Fewer, Younger, but Increasingly Powerful: How Portrayals of Women, Age, and Power Have Changed from 2002 to 2016 in the 50 Top-Grossing U.S. Films

AbstractA content analysis by Lauzen and Dozier (2005) of the 88 top-grossing U.S. films of 2002 found ample evidence for inequality of gender and age representation: Men made up 72% of all characters; women past the age of 40 became less and less visible, whereas men remained visible throughout their 50s; and significant gender differences in terms of leadership and occupational power were found, with women holding fewer positions of occupational power and rarely shown in leadership roles. The current study sought to establish whether these gender and age representations continue to exist in films made almost 15  years later. Our analysis of the 50 top-grossing U.S. movies of 2016 found that women are still underrepresented in film (32.8% of all characters) but that this proportion improved significantly since 2002. Women in their 30s and men in their 40s are most overrepresented when compared to the U.S. population, and women over 60 are severely underrepresented. However, there was no gender difference in the proportion of major characters playing leadership roles, demonstrating social aggression, or possessing goals, all of which are noteworthy differences from the films of 2002. Female characters also made marginal strides in holding occupational power and in their displays of physical aggression. Additionally, we found that women achieved their goals at significantly higher rates than men did. Overall, although a disconnect still persists regarding the ratio of men to ...
Source: Sex Roles - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research