Diversity in Entertainment - Why it Matters

"Nothing is ever so wrong in this world that a sensible woman can't set it right in the course of an afternoon." -Jean Giraudoux, The Madwoman of Chaillot

Recently, I wrote about an NPR.org posting by Linda Holmes on her blog, Monkey See. Her post, entitled "Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees" is an open letter to Pixar in praise of their films, but also identifying the lack of a single female lead character in any of their ten (plus two more in the works) films. This would seem to be a significant phenomenon given that females comprise about one half of the world's population. Imagine flipping a coin twelve times and have heads come up each time. Better yet, imagine the sheer impossibility of the American League team winning Major League Baseball's All-Star game 12 straight times! Oh...wait.In my post, I noted that the lack of quality female leading roles in films was more likely a problem of supply than of demand, given that about 90% of mainstream American movies are directed by men, not to mention all the male screenwriters and producers out there.

This elicited a number of reader comments, which is great, as one of my favorite parts of blogging is seeing the range of reader responses (so keep ‘em coming!). I wanted to take a moment to respond to those comments, and clarify a few thoughts of my own.

Yeah, but there's that one show...
A few commenters were able to name some TV shows with female lead characters...Disney's Kim Possible, Nick's Dora the Explorer, and Fox's The Sarah Connor Chronicles. This is a common response when a population trend is identified which challenges our belief systems, creating what we shrinks call cognitive dissonance. To reduce this uncomfortable psychic state, we often point to a single exception as if it negates the argument. Stephen Colbert has parodied this brilliantly when he rolls out a picture of him with his "black friend, Alan" to defend any implications of him being prejudiced. "I don't see color", he says. Having grown up in Ohio, my school system was hardly the model of cultural diversity, despite rather large class sizes. We used to joke that like in South Park, we had our one Jewish friend. Yet one would hardly claim that my high school was practically a kibbutz. By the time I went to grad school on Long Island in psychology, the tables were quite turned and my religious upbringing was in the significant minority, a fact joyously skewered in a comedy skit we created called "Jew Crew for the Goy Boy". Just because we can name a few shows or movies with females in the lead does not equal equivalent gender representativeness in films.

What's with you quota quacks, anyway?
Bob wrote, "I find the idea that we ‘need' more female lead characters to be sexist. Are girls so in need of fictional role models that writers have a social obligation to provide them?" A few other voices joined his concerns about placing social obligations on creative professionals. No one likes a quota cop, and I don't think anyone can or should force writers to write more diverse characters. Writers are free to write what they want and viewers are free to watch what they want, that's just one thing that makes this country great! To address this point, let's look back to Holmes' original post:

"This is not an angry letter. It is especially not an angry letter about Up, which I adored. I could have sat in the theater and watched it two more times in a row. I cried, but I also laughed so hard in places that it wore me out. So I'm not complaining; I'm asking. I'm asking because I think so highly of you. Please make a movie about a girl who is not a princess."

This isn't a militant demand for social equality. There's no moral indignation and condemnation. No one is chaining themselves to the movie projector or hosting some hedonistic hippie love-in. These are the words of a fan asking for something more. As anyone involved in business knows, when the consumer speaks, it's important to listen.


So what?
By far, the most frequent response was of the "So what?" variety. Who cares that all the leading characters are men? What's the big deal? Women have Lifetime and blacks have BET and rap music, why would they possibly want more? Why does it matter? It matters.

First, there is the notion of identification. How many guys out there grew up wanting to be like Han Solo? Or learned how to woo women from watching James Bond? Personally, I always wanted to be an archeologist...until I learned that being a professor of archeology was not nearly as cool as being Indiana Jones. So now I'm gunning for professor of psychology, which is even way less cool. As Megan (check out her cool blog of open-letters) wrote: "It sends a message when these cool stories feature a male character as the lead. The supporting female roles are usually great- funny, quirky...But it doesn't really matter how strong the female characters are when they are consistently cast as support and never given the lead. This sends a message to little girls. There's nothing wrong with those roles in theory, it's important to support and love, but the female characters need a chance to be supported for a change...Give the girls a chance to shine."

Also, variety is the spice of life!...and that says a lot coming from a guy who is notorious in a few Cambridge eating establishments for ordering the exact same meal at the exact same day and time each week. How many people have complaints about stale Hollywood studio movie formulas? If you want the standard pat evolutionary psych argument...diversity is an evolutionary entertainment advantage, it's bred into our genes!

Let's try a little thought experiment. Teenagers with mostly disposable incomes are a lion's share of entertainment consumers and a leading target demographic. Let's say that studios decided to capitalize on this market by hiring high school students to write, produce, star in and direct over 90% of the studio's flagship films. If you think you're sick of seeing Shia LaBeouf now, just wait until those freshmen students get control. It'll be all Twilight and Harry Potter. High School Musical 5 will hold the top spot on the box office charts for eight weeks in a row. The Jonas Brothers meet Hanna Montana biopic will take home the Academy Award for Best Picture. Sure, the Titanic sank...but I smell prequel! I'll just go see something else, you say? That'll be pretty tough when Step Up 4 More Dancing On The Streets, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants part 6 - Sisters in Slacks, and Bring It On All Over Again take up the other screens in the multiplex. So silence your cell phone, grab your popcorn, sip your soda and settle in...The Princess Blogs is about to begin.