Representation of Women in Films: How and Why is the Industry Failing to Mirror the Narrative of Real Women
In the last five years, film critics have been clamoring for diversity and better representation in the industry. In 2015, April Reign claimed that there are no shortages of Latina, Black and Asian artists. The problem is that the industry favors a particular group over the other (Matusek, 2019).
For years, filmmakers have been debating whether or not the industry has been doing enough to level the field. Finally, the debate has reached its boiling point in the last five years. The industry is starting to realize the importance of diversity in filmmaking. With the release of Wonder Woman (2017), Black Panthers (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Hustlers (2019) and other Hollywood films, the demands for new and better material by the audience and films critics are being met. With these movies grossing hundreds of million dollars, the industry is starting to witness how important diversity is to business. The question is does diversity equal better representation? To set the parameters, let’s focus on women. Is the industry effective in representing women and accurately depicting their narratives in Hollywood films?
From Cate Blanchett’s criticism on the industry’s dismal behavior towards women (Agence France Presse, 2018) to Regina King’s call for solidarity on equal employment of the sexes in films (Barr, 2019) to Constance Wu’s outspoken disapproval over Hollywood’s whitewashing of Asian roles and discrimination of color (Chung, 2019), feminist filmmakers are uniting to discuss about the radical underrepresentation of women in the industry. On the other side of the debate, prominent studios in the film industry such as DC and Warner Bros are trying to pull their weight through releasing films led by female protagonists. Hollywood iconic films are being rebooted wherein the once male protagonists are now being played by women. Yet, I still stand by what the feminist filmmakers such as Regina King and Cate Blanchett are claiming.
The industry lacks better representation which in turn limits the filmmaker’s creativity and capability to effectively and accurately depict narratives that parallel their real-life stories and psyche of women.
There are two main reasons as to how and why the film industry fails in representing women.
Ridiculously Low Population of Women Involved in Filmmaking
In the history of Cannes, only one woman has ever won the most prestigious Palme d’Or award, the highest prize for a director in Cannes Film Festival (Muir, 2018; Quick, 2018). And, the other academy award-giving bodies are not doing any better. Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to ever win an Oscar for best director (Muir, 2018). In 2017, Rachel Morrison is the only woman nominated for Oscar’s best cinematographer award (Quick, 2018). And while it is easier to say that the disparity exists simply because male directors create better films than female directors, statistical data points to a different reason.
This is due to the fact that the ratio of women and men involved in film production is highly unequal. More men are occupying important roles such as directing, producing, screenwriting than women. According to an article published by BBC, women hold only 12% of directing roles, 8% of cinematographer roles, 6% of film-music composition roles in Hollywood movies (Quick, 2018). In the big picture, women make up only 17% of the total behind the scene workforce in the film industry (Stein, 2019). The rest of the roles are dominated by men. Simply put, women are less likely to win prestigious awards plainly because they have lesser chances of participating.
The industry is lagging behind when it comes to better representation. And even if women try to push their cause to be more included in the production, they may encounter issues with decision-makers who provide the budget which is commonly men. Dr. Stacy Smith, a film critic whose work is focused on diversity in films, led a study and she found out that 25 percent of men in executive position are reluctant to entrust high budget to female filmmakers for they perceive them as less ambitious than their male counterparts (as cited in Stein, 2019). Based on this premise, it is not difficult to speculate the amount of pressure put on the female creators behind the film Wonder Woman in contrast to the filmmakers behind other DC movies and Hollywood action films. The point to takeaway is that women do not lack ambition. They lack opportunity which further amplifies the issue of the industry’s ridiculously low population of women that leads to their radical underrepresentation. It then negatively impacts the final outcome of the movie.
Industry’s Lack of Creative Juices that does Very Little in Breaking Stereotypes and Gender Misrepresentation in Films.
In principle, the mind can only say what it knows. Filmmakers intentionally or unintentionally can only produce stories from their perspectives. And since Hollywood is dominated by men, most of the stories released only bear the psyche of men. This means that the words written on the script and scenes enacted are determined by how these male filmmakers see it. Take reboots of iconic Hollywood movies for instance. Ghostbusters (2016) and Ocean’s 8 (2018) have an all cast female as their leads and yet the play out of events as if it were played out in the men’s world. To quote Hess (2018), a noted film critic:
“Hollywood’s female-focused reboots require women to relive men’s stories — and to fix their politics, too.”
Recent reboots of iconic Hollywood movies are visibly hiring women to play lead roles once played by men. But then, the quality doesn’t change. The play-out of events, the script, the angles, and perspective remains the same. The essence of the male psyche is still there and these women who took on the reboot’s lead roles still seem to exist in the shadows of the men who previously played the same exact roles. It seems that these women are just there for the industry to be able to say that it is getting more women involved but it still puts women in boxes. Women can be more than that. We have so much to offer. We can write stories from a fresh perspective and different angles.
Take Netflix’s recent releases, “Someone Great”, for example. The film narrates a story of a woman, Jenny, who is leaving her life in New York behind to expand her career in Los Angeles. The core of the story is a cliché. Many movies have the same theme but when one watches that movie and the other movies with a similar theme, one can easily spot the difference of approach. The main character recounts her life experiences, heartbreak, and new beginnings, from a wistful, evocative and introspective angle in contrast to its predecessors such as Legally Blonde (2001), The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and The Other Woman (2014) wherein women of the same circumstances would just go out, get a new haircut, and put on new pairs of high heels as she “take on the world.” Someone great has a female director, producer, and crew in an almost equal proportion with its male crew. All three of its main characters are women who are visibly from different races: White, Latina, and Black, one of which identifies as a queer (Robinson, 2019).
Films will have more stories freshly squeezed from more creative juices of a better-represented population.
This can only happen if Hollywood lets more women with all our various narratives to be more involved in its creation and I’m talking about those executive roles in particular.
Hollywood is visibly making its attempts to address its criticisms from feminist filmmakers. It’s showing more women on the screens but it doesn’t hide the fact that it is failing to see and solve the real problem: We need more women! Not just on those screens but also on the table and on those executive seats. The wait should have been long over by now. When it comes to our narratives and on our part of reality, we need better films that are written by women for women… and maybe even for men.
References:
Robinson, J.K. (2019). Someone Great [Motion Picture].USA: Netflix
