"WHITE MALES CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE EXECUTIVE SUITE POSITIONS FROM WHICH GREEN-LIGHTING POSITIONS ARE MADE." (1) |
gender politics at work in hollywoodIn discussing the politics of pop culture, Joshua Gamson, a Professor of Sociology at the University of San Francisco, makes a claim that is very relevant to the gender politics in the film industry:
“There’s this interesting tension between a sort of ’top down’ version of popular culture, in which people who control major cultural institutions create and manage what gets out there, and a ‘bottom up’ version of popular culture, in which people at a more grassroots level make up their own stuff.” (2) This rings true in Hollywood. Women tend to be better represented behind the scenes in small independent films than in big franchise films. For example, "women directed 4.6% of films at the major studios in 2014" compared to the 2015 Sundance Film Festival where "36% of the movies were directed by women." (3) |
Footnotes: (1) http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-diversity-in-movies-tv-ucla-study-20150224-story.html (2) Gamson, Joshua. "Popular Culture Constructs Sexuality." Introducing the New Sexuality Studies. Ed. Steven Seidman, Nancy Fischer, and Chet Meeks. 2nd ed. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2011. 27-31. Print. (3) http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-women-directors-20150222-story.html#page=1