Authentic Diversity in Movies Wins at the Box Office and with Kids
New research reinforces the value of authentic representation in film.
This post originally appeared on Common Sense on May 31, 2022.
Turns out that having diverse representations in our movies—real, authentic portrayals of people from a variety of backgrounds—is good for kids and the filmmaking industry. Recent research shows that films with more diverse casts are out-earning movies with less diversity. More diverse representations are also good for kids' emotional development and well-being.
Here's what the latest research reveals about where we're making progress with diversity in film, where we are not, and how the film industry's actions when it comes to more diversity and high-quality representation in movies impacts kids and families.
Films with more diverse casts drive higher movie ticket sales and revenue
The recently released Hollywood Diversity Report 2022: Part I was the ninth in a series of studies conducted by the Division of Social Sciences at UCLA. The study showed positive progress on diverse representation in film. In 2020, representation of people of color in front of the camera was proportional to the population for the first time—and this held true in 2021 as well, at 38.9% among film leads and 43.1 % for total actors in films.
Plus, bringing more diverse casts to the screen translated to financial results. The same report revealed that in 2021, films with casts that were 21% to 30% people of color enjoyed the highest median global box office receipts, while films with casts that were less than 11% people of color were the lowest performers, continuing a trend seen in the past four years.
Today's audiences seek out nuanced, high-quality portrayals of diverse characters
Films that scored higher on a measure of "authentically inclusive representation" (AIR) did better at the box office and received more acclaim from critics and audience members. The AIR 2.0: Driving Box Office Performance Through Authentically Inclusive Storytelling report from the UCLA Center for Scholars and Storytellers, Creative Artists Agency, and the Full Story Initiative found that large-budget films in 2021 performed better when they had more authentic representation. For every point increase in a film's AIR score, box office earnings increased by $18.8 million. High AIR films also scored 6% higher on Rotten Tomatoes audience scores and 22% higher on critics' scores.
The AIR 2.0 report's evaluation considered several factors. First, it looked at whether people from diverse backgrounds were on screen and behind the scenes, and if diversity was present, whether characters and stories genuinely reflected the cultures being portrayed instead of relying on stereotypes. Researchers also examined to what extent a film's representation increased the complexity of a general audience's understanding of that cultural group.
The influence and preferences of diverse audiences are driving these findings. The Hollywood Diversity Report 2022 also found that people of color accounted for the majority of domestic ticket sales for six of the top 10 films in 2021. Households of color accounted for a disproportionate share of the households viewing each of the top 10 films released on streaming platforms. And Black households gave their highest ratings to streaming films with greater than 50% minority cast share while White households gave films that were 21-30% minority their highest ratings.
Families prefer more diverse representation in films. Our own report, The Inclusion Imperative: Why Media Representation Matters for Kids' Ethnic-Racial Development, revealed that all parents prefer more diversity in the programming their kids watch.
The trend toward greater diversity in films is healthy for kids
More authentic diversity in media is a positive trend for kids' racial development. Ethnic-racial development starts early. Patterns suggest that even babies receive, notice, and organize information relevant to ethnicity-race. Over time, the portrayals a kid sees in the media can inform their sense of identity and where they fit in the world.
Among young people of color, watching favorable and authentic depictions of their own ethnic-racial group can have a positive impact on self-perceptions and views about their ethnic-racial group. In contrast, studies examining how media use influences Black children and adolescents have found that exposure to stereotypical media representations was related to lower self-esteem, satisfaction with one's appearance, confidence in one's own ability, feelings about their ethnic-racial group, and academic performance.
According to our study, Asian, Black, and Hispanic/Latino parents are much more likely to feel that the representation of their own ethnic-racial group in media is stereotypical than White parents do.
What makes a high-quality portrayal? Research informs how we rate diverse representation in media. My colleague Li Lai, senior director of content at Common Sense Media, puts it like this: "When we rate diverse representation in a film or show, we are looking for three-dimensional, whole characters who are more than their racial identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Even positive traits can be perceived as stereotypes. It's more helpful for kids to see multidimensional characters."
