 leaders, we noticed an interesting trend where men have greater affinity for women as U.S. presidents, while women are more likely to prefer Queen Elizabeth II (other leaders had relatively even gender preferences). Though of course, this may have more to do with the appeal of Queen Elizabeth II specifically — and her remarkable portrayal by Claire Foy — than any meaningful differences in opinion about different types of political leaders. There are a few strong age preferences — notably younger viewers like Shuri, but less-so Margaret Thatcher.
5. Male viewers think leadership portrayals are accurate, but some female viewers disagree
After watching several scenes focused on these characters, we asked viewers to reflect on how accurate the portrayals are in relation to “real world” women leaders. Just under half (49%) thought they are very accurate, though women (at only 41%) agreed less than men.
Beyond some comments about the non-realism of more the fantastical characters (Daenerys, Shuri), a few women commented that real-world challenges for women leaders are more complex, long-standing, or systemic than those faced by these characters, and their successes — while inspiring in the context of a fictional world — are hard to imagine being as attainable for real-world leaders.
“These clips basically showed a token woman surrounded by older, white men. If more women were leaders, there would be more women surrounding them.”
Stay tuned for future studies in which we’ll continue to explore women’s roles in streaming content, including a closer look at BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people-of-color) women leaders specifically.
Want to learn more about this study or Latitude? Visit our website at latd.com or get in touch at info@latd.com — we’d love to hear from you!
