Celluloid world: Dr. Martha Lauzen’s latest study shows a significant increase in female protagonists in the top grossing feature films of last year. But it’s all relative – this “big” jump was from only 12% to only 22%. And ethnic and racial diversity is still startlingly low – 76% of all female characters were white.
Script intros: Producer Ross Putnam’s new Twitter account @femscriptintros compiles the best of the worst introductions of women characters in scripts – the results are both hilarious and horrifying. Female representation still has a long way to go.
Pregnancy portrayals: Ester Bloom tackles Hollywood’s problem with accurate representation of pregnant women on screen.
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