The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and Movio Reveal Research Determining the On-Screen to Cinema Audience Relations...
September 22 2020 - 11:00AM
Business Wire
What is Shown on Screen Does Affect Audience
Composition, “I Want To See Me” Research Confirms
Movio, the global leader in data analytics for the film
industry, and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media at Mount
Saint Mary’s University (the Institute) have teamed up to determine
if what and who is presented on cinema screens affects who shows up
for a film during its theatrical run.
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the full release here:
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Data Scientists at both organizations examined the following
questions for the “I Want To See Me: Why Diverse On-Screen
Representation Drives Cinema Audiences” White Paper:
- Does the presence of certain groups (Race/Ethnicity, Gender,
Age) on-screen draw larger numbers of the corresponding
audience?
- What negative or positive portrayals of certain groups are
different viewers seeing in the most popular films?
- What portrayals of certain groups are child viewers seeing in
the most popular films?
Although both organizations had explored these and other related
questions in the past, combining their prodigious analysis
capabilities enabled a deeper data dive at a scale neither had
achieved previously. On-screen data (the Institute) and audience
demographic data (Movio) for the top 100 films (by box office) in
the US were examined for 2018 and 2019.
“As we’ve said before, our goal is very simple: that the
characters on screen reflect the population, which is half Female
and incredibly diverse,” says Geena Davis, Founder and Chair of the
Institute. “We know that increasing the presence of
underrepresented groups in media can have a very powerful impact on
shifting cultural perceptions. Our industry has a tremendous
opportunity to foster inclusion in society by taking action to
diversify who shows up on screen. As this new research shows, we
have made progress, but we need to do better.”
“As the movie industry begins to recover from the effects of the
pandemic, this research carries even more weight,” says William
Palmer, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Movio. “Diverse audiences
can go elsewhere to find entertainment options that speak to them
and their lives, so if cinema is to remain relevant and continue
having a cultural impact, it must attract these audiences by
delivering more representative content.”
Some highlights of the research include:
- People want to see themselves reflected on screen. Moviegoers
being able to identify with the characters in a movie drives their
attendance behavior. When there are characters of a certain cohort
(group) this is likely to drive more moviegoers of the same
cohort.
- The analysis shows across all films that the leading characters
and audience are generally 50/50 Female/Male. This is encouraging
considering in 2007 only 23% of leads were Female and in 2017 30%
were Female.
- However it is worth noting that the more Female characters, the
more Female the audience, and the more Male characters, the more
Male the audience.
- The effect of genre on the percentage of leading characters
Male vs Female was clear as well as the corresponding gender split
in the attending audience. Action movies, most notably, regularly
have well over 50% Male characters and well over 50% (and
frequently over 60%) Male audience.
- The opportunity for Black, Asian and Latinx moviegoers to see
themselves represented on screen is significantly lower than for
White moviegoers. Several movies tally 100% of their characters as
White with the majority having over 50% White characters. For the
remaining four Race/Ethnicity groups, the majority of films are
clustered at below 25% (if not 0%) representation on screen. This
is significant considering people of color (Black, Asian and
Latinx) comprise 37.8% of the U.S. population.1
- Across the board in terms of ethnicity, gender, and age, the
negative portrayal of characters from a certain group has little
bearing on whether or not that group attends a movie.
- However, particularly with regards to race and ethnicity, the
analysis again shows how minority audiences are given substantially
fewer opportunities to even see characters from their racial or
ethnic group on the screen, no less characters from their racial or
ethnic group who are also not depicted
negatively.
The research was also able to determine what demographic cohorts
are being represented in films geared primarily towards children.
Some key takeaways:
- The good news is that both Male and Female leads are roughly
evenly split in terms of on-screen representation for films with
more child visits, suggesting that young moviegoers are getting a
fairly balanced representation of genders in their on-screen media
consumption.
- However, when looking at Race/Ethnicity there is less of a
balanced representation. White characters are very well represented
in children’s films, with the majority of films having 50% or more
White characters represented on screen.
- There is not the same level of representation for Asian or
Latinx characters in children’s media as the vast majority of films
moviegoers are bringing their children to see have no
representation of these cohorts.
- For example, of all the titles analyzed, only six titles had
over 18% Latinx characters, despite Latinx comprising 18.4% of the
US population.2
“When we consider the impact that the media children are exposed
to can have, including in the cinema, it is vital for them to see
from the beginning that fictitious worlds reflect the real world,
and that they see themselves reflected on screen,” Davis states.
“When you see someone like yourself reflected, you take in the
message: 'There's someone like me, I must belong.’ It’s encouraging
to see the progress we’ve made with gender representation, but we
must show more diversity on screen, if we don’t show more
diversity, we are contributing to the serious problem of racial
inequity in our society today.”
Discover the full report here.
About the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media at Mount
Saint Mary’s University
Founded in 2004, by Academy Award winning actor Geena Davis, the
Institute is the only research-based organization working
collaboratively within the entertainment industry to create gender
balance, foster inclusion and reduce negative stereotyping in
family entertainment media. “If They Can See It, They Can Be It.”
https://seejane.org/
About Movio
Movio is the global leader in marketing data analytics and
campaign management solutions, revolutionizing the way the film
industry interacts with moviegoers. Movio is the world’s most
comprehensive source of moviegoer data and has products designed
specifically with the challenges of movie marketing in mind. Movie
lovers at heart, it’s our mission to connect everyone with their
ideal movie. Movio is a company of Vista Group International Ltd
(NZX & ASX: VGL).
www.movio.co @MovioHQ www.linkedin.com/company/movio
Additional diversity-related data insights can be found in
Movio’s previously published White Paper, Diversity on Demand:
Securing the Future of Moviegoing
____________________ 1
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219 2
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045219
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Maggie Begley/MBC Maggie@mbcprinc.com 310.390.0101; 310.749.3055
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