Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Finding the Cure for Oscars-So-White Color- Blindness
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Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Finding the Cure for Oscars-So-White Color- Blindness The Oscars® are synonymous with the aspirational best in the film industry, however, racial dominance and the consistent underrepresentation of ethnic and minority groups continues to prevail. The lack of diverse representation in Hollywood is not only a massive barrier to the projection of a better tomorrow for a generation of Americans, it is a lost opportunity for the U.S. to take a lead as a model global force for equality. A recent report produced by the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at USC Annenberg confirms that only 1.3% of leading roles in Hollywood productions have Asian actors and over 50% of productions fail to include any Asian characters. The author, Dr. Stacy Smith states, “This is no mere diversity problem… this is an inclusion crisis.” If Hollywood were desegregated, the representation of a diverse society could be a powerful force to rapidly break down stereotypes and properly represent the true mosaic of U.S. society. The implications of such equal portrayal would cut across all aspects of society from pay equity for hourly work to representation across professional vocations. 1. Top Academic Sources On the Current State of Diversity in the Media: • Inclusion or Invisibility? Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti & Dr. Katherine Pieper http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/CARDReport%20FINAL%2022 216.ashx • Race/Ethnicity in 500 Popular Films: Is the Key to Diversifying Cinematic Content held in the Hand of the Black Director? Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, & Dr. Katherine Pieper http://annenberg.usc.edu/sites/default/files/2015/04/28/Race%3AEthnicity%20in %20500%20Popular%20Films%20Stacy%20Smith.pdf • Toward a Third Wave: Why Media Matters in Asian American Studies Renee Tajima-Peña https://muse.jhu.edu/article/537418/pdf • 2016 Hollywood Diversity Report UCLA Faculty http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2016-Hollywood- Diversity-Report-2-25-16.pdf • The Latino Media Gap: A Report on the State of Latinos in U.S. Media Frances Negrón-Muntaner with Chelsea Abbas, Luis Figueroa, and Samuel Robson Abbas, Luis Figueroa, and Samuel Robson http://media.wix.com/ugd/73fa65_e8b1b4ec675c41b3a06f351926129cea.pdf • Portrayal of African Americans in the Media: An Examination of Law and Order Shannon T. Isaacs http://forms.gradsch.psu.edu/diversity/mcnair/mcnair_jrnl2010/files/Isaacs.pdf • Hollywood’s Race/Ethnicity and Gender-Based Casting: Prospects for A Title VII Lawsuit Russell Robinson http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/LPIB_14December2006_001.pdf 2. Lawsuits Related to Diversity in the Media: • Lenhoff Enterprises vs United Talent Agency and International Creative Management Partners https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2806243-Lenhoff-Dismissal.html • Entertainment Studios and NAAAOM Files $10 Billion Lawsuit Against FCC, Charter Communications Claiming Racial Discrimination http://www.naaaom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Charter-FCC- Complaint.pdf.pdf • Comcast, Al Sharpton Hit With $20 Billion Racial Discrimination Lawsuit http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/comcast-al-sharpton-hit-20-777015?dg 3. Academy Awards Initiatives To Increase Diversity • Amid widening outcry, Academy of Motion Pictures may change its rules for more diversity http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-et-mn-academy-diversity- changes-20160122-story.html • Film Academy, Under Fire, Is Expected to Take Steps to Improve Oscar Diversity http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/business/media/film-academy-under-fire-is- expected-to-take-steps-to-improve-oscar-diversity.html • Oscars organizers invite new members in diversity push http://www.reuters.com/article/us-film-oscars-diversity-idUSKCN0ZF2RG INCLUSION or INVISIBILITY? Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment (%)* !"#$$*+&,#,*- STACY L. SMITH, PhD, MARC CHOUEITI, %$&'$! KATHERINE PIEPER, PhD with assistance from ARIANA CASE and ARTUR TOFAN MEDIA, DIVERSITY, & SOCIAL CHANGE INITIATIVE Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg (IDEA) February 22, 2016 Dear Friends, Colleagues, Industry Employees, and Activists, We are proud to reveal the first Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment (CARD). This report is the result of over a year of data collection and analysis by the scholars and students at the Media, Di- versity, & Social Change Initiative (MDSC) at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. With over 100 research assistants working in our lab per year, we engage in and tackle issues surrounding inclusion in entertainment. As academics, we are set apart by our solution-oriented approach - we seek out previous research and theory to discover empirical answers to complex social problems. Ultimately, our goal is to accelerate the advancement of a media environment that represents the world we inhabit-- where the voices and visions of a diverse