LGBT News Report Finds Wide Diversity Gap Among 2014’s Top-Grossing Films

Wow. This is a really powerful set of statistics. I've got no real solutions for it, but they're powerful nonetheless. Awareness is important.

 

But I care about if the movie's good or bad, not who makes it, or which minorities it has

 

It reflects our society in general. White straight men still hold most of the power, whether in sports, entertainment, politics, the church, universities, the military, boardrooms. As for the world in general, it's very male-dominated.

 

"There is severe inequality in modern media, but, as someone who is overwhelming represented in that media, I can overlook it."

Honestly?

 

I don't really get why people feel the NEED to be represented. I mean, we all fight to show that we are not different, and are all just humans, but then say that we need to be shown differently? I get that people want to show to homophobes/racists/sexists that they're just the same as everyone, but do you really think devout homophobes/racists/sexists will change their opinion through media?

 

First, all people are equally human. All people are not the same. We can be both equal and diverse.

Secondly, inequality of presentation, opportunity, and economic status does not develop innocently. Our media and economy is a reflection of our society and culture. You cannot change the inequality and oppression that exist in one entity without changing the other. You cannot attempt to foster a culture in which all people are seen as equal without creating an image of the culture that represents the various groups that exist within.

Far too many people associate including people of color, LGBTQ, or women in the media about making it a matter of race, sex, or orientation. Why does that character have to be Black? Why does that character have to be lesbian? Never why does every character in a film set in Las Angelas happen to be White? Never why must all of these herotic characters be cis-males? People convince themselves that they don't notice or care about lacks of representations because they don't see the need to dwell on it. When in fact it is an issue that they don't view as important because they are the ones who are disproportionately represented.

It is called having a blind spot. We are less likely to notice inequality in society when it doesn't strongly effect the social groups that we are native to.

 

Ok well first off you contradict yourself. You say that LBGT people are misrepresented, but then you say that I just have a blind spot because I am not apart of these minorities. I am here though, and I am gay, there for I am "misrepresented", yet I still have these views.

Also, when studies like this are done, people seem to forget that minorities are actually minorities (shocker). This study states that 73.1 percent of the characters are white, but in reality 62.6 percent of the population is white (according to a 2013 census, but I really doubt 2 years would change by much, source:USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau). So, if you really want to talk statistics, then it would seem unjust. But, you would think that an industry that has been dominated by white men for decades would show a much larger difference. Not only that, but whites are more likely to even entertain the future of acting, so of course there would be more "cis white men", it's only common sense.

And finally, apply the logic of this: Japan has been reported to be 98%+ Japanese. Does this make them racist? Does this mean their Korean minority is misrepresented?

 

It might be better to read the words of others closely before accusing them of contradictions or faulty logic. First, at no point did I say that homosexuals were vastly underrepresented in the media. Representation of homosexuals will always be lower than that of heterosexuals. When LGBTQ representation in the media strictly boils down to cis-white homosexuals or nothing, than that is an issue.

Simply because you are a minority does not mean that you do not have blind spots towards other minorities groups. You are not inherently aware of the diverse among of issues in society that effect different groups simply because you fancy the same sex. You are not some universal minority. There were no contradictions.

Yet heterosexual, white, cis-men are the only social demographic that is represented more in the media than they statistically exist in the United States. Not a single person in this thread said that it is a crime that all groups are not equally represented in media in all regions; however, when you consider the fact that all other races, genders, and orientations exist in media often less than a quarter as often as they exist in this country itself than that is an issue.

But lets not stop there:

We additionally have to take the time to truly understand the language that is being used here. We are discussing percentages of people with speaking roles; therefore, that does not acknowledge whether the present of the character in the stories was a single word or a substantial role. If we actually read the report that the amount of White to Non-white people with substantial roles is even more disproportionate.

People of color comprised 17% of even shared lead roles in films produced during this time period despite making up nearly 40% of the population.

Women outnumber men in America, but they have less than a quarter of leads roles, even shared.

LGBTQ people of color and gender minorities entirely might as well not exist at all.

Take the time to truly understand the statistics that are meant to support your argument before arrogantly telling others to "recognize the statistics". The African American women who took the main character's order at the diner does not establish equal representation.

Which is exactly the problem. The cause behind this disparities is not a mystery. Sexism and racism in the media due to power imbalances are not a secret. The fact that we know the cause behind this lack of representation makes correcting it even more necessary.

