Hollywood has been promising to repair its range issues, but it surely nonetheless has a protracted technique to go, in response to a brand new research from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Since the pandemic, Hollywood’s current range positive aspects have both dipped or held regular.
- Recovering misplaced floor on gender: In 2021, 41% of the highest 100 films featured a feminine lead or colead. In 2019, 43% of the highest movies had feminine stars, however this dropped to 36% in the course of the pandemic. While Hollywood regained misplaced floor final yr, it nonetheless has quite a lot of work to do on age: Only 7% of flicks within the high 100 had a feminine lead age 45 or older in comparison with 27% for males.
- Inching towards parity on race: People of coloration make up 40% of America’s inhabitants, however solely 32% of the highest 100 films in 2021 had an individual of coloration because the lead or colead. In 2007, the primary yr included within the research, solely 13% of the highest movies had a non-white star. Diversity numbers have inched up since then, hitting an all-time excessive of 32% in 2019, however dipped to twenty-eight% in 2020.
- Low numbers on gender and race: Only 11% of the highest 100 movies had a girl of coloration as a lead or colead in 2021, up 2% from 2020. By comparability, 23% had a number one man of coloration in 2021, roughly on par with 2020 when it was 22%. However, no movies in 2021 or 2020 had a girl of coloration 45 or older as a star, and solely 7% had a person of coloration 45 or older.
“Ultimately, until Hollywood distributors agree to push for more diverse storytelling across the board, we will not see sustained progress,” the researchers wrote.