Hollywood sticks to the script: Films aren’t more inclusive, despite a decade of advocacy

#whiteprivilege #entertainment

The report’s “invisibility analysis” reveals that beyond the overall statistics, Hollywood fails to portray speaking characters from diverse groups altogether. Of the 100 top films of 2016, 25 films featured no Black/African-American characters, 44 included no Asian or Asian-American characters, and 54 depicted no Hispanic/Latino characters. Further, 38 films portrayed not a single character with a disability and 76 failed to include one lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender character.

“Doesn’t everyone deserve to have their stories and voices reflected in one of our most popular forms of entertainment?” asked Smith. “These findings reveal that the erasure of different groups is still acceptable to some—we need look no further than film to see a vision of America that no longer exists. Film paints a distressing portrait of exclusion.”