Chances are it's happened to you. You are sitting in a dark theater, surrounded by strangers, innocently sipping on your soda and munching away on your buttery popcorn when you realize it's happened again: the movie you are watching won't pass the Bechdel Test (about 45 percent of 2015's top movies failed).
It's not easy to be a female working in Hollywood.
The roles offered to women tend to be supporting roles. Even when a woman is the protagonist, her screen time and amount of dialogue may not be much greater than her male costar. Women of color face an even more difficult challenge landing lead roles than caucasian actresses. Women working in Hollywood face ageism much earlier than their male counterparts. The majority of the most popular and widely acclaimed directors, screen play writers, and film makers are male. If there is at least one female writer on board a film, the chances of the film passing the Bechdel test rises from 47 percent to 62 percent.
Female Protagonists Have Less Screen Time Than Male Protagonists
Frustratingly, a study by The New York Times on the screen time gap found even if a female character is the lead in a movie she will have less screen time than a movie featuring a male lead.
In 2014, the year's leading actors averaged 85 minutes on the big screen while lead actresses appeared on the screen for an average of 57 minutes. It's important to note the movies often featuring female main characters tend to be in the category of drama, comedy, or romance. The story plot of these genres tend to revolve around the development of relationships between characters, so it makes sense other supporting characters gain more screen time. However, movies featuring male leads tend to have the male character in the center of the action.
This brings up the question: Why aren't women being casted as leads in action films?
Out of Two Thousand Screenplays Only 22% Gave Actresses The Most Amount of Dialogue
So here is an amazing look at screenplays on the real data behind the amount of dialogue spoken between male and female characters. Want to know something crazy? There are 53 films that have 100 percent male dialogue and three films that have 100 percent female dialogue.
The Age Gap Between Love Interests
There is an average age gap of around four and a half years between love interests in Hollywood which isn't too far off from the normal age gap. However, there are several actors who have a wide age gap between themselves and their love interests: Richard Gere, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, and more. Here is a breakdown of a list of the age gap of love interests in Hollywood including repeat offenders.
With an exception of a few movies, the female love interest is rarely is older than her male counterpart, especially if age is not central to the storyline.
Women Are Aged Out Faster
In general, women are aged out of Hollywood before men are. Out of 2,000 screenplays, women ages 42 - 65 only had 20 percent of total words spoken and women aged 65 plus only had three percent. By comparison, men ages 42 - 65 had 39 percent of all male dialogue and after the age of 65 had five percent.
What Now?
Movies matter. Representation matters. It's important for women of all ages to see women on screen as complex characters who make their own choices and are a key part and driving force of the plot. We want female characters with varied emotions, intriguing motives and imperfections. We want female characters who are not motivated solely by a man or who serve as eye candy or a prop. Thankfully, things are starting to change, even if the change is coming at a slow pace.
We can help change Hollywood by supporting movies with well-developed female characters, remaining aware of the struggles of women and POC in finding great roles, and supporting female directors and writers. Here's a list of some of this summer's films from female directors and filmmakers.
