Inclusion Lacking In Top Hollywood Films
People with disabilities remain woefully underrepresented in major Hollywood movies, according to a new analysis.
Just 2.5 percent of characters had disabilities in 2017’s top 100 films, down from 2.7 percent the year prior.
The findings come from an annual report produced by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Researchers analyzed the representation of characters in last year’s most popular films to assess diversity by gender, race, sexual orientation and disability.
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“Those expecting a banner year for inclusion will be disappointed,” said Stacy L. Smith, founding director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and an author of the report. “Hollywood has yet to move from talking about inclusion to meaningfully increasing on-screen representation for women, people of color, the LGBT community or individuals with disabilities.”
Of last year’s most popular films, 41 included no speaking characters with disabilities, the report found, and only two movies portrayed people with disabilities in proportion with their actual representation in American society.
Nearly two-thirds of the 112 characters with disabilities in the films had physical issues, about 30 percent had communication disabilities and just over a quarter had mental disabilities. Most were male and white.
“Movies consistently portray few characters with disabilities, and rarely are these individuals the focus of storytelling,” the report concluded. “Viewers hoping for an authentic picture of individuals with disabilities will find little to watch in the top films of 2017.”
Smith indicated that increasing diversity in the entertainment industry will require broad change.
“Good intentions are not enough to create change,” Smith said. “Hollywood needs tangible, actionable solutions that will usher in real transformation.”