I sincerely hope that this was a poorly worded statement or I fear what we seem to believe is common sense.

This statement has made it blatantly clear that you aren't even making an attempt at logic here. Is the fact that the physical population of Japan is literally 98.5% Japanese racist? Just don't respond if you are going to be this ignorant about this discussion.

 

Yes, because there are more heterosexuals. I doubt there will ever be a 5-9% of lgbt people represented in film. But what you are saying that minorities should be represented more, why is lbgt excluded from that statement? Do you have a blind spot to your own minority?

Of course minorities aren't the same, but people who are minorities tend to be more aware of others, because they have a better understanding of not being the majority. Also, I'm seeing this new trend of "white cis males are bad because they are white cis males" which is just as much discrimination as saying that Latinos are just for cleaning (not exactly aimed at you, but it's still another effect of social media I've seen).

Why does film and media need to be exactly like the population though? That's what's brought me here, I do not feel the need to be represented. I am the person who I am, and if a gay person is in a film, great, ok. But, it doesn't mean I'm gonna watch that movie more. I don't know why I should be "represented" for something I can't even change.

The fact that women outnumber men but have less roles makes me want to go to the conclusion that women like male roles. Take things like 50 Shades of Gray, who's main obedience is older women. At the end of the day, they're gonna produce movies that could get the bigger audience, make more money. Women will pay to see a hot guy in a romance movie, and so comes supply and demand.

I don't disagree that white people are very common and dominating in media. I'm not saying that diversity is bad, it can make a plot more interesting or unique. But, I don't want minorities to placed in movies just for the sake of diversity. This is also why I usually don't like gay roles, because they are added to be "unique storylines from the lgbt community" but end up appearing bland or stereotypical. I want minorities and majorities to just BE THEIR CHARACTERS.

Well, if so many white men are getting roles, they must at least be sort of good for the role.

What I meant by that is that America is always being criticized for statistics about minorities, while other places are not.

Basically what I meant by this is I don't feel like I should, or have to be "represented". If an actor is good, no matter what race or orientation, then they should get the role. Minorities shouldn't be thrown in the batch just like they shouldn't be excluded from it. I don't care if the movie had 90% white men or 90% black women, if it was good or entertaining, then that's what will make me watch. Not the fact that it's statistically or politically correct because diversity was added.

 

I actually agree with him too... I mean when you think of it the main goal for a movie is to make profit. Therefore the movie has to be good and that is the main priority. If they somehow represented different minorities than yay, but ultimately that goes to the back seat when a company is making a movie. To be honest you aren't going to get many movies that will cater to representation because people want superhero movies and supernatural things. If you want a movie with representation go watch Pitched Perfect and Pitched Perfect 2. Which is actually pretty good to be honest but it has nothing on Jurassic World and Avengers box office money which is what all companies are aiming for and they honestly didn't cater to minorities

 

It is unfortunate, but it can be easily explained. The top-grossing films are directed, produced, and most likely written by white males, who initially had the financial support to pursue such careers. If you're socio-economically disadvantaged your chances of succeeding in a white-dominated industry are slim, especially if you want to become a director. Only a handful people from all minorities have become directors.

On the other hand many international, indie movies are directed and produced by minorities. There artists are less interested about making money and more about making the film.

 

Homosexuals =/= the enitre LGBTQ community.

Cis-white homosexuals are receiving representations. The rest of the community hardly exists according to the media. I don't know how many times I can say to reread my post.

Remember that bringing up the population statistics to justify over representation was the argument that you attempted to make. Now that the population argument has been refuted, population shouldn't be relevant to representation? This is getting old.

You don't feel the need to be represented more, but you are far more represented than most intersectional minorities. You are not the ultimately minority. You do not have omniscient awareness. You're lack of awareness to issues that don't effect you so severely is not an argument against the important of them.

1. Romance movies have at least two lead roles. All popular romances have female leads.

2. The main character of 50 Shades of Grey is female...

3. Women are more likely to pursue acting and outnumber the male population, but they allow men to take the vast majority of lead roles because of their attraction to men? Honestly?

This is exactly the problem. When you view people of color, strong women, and LGBTQ in the media, you automatically view it as a tactical movie. They must be pandering to those groups. When White actors are chosen they are assumed to be chosen because they were the best actors; however, when actors from any other social group are chosen they were simply chosen for the same of their race, gender, or identity. It is bullshit.

