It’s about time.
In 2024 the share of top-grossing movies that includes feminine protagonists matched the share of movies with male protagonists for the primary time in current historical past. In line with the most recent installment of Dr. Martha Lauzen‘s annual It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World report, 42% of the 100 top-grossing movies domestically had feminine protagonists whereas one other 42% had male protagonists. Of the rest, 16% featured ensembles.
However will it final?
For the needs of the research, protagonists are the characters from whose perspective the story is informed. Whether or not the achievement shall be lasting or solely a blip on the continuum of Dr. Lauzen’s two-plus decade survey stays to be seen.
In 2023, 28% of the 100 top-grossing movies have been informed from a feminine perspective. That was down from 33% in 2022 and 31% in 2021.
Given the odds are taken from a reasonably small pattern measurement of 100 movies, small fluctuations alter the quantity dramatically from yr to yr.
In distinction, the odds for all talking characters and main feminine characters are calculated on over 2,000 characters, rendering them extra secure.
The odds of feminine characters in talking roles elevated solely 2 proportion factors from 35% in 2023 to 37% in 2024. The proportion of main feminine characters rose a single proportion level, from 38% in 2023 to 39% in 2024.
“2024 provided one of many richest slates of movies that includes feminine protagonists in current reminiscence. These fictional ladies railed towards unsatisfying private relationships and discriminatory work environments. Movies similar to The Substance pushed again onerous towards a tradition that considers ladies disposable,” mentioned Lauzen, who’s founder and govt director of the Heart for the Research of Ladies in Tv and Movie at San Diego State College. “Whereas the variety of movies with feminine protagonists rose to a historic excessive in 2024 after a dismally lean 2023, the odds of ladies within the extra secure classes of main and talking roles mirrored solely minor beneficial properties.”
Established actresses over 50 performed attention-getting roles in 2024, together with Demi Moore in The Substance. Nonetheless, ageism stays a problem, with males garnering a a lot bigger proportion of roles because the ages of characters improve.
“These feminine characters are the exception, not the rule,” noticed Lauzen. “Age is a foundational attribute. If we restrict the age of feminine characters on display screen, we restrict the sorts of experiences and lives we see them reside. Our movies largely fail to benefit from the depth of character that comes from ladies’s lived experiences and the added dramatic push characters confront after they know they’re of their third act.”
The proportion of feminine characters plummeted from 35% of their 30s to 16% of their 40s. In stark distinction, the share of male characters elevated as they moved from their 30s (25%) to their 40s (31%). Greater than twice as many male characters as females have been 50 and older.
Total, 72% of movies featured extra male than feminine characters in talking roles. Solely 21% of movies had extra feminine than male characters, and seven% of movies featured equal numbers of feminine and male characters.
Now in its twenty third yr, It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World is the longest-running and most complete mission inspecting ladies’s illustration in movie out there. Between 2002 and 2024, the mission has analyzed the illustration of greater than 31,000 characters.
