Behind the Screen: Diversity in Film & TV

In order to gauge an audience's perception of diversity in film and television, I set up a survey which asked questions about their thoughts on racial, gender, and sexuality diversity. Split into two sections, the survey comprised of 10 questions. The first three questions were used to gauge the demographic of the audience through age, gender, and race, followed by two questions each on the subject of race, gender, and sexuality representation. The final question asked whether or not the individuals taking the survey felt as though they themselves were properly represented on the screen. The survey used a mix of quantitative and qualitative techniques through yes or no questions and open text boxes. I did toy with the idea of presenting this information in three parts (with one blog post on each of the three main subjects of the survey), however I thought it would be more practical for readers to find all of the information in one place. Question 1 of my survey on Diversity i...

Women directing successful, big-budget feature films seems to be a rarity, but why is this? Even rarer is a woman picking up an award for directing. Do women not have an interest in directing, or is it a sexism problem within the industry? Since the first Oscar statues were handed out in 1929, only five women have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director, and even worse, only one woman (Kathryn Bigelow) has won. Following suit, the Golden Globe for Best Director has only been won by one woman (Barbra Streisand), with only five women being nominated. Despite the current conversations surrounding the gender pay gap, #MeToo, and #TimesUp, Hollywood is still choosing to disregard the accomplishments of women by snubbing them during awards season. Kathryn Bigelow with her Oscar for Best Director for  The Hurt Locker  (2008). ( source ) While it looks like things may be changing, with the likes of Greta Gerwig, Ava DuVernay, Patty Jenkins, and Dee Rees al...