Is The Film Industry Sexist?

In this essay, I’m going to go over how women are treated in the film industry, go over and explain the concept of the Bechdel test, show the pay gap in the industry and how this reflects backs to Wales and affects the students of Bryntirion. Finally I’ll say how the industry should change and how it can be made more aware off in schools. First let’s start with how women were treated in films in the early 1900’s. Women were always given the role as the housewife’s, the weak victim who need a male hero to save them or the slag of the film. Everyone thinks the industry has made lots of progress since then. However the scary fact is, the only thing that has changed is the time period. From 2007 to 2012, The …show more content…
The Bechdel test was a test created by Alison Bechdel, an American Cartoonist in 1985. It’s a simple test which names the following three criteria: 1) the film has at least two named female characters. 2) Who talk to each other? 3) About something besides a man. Seems simple doesn’t it? And it is, lots of famous films have passed the Bechdel test such as; The DUFF, The Hunger Games Series and Inside Out. But would you believe that 42.4% of films fail the Bechdel test. Films such as Finding Nemo, Ted 2, Minions, The SpongeBob Movie and even Harry Potter all fail the Bechdel test. Finding Nemo fails because even though the film features the loveable female fish Dory. She is the only named female fish in the film and does not talk to any other female character. Also Harry Potter, The Deathly Hallows Part Two to be exact. While there are some major female characters in the film series, in the last film Professor McGonagall only makes one comment to Mrs Weasely but not having an actual …show more content…
In a film or play there are normally two main male and female characters with the same amount of lines. You would think that they would get the same pay check at the end of the project. However, women get paid less than their male co-star. They claim that women make less because women take time out of their careers to care for children, choose less demanding jobs, or fail to negotiate for higher salaries as vigorously as their male counterparts. Although, Amanda Seyfried is single with no children and she told the Sunday Times on one of my big budget films, I found I was being paid 10 per cent of what my male co-star was getting, and we were pretty even in status.’ And Seyfried is not the only female who has experienced the dramatic pay gap. On average women get paid 23% less of their male co-star’s earnings. Also, the Sony hack in 2014 revealed that in ‘American Hustle’ The male actors, Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper were receiving 9% of the back end profits but their female co-stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence were only receiving 7% with Lawrence originally receiving