More diversity in front of and behind the camera will lead to more authentically inclusive portrayals
Encouragingly, roughly four out of five lead actors in 2021 were people of color. The Hollywood Diversity Report 2022 states that Black actors were 15.5% of film leads in 2021, just above proportional level (13.4%). Multiracial lead actors were proportional as well, at 10.3%. Yet the numbers for Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Native American, and Middle Eastern and North African leads were still underrepresentative in 2021 compared to their percentage in the general population.
When it comes to those behind the camera, representation has been much slower to shift, as reflected by the fact that writers and directors are still predominantly White males. The same report shows that only 30.2% of film directors and 32.3% of film writers were people of color.
The question of who's in control behind the camera can affect how authentically the characters are drawn in the script, who lands the audition, and how sensitively the characters are presented in the screenplay.
More diversity across the board is the only way to ensure films are more realistic and equitable in their representation. Given that the payoff is there for kids and for the business, we expect to see more movement toward diversity and authentic representation in all arenas of movie development and production. We look to the entertainment industry to continue to track progress and work to accelerate this trend.
It's not only good for the bottom line, it's important for the healthy development of kids.
Michael Robb
Senior Director of Research, Common Sense Media
The Unbearable Invisibility of Being MENA in the Media
Growing up in Hawaii, despite its beautiful, multicultural communities, there was rarely a person around me that was Middle Eastern North African (MENA). My Iranian immigrant family practically took off sprinting after anyone if we heard even an inkling of Farsi spoken, just so that we could say hello. It was that rare and that coveted.
Decades later, those same combined, complicated feelings of yearning, heartache, and gratitude still wash over me when I find any media representation whatsoever that positively represents Persian culture. That’s why I was immediately diverted from my piled-up to-do list when I came across an Instagram video post of Britney Spears saying “Asheghetam” (“I love you” in Farsi) to Sam Asghari, her long-time boyfriend and now fiancé, who happens to be Iranian-American.
In fact, representation of Iranians, or anyone with MENA heritage has historically fallen short in Hollywood. Portrayals are often limited to painfully stereotyped characters which Meighan Stone, Former President of the Malala Fund, described as “negative, violent, and voiceless” in her report for the Harvard Kennedy School. In fact, her study of a 2-year period, between 2015-2017, found that there was not a single news story that highlighted positive coverage over negative coverage of Muslim protagonists.
Similarly, Jack Shaheen’s book Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People analyzed 1,000 films across more than 100 years of filmmaking (from 1896-2000) and found that a whopping 93.5% offered negative portrayals, while 5% were neutral and a sad minority of only 1% were positive. A recent study by the MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition found that 242 primetime, first-run scripted TV and streaming shows between 2015-2016 underrepresented MENA actors. When including MENA characters in primetime TV shows, a majority (78%) depicted roles of terrorists, tyrants, agents, or soldiers, most of which were spoken with an accent.
MENA actors who break through MENA stereotypes are often still hidden and invisible in terms of their MENA identity. Among those with Iranian-American heritage: Yara Shahidi, Sarah Shahi (birth name Aahoo Jahansouzshahi), Adrian Pasdar, and others whose roles are often portrayed as a character with another non-MENA ethnic background (which sometimes coincides accurately with their own mixed heritage, but does not reflect their MENA side), such as Black, Latinx or Italian American.
Not enough has improved, but there are inklings of potential progress. Although the intriguing plan to launch a comedy about a Middle Eastern family of superheroes has yet to bear out, the TBS sitcom Chad made it on air after five years in development. Chad is about a teenage boy named Ferydoon “Chad” Amani, a 14-year-old Iranian-American played by Nasim Pedrad of Saturday Night Live.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Nasim Pedrad sums up how her personal experience motivated her vision for the show:
“When I was growing up, I did not see a half-hour comedy centered around, you know, a Middle Eastern family let alone specifically, a Persian one. In fact, so much of the representation of Middle Easterners on TV that I did see was predominantly negative, which was very alienating. I didn’t see Persian people on TV that seemed anything like the Persian people that I was surrounded by, not just in my family, but in my community. I didn’t understand. I was like, ‘Why are Middle Eastern people on American television only bad guys?’ Like what about those of us living here that are just like the rest of you, except for the specific cultural elements that we still celebrate and hold onto. So my hope is that people watch the show and actually can recognize that yes, this family is Persian American, but hopefully they can tap into just how many similarities we all have and how much we all have in common.”
