Less than 1% of Hollywood blockbuster characters are LGBT
A study by the University of Southern California’s Media Diversity and Social Change initiative has found that just 0.7% of characters in 2015’s top films were LGBT.
Not a single leading or co-leading character identified as LGBT, and only 32 out of the 4370 characters that spoke or were named recognised themselves as being LGBT.
Production studios are facing increasing pressure to show diversity in characters. In particular Marvel were criticised for its lack of LGBT characters. Many fans of the Captain America franchise urged for the superhero to have a boyfriend, and Bucky was up for the title.
One company even created a trailer campaigning for more LGBT diverse characters.
The project, which has run regularly since 2007, breaks down the demographics in the 100 most popular US box office films and found some pretty sickening statistics.
When it comes down to women in film, 30.2% of women who appeared in 2015’s top films were scantily clad as compared to just 7.7% of men.
Actresses were also much less likely to speak. A full break down by the department found that of the 4,370 speaking or named characters in blockbusters from 2015, just 31.4% were women.
When looking at the ratio of directors, 92.5% of the films analysed were directed by men. only 10 of the 107 directors were not white.
Emma Watson has been a big advocate for change in diversity in Hollywood and has pushed for more female directors. She has spoken about sexism in the industry before, noting that she has been directed only twice by females but 17 times by men.
The number of Black, Latino and Asian characters being represented in film was also low. Black characters made up 12.2% of the demographic, whilst Latinos clocked in at 5.3% latino and Asians at 3.9%. Leaving white actors and actresses to make up 73.7% of characters on screen.
George Takei has previously spoken out about Marvel ‘whitewashing’ Asian characters.
The Oscars so white movement, which pushed for more racial diversity in characters, has put more pressure on directors as audiences are expecting more diversity in the best selling films on the big screen next year.
Only 2.4% of characters were shown as having a disability.
