Read How Statistics Prove That Hollywood Is Sexist

Thursday, April 21 2016, 05:54:57

Himanshu Roy

JWB Blogger

Read How Statistics Prove That Hollywood Is Sexist

JWB Post

April 14, 2016

Is Hollywood sexist? Hell yeah! And now we actually have data to prove this! When Polygraph Matt Daniels and researcher Hanah Anderson decided to do research on the representation of women in film scripts, little did they fathom that the results will be nothing short of disgusting.

The research shows that in comparison to men, women in films have very little screen space and there is a huge disparity between the two genders.

To gather the data, both Daniels and Anderson combed the internet and went through approximately 8,000 scripts after months of research. So what do we see in the research?

Ok, let’s start with Disney princess movies. Surely you must be thinking that what gender inequality could be unearthed from films such as The Lion King and The Little Mermaid, but here’s the catch.

According to the survey, in all of these films, the male characters speak more than the female ones. As a result, if our Aladdin is a chatterbox, then all Jasmine will get to do is to bat her eyelashes at him. Hmmph, not a very food lesson in gender equality, eh?

And wait till you hear about the action films. However, badass movies these may be, but when it comes to dialogues, then there are no surprises. Along with the action, it appears that men also do all the talking in action flicks with women sticking to their damsel in distress act.

The gender inequality is even more evident if we compare the lead roles in different Hollywood blockbuster movies. Yup, you must have heard all that talk about how women in Hollywood have carved a niche for themselves, but when you see these lesser known details about showbiz you can’t help but feel that change is still a long way. And the statistics go on to tell a different story altogether.

Women over 40 get much less screen time in comparison to men over 40 years of age.

Remember Patricia Arquette speaking for equal pay for women and men in the Oscars? I think it’s about time that celebrities use this survey to spread awareness among the film fraternity in order to change this sorry status quo.