Psychologists and other scholars substantiate the importance of representation. The failure to move past stereotyped, negative roles for a majority of MENA characters is deeply harmful. It contributes to what my colleagues and I described as a cumulative racial-ethnic trauma for MENA Americans, in an article published in the American Psychologist. MENA Americans live with chronic and pervasive experiences of hypervisibility related to negative portrayals, and utter invisibility when it comes to featuring the positive, or even just the normal. These chronic subtle, and sometimes overt, messages of hate build up, contributing to insecurity, alienation, hopelessness, and ultimately, physical health and mortality.
In contrast, the potential benefits of media portrayals that affirm the ways in which MENA and other diverse communities are interconnected, loving, and share common values, hopes, and dreams, matter to children’s mental health and well-being. They matter to creating a society that has compassion, empathy, and embraces the many strengths that diversity brings.
Actionable Insights
Do your homework. Watch and read authentic stories. Examples in the media are when Anthony Bourdain visited Iran on Parts Unknown, or when Brandon Stanton took his camera to Iran and other countries allowing his loyal HONY following to connect with the universality of human struggles and triumphs across borders.
Represent rich complexity, identities, and varieties. Feature MENA characters in television and film with non-stereotyped characteristics and roles. Pay attention to details such as accents, religious beliefs, immigrant generation, sexuality, and gender roles that perpetuate negative stereotypes, are often inaccurate, and do not represent the diversity within the MENA community.
Involve insiders. Involve MENA Americans in content creation to ensure authenticity of stories and characters. CSS Collaborator, Sascha Paladino, and his team offer a lovely model of inclusion and authenticity in Mira, Royal Detective, a Disney Junior show featuring a South Asian protagonist.
Amplify capable, compelling, desirable representations. Amplify MENA stories that represent the many societal contributions MENA Americans make. Oftentimes, when someone with a MENA heritage does something well, their race/ethnicity is suddenly invisible from the story, and may not even be reported.
Increase the sheer number of characters. Increase the MENA American characters in children’s programming. At only about 1%, there’s no place to go but up.
Be accurate about identities. Accurately and authentically depict MENA actors as MENA (or, when relevant to their actual background and not creating conflict with the storyline, upholding their mixed heritage) characters. Likewise, such as in the case of Prince of Persia, or Dune, when characters are supposed have MENA heritage, hire MENA actors.
Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Collaborator of CSS
How toys became gendered – and why it’ll take more than a gender-neutral doll to change how boys perceive femininity
This article originally appeared on The Conversation on December 15, 2019.
Parents who want to raise their children in a gender-nonconforming way have a new stocking stuffer this year: the gender-neutral doll.
Announced in September, Mattel’s new line of gender-neutral humanoid dolls don’t clearly identify as either a boy or a girl. The dolls come with a variety of wardrobe options and can be dressed in varying lengths of hair and clothing styles.
But can a doll – or the growing list of other gender-neutral toys – really change the way we think about gender?
Mattel says it’s responding to research that shows “kids don’t want their toys dictated by gender norms.” Given the results of a recent study reporting that 24% of U.S. adolescents have a nontraditional sexual orientation or gender identity, such as bisexual or nonbinary, the decision makes business sense.
As a developmental psychologist who researches gender and sexual socialization, I can tell you that it also makes scientific sense. Gender is an identity and is not based on someone’s biological sex. That’s why I believe it’s great news that some dolls will better reflect how children see themselves.
Unfortunately, a doll alone is not going to overturn decades of socialization that have led us to believe that boys wear blue, have short hair and play with trucks; whereas girls like pink, grow their hair long and play with dolls. More to the point, it’s not going to change how boys are taught that masculinity is good and femininity is something less – a view that my research shows is associated with sexual violence.