Even in the cases of tokenization, you don't combat tokenization by stopping any diversity whatsoever. You stop it by ending this cycle of allowing one non-white character, one LGBTQ, one strong female lead to exist by themselves in a sea cis-white men. You add true diversities that is reminiscent of the truly diverse world that we live in.

Right, and I am sure that cis-white men hold nearly all seats in government because they are simply the best lawmakers. Why would centuries of systematic racism and sexism have anything to do with our present inequality?

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You are welcome to continue to convince yourself that cis-white men are over-represented in the media because they are the best actors and women are too busy being turned on to even want to see strong female representation. I don't care. But don't come to my posts claiming that I am contradicting myself or ignoring the "facts", because the statistics do not support this inequality of representation. You can spend all day reaching for every excuse on this matter except the obvious one, but that does not change the fact that disproportionate representation has negative sociological effects as our media is the basis for widespread social perception. It needs to be changed. Whether you as someone who happens to be homosexual yet is still extremely represented in the media for almost every other social identity recognizes it or not.

 

Well, my problem with this statement is you think I'm desensitized to inequality in the movies because of my skin color which has nothing to do with anything. "As a minority who isn't very accurately represented in that media, I don't particularly care because I'm concerned with good storytelling and characterization rather than a largely superficial criticism (representation) which has no bearing on the quality of a movie" is more like it.

I don't even know how you could make Equality happen in the film industry since what are they going to do, install diversity quotas, require X amount of minorities in every film and cast actors because they're a certain race? While Hollywood is quite nearly cynical and awful enough to do something like that I can tell you it's never gonna happen cause it's an american business run by the straight white majority for the straight white majority and nothing is gonna change that, it's the cold depressing truth. If you want to see real diversity you could always try foreign/independent movies which are much more genuine and realistic depictions of their own country and people than ours are. For me, I'd say don't worry so much about this and just enjoy movies that deserve it

 

There are several other factors that highlight why you are highly represented in the media other than skin color. Even despite this, storytelling and characterization are matters of screenwriting and media directing. The selection of actors, journalists, and reporters in the media is a matter of talent and competence. Competence in media production has no correlation to race, gender, or identity.

What your are saying is that your don't care who does the work as long as the work is "good"; however, quality work was being produced before women were allowed to have occupations. Qualities films were created before people of color where allowed to have roles in the media at all. There are billions people on this planet. Any one group can create artistic masterpieces. Any one group can be political figures. Any one group can be journalists and executives. It does not mean that attempting to trivialize the fact that we live in a society in which bias and imbalances of power in both the media, economy, and government shape how we are represented.

Considering that I am a content creator, I can discuss the actions that can be taken to implement more diversity in the modern media; however, those thoughts would be of no use here because that is not the heart of the issue here.

There is nothing wrong with being a pessimist. You don't have to believe that we will ever reach a point of favorable representation in the media. There have been several people who have said that they don't know how or if things can realistically be changed. However, when you choose to address this topic with statements that belittle the value of inclusive representation; when you ask why people feel the need to be represented when the model that is created by this lack of representation leaves millions of quality non-white and non-cis actors, directors, journalists, reporters, and producers out of jobs that they were the most qualified for; when we have hundreds of studies to support the overwhelming presence of racial, sexist, transphobic bias in film, television, literature, and fashion; when you ignore these realities and claim that the only thing that should matter is "quality" as if making an effort to create inclusive casts, content, and workplaces has anything to do with quality; that is a problem.

 

I agree with everything Gen has written in this thread.

Let's be honest here, though. How people are represented in the media matters. The media shapes public opinion. If you are represented negatively in the media, then you will be perceived negatively by the public. If you are represented positively in the media, then you will be perceived positively by the public. If you are invisible in the media, then you will be invisible to the public. Who controls the media and what type of stories get told matters. This is why groups like GLAAD exist, and are important to our movement.

Who here thinks marriage equality would have come about so quickly had we not fought to have gay relationships portrayed in the media in a positive light?

I still remember when Ellen came out on her sitcom. It was so controversial simply having an out of the closet lesbian on TV, that each episode aired with a special parental advisory warning. That is the world we lived in, and the world we fought to kill. Now, we have gay characters seemingly all over the place, and we need more of them and they need to be even more diverse because we are a diverse community. We are starting to see the inclusion of trans* characters now as well.

As our visibility grows through the media, so does our influence over the culture, and this creates greater acceptance for us and future generations. Not only that, but American media is consumed by countries all across the world, and this allows us to influence those cultures as well. This is why this matters.