Inequality in Hollywood
There are many branches of the media industry, such as news, television, film, music, agencies, studios, to name some of the major players.
[3] The Sony Pictures hack in 2014 revealed that Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were paid less than their male co-stars for the movie American Hustle.
An email from a Columbia Pictures executive stated that, "The current talent deals are: O'Russell: 9%; Cooper: 9%; Bale: 9%; Renner: 9%; Lawrence: 7%; Adams: 7%.
During an interview, Susan Sarandon said that Paul Newman offered to give her part of his salary after learning that the actress was being paid less than he was.
[6] A 2017 study found that directors linked with the top 100 movies of that year were made up of 7.3% female compared to their male counterparts at 92.7%.
[7] Data from The Writers Guild of America, West, a union for film and television writers in Hollywood, was analyzed by Denise D. Bielby in “Sociologie du Travail.” She states that “from 1999 through 2005, the gender gap in earnings increased… with women’s earnings declining by 6% (from $53,200 to $50,000) and men’s growing by 16% (from $77,500 to $90,000).”[8] When it comes to opportunities available for both men and women in the industry, there are mixed reports regarding opportunities.
[13] A 2018 study from IndieWire found that Michelle William's performance of “All The Money In the World” made $80 a day in per diem for the film's reshoots, while co-star Mark Wahlberg got $1.5 million from Sony.
In October 2017, the New York Times published an article about Harvey Weinstein, highlighting the sexual harassment accounts from many of the women actresses he worked with.
[14] Following the outbreak of this story, Alyssa Milano started the now viral Twitter hashtag #MeToo to encourage other sexual harassment victims to speak up.
[15] Several film, TV, and media production figures beyond Weinstein soon became involved in a number of latent sexual harassment accusations, including news anchor Matt Lauer, comedian Louis CK, and Disney producer John Lasseter.
[16] Investigations into Weinstein's and other high level executives’ harassment cases revealed that women actresses were threatened to perform sexual favors or be subjected to lewd, gender-based comments.
Since October 2018, the hashtag has been retweeted 19 million times and has accompanied notable company boycotts and accused figures to resign or step out of the public eye.
The men behind the movement have the goal of speaking up more about sexual harassment when it happens and holding themselves accountable to make women more equal in the industry.
[20] The first films to come out of Hollywood that included non-white characters were played by white actors through blackface, brown-face, and yellow face in a derogatory, intellectually demeaning manner.
[29] In the Marvel movie Doctor Strange, Tilda Swinton, a white actress, was cast to play the role of “the Ancient One”, a character that is presented as a Tibetan male mystic in the comics.
Scarlett Johansson also received major backlash after playing the role of cyborg Motoko Kusanagi in the adaptation of the Japanese anime classic Ghost in the Shell.
It recalled jarring memories of David Carradine from “Kung Fu,” the 1970s television series that, coincidentally, was itself a whitewashed version of a Bruce Lee concept”.
[33] Famous action star Jackie Chan also stated in an interview with Steve Harvey that, “For the last 20 years I’m looking for some other things, but in the U.S it’s difficult.
"[36] In 2015, Gina Rodriguez became only the second Latina actor to win a lead actress Golden Globe Award when she won for Jane the Virgin.
This is due to Hollywood’s tendency to create, fund and promote roles that only reflect conventionalized images of Latino people.
“Puerto Rican American actor Gina Rodriguez says: I want Latinas to look at the TV and get confirmation that, yes, we are the doctors, the lawyers, the investment bankers—we encompass every facet of life.
"[36] The #OscarsSoWhite movement began in 2015 as a push to make the Academy Awards more inclusive and racially diverse but has since sparked a critical reexamination for representation across the media industry, which includes TV, film, broadway, music, and news.
In a research article, Caty Chattoo noted that before responding to the pushback against racial inequality, academy membership was 92% white and 75% male in 2016.
[42] A study suggests that gender participation in the movie industry is highly correlated with audience expectations of characters in preferred genres such as comedy or drama.
Because these characters have remained generally consistent over time since the era of Shakespearean plays, audience preferences have been fixed on certain gender and age mixes.
For male movie stars, average earnings per film are highest when they are 51 years of age.”[45] These studies show a clear bias against older actresses while the salaries of men remain fairly consistent even in their old age.
[47] Other successful diverse films include Crazy Rich Asians, Hidden Figures, Get Out, Love, Simon, Moonlight and Wonder Woman Television has also felt the effects of social movements with its programming.
Emma Stone reported that her male costars have volunteered to cut their salaries in the past because they felt it was fair to be paid equally.
[50] In reaction to these developments prominent entertainment individuals have made an effort to cast and create more diversely inclusive films.
Producer Jordan Peele who has expressed his support for the need of diverse Hollywood entertainment by claiming he doesn't see himself casting any white males as the lead of any of his future films.