Pink girls and blue boys
The kinds of toys American children play with tend to adhere to a clear gender binary.
Toys marketed to boys tend to be more aggressive and involve action and excitement. Girl toys, on the other hand, are usually pink and passive, emphasizing beauty and nurturing.
It wasn’t always like this.
Around the turn of the 20th century, toys were rarely marketed to different genders. By the 1940s, manufacturers quickly caught on to the idea that wealthier families would buy an entire new set of clothing, toys and other gadgets if the products were marketed differently for both genders. And so the idea of pink for girls and blue for boys was born.
Today, gendered toy marketing in the U.S. is stark. Walk down any toy aisle and you can clearly see who the audience is. The girl aisle is almost exclusively pink, showcasing mostly Barbie dolls and princesses. The boy aisle is mostly blue and features trucks and superheroes.
Breaking down the binary
The emergence of a gender-neutral doll is a sign of how this binary of boys and girls is beginning to break down – at least when it comes to girls.
A 2017 study showed that more than three-quarters of those surveyed said it was a good thing for parents to encourage young girls to play with toys or do activities “associated with the opposite gender.” The share rises to 80% for women and millennials.
But when it came to boys, support dropped significantly, with 64% overall – and far fewer men – saying it was good to encourage them to do things associated with girls. Those who were older or more conservative were even more likely to think it wasn’t a good idea.
Reading between the lines suggests there’s a view that traits stereotypically associated with men – such as strength, courage and leadership – are good, whereas those tied to femininity – such as vulnerability, emotion and caring – are bad. Thus boys receive the message that wanting to look up to girls is not OK.
And many boys are taught over and over throughout their lives that exhibiting “female traits” is wrong and means they aren’t “real men.” Worse, they’re frequently punished for it – while exhibiting masculine traits like aggression are often rewarded.
How this affects sexual expectations
This gender socialization continues into emerging adulthood and affects men’s romantic and sexual expectations.
For example, a 2015 study I conducted with three co-authors explored how participants felt their gender affected their sexual experiences. Roughly 45% of women said they expected to experience some kind of sexual violence just because they are women; whereas none of the men reported a fear of sexual violence and 35% said their manhood meant they should expect pleasure.
And these findings can be linked back to the kinds of toys we play with. Girls are taught to be passive and strive for beauty by playing with princesses and putting on makeup. Boys are encouraged to be more active or even aggressive with trucks, toys guns and action figures; building, fighting and even dominating are emphasized. A recent analysis of Lego sets demonstrates this dichotomy in what they emphasize for boys – building expertise and skilled professions – compared with girls – caring for others, socializing and being pretty. Thus, girls spend their childhoods practicing how to be pretty and care for another person, while boys practice getting what they want.
This results in a sexual double standard in which men are the powerful actors and women are subordinate. And even in cases of sexual assault, research has shown people will put more blame on a female rape victim if she does something that violates a traditional gender role, such as cheating on her husband – which is more accepted for men than for women.
A 2016 study found that adolescent men who subscribe to traditional masculine gender norms are more likely to engage in dating violence, such as sexual assault, physical or emotional abuse and stalking.
Teaching gender tolerance
Mattel’s gender-neutral dolls offer much-needed variety in kids’ toys, but children – as well as adults – also need to learn more tolerance of how others express gender differently than they do. And boys in particular need support in appreciating and practicing more traditional feminine traits, like communicating emotion or caring for someone else – skills that are required for any healthy relationship.
Gender neutrality represents the absence of gender – not the tolerance of different gender expression. If we emphasize only the former, I believe femininity and the people who express it will remain devalued.
So consider doing something gender-nonconforming with your children’s existing dolls, such as having Barbie win a wrestling championship or giving Ken a tutu. And encourage the boys in your life to play with them too.
Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Michigan State University
This article originally appeared on The Conversation.
What Can Children Learn About Social Justice from Picture Books About Migration?
Many young children encounter refugees and migrants for the first time in the picture books read to them by their parents. But what can they learn from these stories? Amidst growing hostility towards immigrants in both the UK and the US in the Brexit and Trump era, we set to address this question and shed light on the role that these books play as socialization agents in young children’s lives. We selected 40 popular books published in these two countries during 2015-2019 and systematically analyzed their content, following a codebook developed specifically for this study.
