I have a problem with movies and I know you do too. When I go to the movies, a disproportionate number of the characters are white, heterosexual and male. It really ruins my enjoyment of movies. It strikes me as odd, as if movie makers are under the delusion that we are a country filled with straight white people.
Fortunately, you and I are not alone suffering with this.
The numbers are stunning: From 2007 through 2014, women made up only 30.2 percent of all speaking or named characters in the 100 top-grossing fictional films released in the United States. That is one of the findings in a study, “Inequality in 700 Popular Films,” being released on Wednesday, that looks at gender, race, ethnicity and what one of the report’s researchers, Stacy L. Smith, describes as an “epidemic” when it comes to lack of diversity.
It's an epidemic! It's cultural AIDS! But this time, it's spread through heterosexual characters!
The movies are white: 73.1 percent of all the speaking or named characters in the top 100 movies were white.
Why is it in a country that is 77% white that 73% of all characters are white? Oh, wait a minute.... who's being discriminated against again?
The movies are straight: Only 19 total characters were lesbian, gay or bisexual — none were transgender.
I agree. When I see a movie entitled "Mission Impossible", I expect it to be about two gay men trying to conceive a baby. ...
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