Hollywood Missing At Least Half of Movie-Going Audience

Published in Skånska Dagbladet
(Sweden) on 12 March 2014
by Dag Gustavsson (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Andrew Pratt. Edited by Sean Feely.
In Hollywood, the competition is fierce, and those who once succeeded in reaching success on the silver screen have to stand their ground to maintain the stardom they've won.

For women, the competition is even tougher than what their male colleagues endure.

A new report from San Diego State University shows that in the films that were launched during the last year, women made up a little less than one-third of all speaking roles. In only 15 percent of these did the woman have the lead role. These facts reveal that the American film industry still looks like it did 70 years ago.

This means that there are fewer jobs for female actresses, and also that these roles are generally written for younger women. Hollywood presents an image of the world where humanity consists of men of all ages, young women, and every once in a while, an older lady.

What's ironic about these Hollywood producers who themselves appear to be old-fashioned and sexist is that at the same time, they produce films about heroes with high ideals and who stand for what's good and fair. It is also reasonable to question what's going on in the business minds of producers. Half the population consists of women who would certainly be lured to the movie theater if they could identify with more of the women they were seeing. Half the population consists of men who are interested in more than just young women. Actress Cate Blanchett had it completely right, "Films with women at the center ... earn money."


I Hol­ly­wood är kon­kur­ren­sen hård och för den som en gång lyc­kats nå fram­gång på vita du­ken gäl­ler det att hål­la i och hål­la ut för att upp­rätt­hål­la sin vun­na stjärn­sta­tus.

För kvin­nor­na är kon­kur­ren­sen dess­utom tuf­fa­re än den som de­ras man­li­ga kol­le­gor ut­står.
En ny rap­port från San Die­go Sta­te Uni­ver­si­ty vi­sar att i de fil­mer som lan­se­ra­des un­der för­ra året var det kvin­nor i knappt en tred­je­del av alla replikroller. I en­dast 15 pro­cent av des­sa hade kvin­nan hu­vud­rol­len. Des­sa fak­ta av­slö­jar att den ame­ri­kans­ka film­bran­schen fort­fa­ran­de ser ut som den gjor­de för 70 år se­dan.

För­ut­om att det­ta in­ne­bär att de finns fär­re jobb för kvinn­li­ga skå­de­spe­lers­kor är det ge­ne­rellt ock­så så att rol­ler­na får spe­las av yng­re kvin­nor. Världs­bil­den Hol­ly­wood där­med står för är att mänsk­lig­he­ten be­står av män i alla åld­rar, unga kvin­nor och en­dast nå­gon en­sta­ka dam.

Det iro­nis­ka med att Hol­ly­woods pro­du­cen­ter där­med själ­va fram­står som mos­si­ga och sex­is­tis­ka är att de sam­ti­digt pro­du­ce­rar fil­mer om hjäl­tar med höga ide­al, som står för rätt­vi­sa och god­het. Det går dess­utom att ifrå­ga­sät­ta hur det står till med pro­du­cen­ter­nas af­färs­sin­ne. Hal­va be­folk­ning­en be­står av kvin­nor som sä­kert skul­le loc­kas till bion om de fick se fler kvin­nor att iden­ti­fie­ra sig med. Hal­va be­folk­ning­en be­står av män som är in­tres­se­ra­de av mer än en­dast unga kvin­nor. Skå­de­spe­lers­kan Cate Blan­chett har helt rätt: ”Fil­mer om och med star­ka kvin­nor drar stor pu­blik”.
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