We found that the stories are characterized by three dominant narratives. The first centers on the immigrant’s resolve to overcome a range of hardships and difficulties involved in the journey to their new home and the adjustments such a move requires. The second narrative focuses specifically on the migrants’ or refugees’ quest for social acceptance in their new cultural context while concurrently harboring memories of their home country. This tension is expressed through specific cultural markers, such as a Persian carpet in a story of an immigrant from Iraq to Europe, embedding words in Creole in a story of a migrant from Haiti, or employing images of Barbie and Nintendo to signify the US as the host country. The third narrative depicts a happy ending of the journey, better life in the host country, often characterized by a celebration of the protagonist’s realization of the American Dream.
“Half of the books we examined focused on contexts of forced migration, where children flee violence, war, oppression, poverty, and/or famine.”
The construction of the host country as a haven is often achieved by depicting the migrant’s life in the country of origin as extremely difficult, miserable, and dangerous. Half of the books we examined focused on contexts of forced migration, where children flee violence, war, oppression, poverty, and/or famine. In this sense – and similar to other media portrayals of migrations (such as news coverage) – these books introduce children to the dire reality of many of their counterparts around the world, by reinforcing the negative experiences of migration. In turn, they downplay voluntary migration, for example, stories of migration motivated by the desire to pursue education or a profession. The implied message in many of these children’s stories is that people migrate to “our country” (the US and the UK) which is safe, welcoming, and prosperous, in order to leave behind places that are unsafe, dangerous, dirty, and poor.
To bypass highly politicized contemporary discourses about immigration and their often divisive tendencies, one strategy that 40% of the books employ is to locate their stories in the past, using history as a prism through which to understand contemporary migration. In this way, migration is presented as a story that is safely secured in the bygone era, as in, for example, stories of immigrants who entered the US through Ellis Island or of famous figures such as Irving Berlin, who immigrated from Tsarist Russia to hospitable New York.
Interestingly, the depiction of antagonists was largely absent in the stories; the world is presented as a safe place full of well-intentioned people, similar to TV content for young audiences. The protagonists, half of whom are children, are mostly migrants themselves and are represented by and large as human characters. They are frequently characterized as active and positive, exhibiting creativity, talent, innovativeness, bravery, resilience, kindness, and optimism. Their gender identity follows the typical imbalance in children’s media more generally – namely, the majority of characters are male, and are mostly depicted as active. It was striking that even the stories that did focus on a female protagonist completely ignored the particular gendered hardships and injustice faced by millions of girls in their countries from which they flee.
Finally, we also noted that the trend of diversifying the representation of children in contemporary media and culture manifests itself in picture books as well: over a third of the characters have brown skin, which can signify a range of races and ethnicities, including African, Latinx, Middle-Eastern, and/or South Asian, a quarter have white skin, and the rest are non-human or had more than one skin colour. In addition, some of the child characters are depicted in dual-parent families while others are presented in single-parent families. At the same time, heterosexuality remains the norm: there is no reference to non-heterosexual families or characters.
So what lessons can children learn from picture books focusing on immigration?
They may learn that migration stories are success stories, where children move from unfortunate circumstances in their home countries, which are predominantly in the global South, to much better lives in the host countries in the global North – most frequently the US. They are generally greeted with generosity and hospitality and find their host country to be a safe place of comfort, acceptance, and happiness, which is devoid of antagonists, and in which opportunities are bountiful and individual efforts are rewarded.
“[These picture books] miss an opportunity to broaden children’s knowledge and appreciation of the plurality of cultures, experiences, and places and the urgent need to respect and protect them.”
