Posted on 02/09/2006 7:21:15 AM PST by ibheath
Study: G-Rated Hits Favor Male Characters Email this Story
Feb 9, 9:44 AM (ET)
By DAVID GERMAIN
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Male characters outnumbered females 3-to-1 overall in top-grossing G-rated films from 1990 to 2004, according to a study whose sponsors say the disparity diminishes the importance of women in children's eyes.
"We're showing kids a world that's very scantly populated with women and female characters," said actress Geena Davis, founder of See Jane, a program of the advocacy group Dads & Daughters that encourages balanced gender representation in entertainment for children.
In the 101 animated and live-action films examined, 28 percent of speaking characters were female, and just 17 percent of people in crowd scenes were female, researchers found in the study released Thursday by See Jane.
"It's important for what kids watch that as far as possible, they see the real world reflected, to see men and women, boys and girls, sharing the space," said Davis, co-star of the female-empowerment film "Thelma & Louise" and star of TV's "Commander in Chief" in which she plays the U.S. president. "They should see female characters taking up half the planet, which we do."
Davis and others involved with the study - titled "Where the Girls Aren't" - planned to discuss the findings at a forum Thursday night in Los Angeles. They said they hope to use the research to push Hollywood toward giving female characters equal time on screen and encourage parents to vote with their wallets by choosing films offering balanced gender representation.
Spokesmen at Disney, which had the biggest share of films in the study, Paramount and Universal said studio executives declined to comment.
The results came as little surprise to researchers. Studies have found similar imbalances between male and female roles in films for adults and on TV shows, and anyone who channel-surfs or goes to the movies regularly knows anecdotally that men dominate the screen.
"There seems to be nothing new under the sun here," said Stacy Smith, associate professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication, who oversaw the study. "The only thing different is it's G-rated films."
(G-rated means: General audiences. All ages admitted.)
Of the 101 films, 71 percent were animated or partly animated features. Among the films studied: "Finding Nemo,""The Lion King,""Monsters, Inc.,""Chicken Run,""The Princess Diaries,""Babe,""The Santa Clause 2" and "Toy Story."
Joe Kelly, co-founder of Dads & Daughters, said as much as he loves "Toy Story," the study made him think about the movie differently. The movie has a positive message about two characters - Tom Hanks' Woody and Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear - overcoming their differences and working together, but it does have a flaw, Kelly said.
"It wasn't until the study that I went back and realized there's only one toy that's a female character, and it's Bo-Peep. She's standing at the window going, 'Oh, Woody, don't hurt yourself,'" Kelly said. "Not that I want 'Toy Story' to be changed. I don't think there should be any sort of gender formula. But there are other movies to be made with powerful messages featuring female characters."
Sounds like most husbands in suburbia.
Yup, we cancelled Basic Cable and went to "Basic Basic" with only PBS stations for the kids (I know, I know). But my 4-year-old dressed up like Kim Possible and hiked her black shirt up - she said "I have to show my belly button". NOT
Given all the 'princess' movies Disney has churned out, is it possible this says more about the G-rated movie audience than Hollywood? Note that the study was limited to 'top grossing' G-rated movies.
Maybe folks who spend money on G-rated entertainment want male characters.
Or, maybe it's a biased count: a movie where the center of attention is the female lead, with more screen-time than any other character, the one character the movie-goer really remembers/relates to, might be surrounded by male characters. (As an extreme example: Snow White. 7 dwarves, a huntsman, a prince who does nothing more than dislodge a poisoned apple chunk with a kiss, compared to 1 female lead and 1 really strong female villain. 9:2 male to female ration. Bias! Sexism!)
Dumb study in either event.
It wasn't made by Disney, it was distributed by Disney. It was made by Pixar. All Pixar movies have been incredibly profitable, incredibly well done, and incredibly un-PC.
Toy Story was about adjusting to the "new kid" and realizing that you need others as much as they need you.
Finding Nemo was about the love between a father and son and the need to let go.
Monsters Inc. was about needing someone to love and not letting first impressions get in the way of getting to know someone.
The Incredibles was about doing your personal best and not playing down your abilities because it might make others upset to lose.
All of the "fathers" in the stories are wise, caring and devoted "men", and all of the women are supporting, caring and kind. Of course families are drawn to films like that, and it drives liberals batty because they can't figure out why people would want to watch that 1950's era sappy nonsense.
Suicide is female empowerment??? Man, I must have missed that one... ok women you want empowerment, you need to run away from your husband who loves you, refuse help from him, threaten the police, blow up a gas truck, cheat on your husband and drive off a cliff, all because your old biddy friend says its ok...
Man if that's female empowerment, I thank God I'm a guy.
The real reason they hate it is because it gives credence to Biblical principals that insist on men being the moral compass for society.
ok, so there's more guys, but how many more movies have females as the main focus of the film? pick just about ANY disney movie.. sure there may be more guys overall, but the majority of them have females as lead.
Oh yeah, giving the animal animations more female characters will certainly make the flix closer to reality. Sheesh, where's the dingbat alert?
Let me see. . .just thinking of the movies in our box of kids' videos: Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast--all had a female protagonist. Aladdin also had a strong active female character equal to the hero, however unlikely that may be in a Muslim country. The Jurassic Park series had girls and women in strong roles. There was an animated series of about half a dozen videos about baby dinosaurs who could talk, and there was a feisty girl triceratops. Black Stallion was all male, of course. Winn-Dixie had a girl heroine.
I dunno, I think little girls are being encouraged by the media quite enough, thanks.
They took care of that in Toy Story II with Jessie the Cowgirl.
But IMHO, that chick in Hunchback of ND (Esmeralda?) was the greatest cartoon character ever (although Judy Jetson is up there). I'm becoming a dirty old man I guess.
The girl who does her voice is even hotter. She was the sister on Even Stevens.
Jeez o man... Toy Story was about the toys owned by a 10 year old(ish) BOY.... what female toys do you expect a 10 year old boy to own? Ten year old boys toys consist of things like, army men, cars, tanks, trucks, baseball gloves, baseball bats, basketballs, nerf, guns, etc etc etc... You go and try to stick a few gal toys in there just to be PC and the story loses credibility.
PIXAR has made great films, but of course was just bought by Disney so expect them to go to pot by 1000 PC papercuts.
Oh, yes, and let's not forget the recently-released Narnia, which had three strong female characters, one evil and two good. But feminists wouldn't be happy unless they made Aslan a lioness.
It may work the other way around, John Lassiter now has control over all Disney animation. I think Disney will improve dramatically as a result.
Was Mrs. Potato Head in Toy Story I as well as II?
Again, I note the cosmic injustice of it: I do the thinking, somebody else collects whatever the going rate is per word....
Unfortunately, "entertainment" now means fantasizing vicariously through provocative glorification of gratuitous murder, mayhem, mysticism, sex, violence, betrayal, rebellion, and the rest of the "deadly sins."
Christian-like "formulas" about inspiration, courage, principle, sacrifice, moral redemption, justice, and love of fellow man make for "boring" adventures./sarc
Ms Potato Head was only in II, but at the end of I, when Andy is opening his presents, one of the presents was "Ms. Potato Head."
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