Inequality in Hollywood

This article discusses forms of discrimination that may be present in Hollywood.

Gender inequality

Gender inequality is an issue that has been discussed in Hollywood and in the media over a long period of time. Such problems can be seen in the wage gap between actors and actresses. In a poll done by The New York Film Academy in 2014, research shows that the top ten male actors made a collective amount of $419 million compared to the top ten actresses who made roughly $226 million collectively. the highest paid actor as of 2017 made $68 million dollars while the highest paid actress made $42 million dollars less, which is $26 million.

Opportunities within the film industry may be biased towards gender. A New York Film Academy research study shows that a 10.6% increase in female characters on screen is observed when a woman is directing, and an 8.7% increase when a female screenwriter is attached. Also, "Visual effects, usually the largest department for big feature films, had an average of only 17.5% of women, while music had just 16%, and camera and electrical were, on average, 95% male". Women have also seen a decrease as film directors. In 2016, from the top 250 grossing films, female directors were only apart of 7% of that number.

Inequality in film can be seen by the representation of characters women portray. The same research poll done by The New York Film Academy in 2014 discusses the inequality of clothing and how a character is revealed between men and women. According to the poll, only 30.8% of speaking characters are women, and from those about 31%, only 28.8% of those women wore sexually revealing clothes compared to 7% of men.

Racial inequality

The presence of racial inequality in Hollywood has also been debated. The Georgetown Law Journal of Modern Critical Race Perspectives published an article stating that “typically, breakdowns reserve leading roles for white actors, leaving only a small number of remaining roles for non-white actors.” In 2006, a study done by UCLA Chicano Studies states, "From June 1st to August 31st of that year revealed that only 0.5% to 8.1% of roles were available for actors of color, compared to 69% of roles “reserved” for white actors. Moreover, only 8.5% of roles did not designate race or ethnicity, pitting white actors against actors of color". Furthermore, “Just over a quarter (25.9%) of the 3,932 speaking characters evaluated were from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups; [74.1% were White]” Another issue facing race can be seen in the potential reboot of "Hawaii Five-O" where actors Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park quit because their contracts had a 10% to 15% pay gap between their fellow white co-stars.

Age inequality

Ageism can be seen as another type of discrimination throughout Hollywood which affects more women than men. Ageism is not a new phenomenon to Hollywood. Women are often cast younger beside an actor above their senior. For example, “in the 1942 classic Casablanca, Ingrid Bergman, 27, played opposite Humphrey Bogart, 16 years older than her”