population are valued and visible. The financial support of the Institute for Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg (IDEA) has allowed us to take a bold new step in pursuit of this goal. CARD: An Industry First For the past 10 years, we have quantified disturbing patterns around the lack of media representation concerning females and people of color in film. Despite elevated awareness around this issue, the numbers have not budged. We are often asked two questions following the release of our film studies: “but aren’t things better in television?” and “how are different companies performing?” This report is our public answer to both of these questions. And, for the first time, we have ranked companies on their level of inclusivity on screen and behind the camera. This is also the first time our research team has looked from CEO to every speaking character across film, televi- sion, and digital content. We believe that evaluating company output is a crucial aspect of pushing the conversation on media inclusion forward to create real change. Accountability and awareness can only take us so far, though. This report is not about shame or punishment. Rather, our aim is to help companies align their products with the values they hold. Our location on a University campus means we are no strangers to evaluation. It is a hallmark of the academy and one of our most important undertakings. The Inclusion Indices in this report are designed to serve as an evaluation tool for organizations. The Indices offer companies a metric to understand their scores in two specific ways. First, their performance relative to entertainment industry norms. Second, their performance relative to proportional representation in the U.S. population. Armed with information, media businesses can take steps to improve casting and hiring practices in the months and years to come. Shifting from invisibility to inclusion is no easy task. Companies have the opportunity to dismantle the structures and systems that have guided decades of exclusionary decision-making. Yet, these organizations do not face this task alone. We at the MDSC Initiative are available to develop and implement concrete solutions, monitor prog- ress, and celebrate success with you. There is more to do, and we look forward to continuing the conversation. Our work to foster inclusion in storytell- ing will continue until the landscape of media characters and creators is as varied as the audience it serves. Onward, Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti, & Dr. Katherine Pieper EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity (CARD) assesses inclusion on screen and behind the camera in fictional films, TV shows, and digital series distributed by 10 major media companies (21st Century Fox, CBS, Comcast NBC Universal, Sony, The Walt Disney Company, Time Warner, Viacom, Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix). Movies theatrically released in 2014 by the major studios or their art house divisions were included in the sample, provided they met a certain threshold of domestic box office performance (see Appendix A).¹ Prime-time first run scripted series as well as digital offerings airing from September 1st 2014 to August 31st 2015 were sampled on broadcast, popular basic cable, premium channels or streaming services associated with the companies listed above (see Appendix B).² In total, the sample included 414 stories or 109 motion pictures and 305 broad- cast, cable, and digital series. The major unit of analysis was the speaking or named character.³ Each speaking character was assessed for role, demographics, domesticity, and hypersexualization.⁴ Behind the camera, the gender of directors and writers of each film and every episode within a sampled series was evaluated.⁵ Race/ethnicity was assessed for directors of movies as well as those helming the season premiere episode of television/digital programs.⁶ Finally, the gender composition of CEOs, members of executive suites, boards of directors, and employees at the Executive Vice President or Senior Vice President level or above in film, TV, or streaming divisions was scrutinized.⁷ Below, we present an overview of our key findings within four major areas. For a detailed overview of the study, see the Executive Report online at the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative site. GENDER Prevalence On Screen Across the 11,306 speaking characters evaluated, 66.5% were male and 33.5% were female. This calculated into a sample wide gender ratio of seeing 2 males to every 1 female on screen, which varied by media platform.⁸ Fe- male characters fill only 28.7% of all speaking roles in film. For scripted series, less than 40% of all speaking characters were girls and women (broadcast=36.4%, cable=37.3%, streaming=38.1%). The percentage of films and TV/digital series with “balanced casts” was also assessed, or those stories with girls and women in 45-54.9% of all speaking roles. Only 18% of stories evaluated were gender balanced, with film (8%) the least likely to depict balance and cable the most likely (23%). Turning to leading characters by media platform, almost three-quarters of the leads, co leads or actors carrying an ensemble cast in film were male (73.5%) and 26.5% (n=41) were female.