This is a familiar construction that celebrates ‘bootstrap neoliberalism,’ whereby individual determination, perseverance, resilience and optimism bear fruit in the ‘land of opportunities.’ Yet it misses the chance to engage young children with issues of equity, discrimination, and injustice in their own ‘host societies.’ It also contributes to the binary and stereotypical depiction of the global North as a safe haven, and the global South as a monolithic space of misery and suffering. The richness and diversity of cultures, traditions, histories and experiences outside of the western world is, in this way, largely erased. Therefore, we concluded that “paradoxically, while children’s picture books concerning migration are aimed at highlighting, appreciating, and celebrating difference and are part of the growing trend of children’s ‘diversity’ books that promote justice and fairness, they seem concurrently to erase difference and injustice. They thus miss an opportunity to broaden children’s knowledge and appreciation of the plurality of cultures, experiences, and places and the urgent need to respect and protect them.”
Shani Orgad
Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science
Dafna Lemish
School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University
Collaborator of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers
Sam, 13
Favorite Media/Technology: Xbox
How do you and your family interact with media/technology?
We watched sports together before COVID and now we sometimes watch movies together or play games against one another. My family uses Houseparty to play online games together.
How do you and your peers interact with media/technology?
I play Fortnite and talk to my friends on Xbox. On TikTok I send my friends funny videos. I also use Snapchat to for streaks.
What do you use media for?
I use social media for anything sports-related. I also use TikTok and YouTube to search up funny videos or sports highlight reels. I play Fortnite and sports games on Xbox.
What is your favorite/least favorite thing about media/technology?
Media is fun, but I don’t like the news.
What media are you using more now because of the coronavirus (COVID-19)?
I used more technology once the pandemic began, because I began doing all my school work online and sports were cancelled. I hung out with his family and played games and kept up with friends through video games. Now that sports are allowed, I don’t use technology as much as I did.
Interviewed by: Sophie Graham, University of Cincinnati student
Daniel, 15
Media Consumption: 6-7 hours a day
Favorite Media/Technology: Xbox
How do you and your family interact with media/technology?
My family uses media to help with their work and hobbies. My dad uses technology for his job, because he’s a programmer, so he’ll use the computer for scripting or coding related websites. My mom uses technology like her phone for family group chats, business related things such as her acupuncture Instagram, and watches Iranian shows that she can’t find on American TV. My sister uses media for art related purposes, social media, and watching shows. I personally use media for YouTube, Instagram, gaming, and discord to talk to my friends. When we’re spending time together, we watch shows on Netflix and the news together.
How do you and your peers interact with media/technology?
We use different platforms like Discord, Instagram, and Xbox to hangout and talk to each other.
What do you use media for?
I use media to entertain myself and to find different crafting techniques. I really like YouTube for my hobbies and I’ll upload content related to that so I can promote my hobbies. I also play video games such as Star Wars and different strategy games. In the past, I had a lot of different gaming consoles like the Wii, DS, and PSP, but these days I use Xbox to play with my friends.
What is your favorite/least favorite thing about media/technology?
I love media because it can help change your mood. It helps me fall asleep and I like to use technology to listen to music too. I also get to chill and communicate with people from communities that share my same hobbies in Lego and art. My least favorite thing about media is how different platforms are always keeping track of what we’re doing, because it violates my privacy.
What is one thing you want the people who create the media you like to watch/play/interact with to know?
I wish the video games I play would have some sort of punishment for people who make inappropriate comments. People who make these games should be aware of what is going on in their games and take more serious action by having more monitoring and moderators.
What media are you using more now because of the coronavirus (COVID-19)?
During COVID-19 we have to stay home and there’s nothing to do. That affects my mental health since I don’t have anyone to talk to and we can’t go outside to interact with people, so I have been using my Xbox more to talk to my friends. I can’t see them or talk to them in person, so I use it to hang out with them.
Where do you get most of your information to learn more about the coronavirus (e.g., news, internet, parents, etc.)?
I hear about the pandemic on the news and YouTube, which I watch on my PC or the TV. I hear about it every day so I’m always up to date on coronavirus.
What media has been helping you stay busy/stay calm during this difficult time?
I have been using Discord to talk to the Lego community. Discord is a website where people can create servers about different hobbies and those of us who have the same hobbies can get together and talk. I check my messages every day, and speak with other Lego and Star Wars fans.
What lessons have you learned from COVID-19?
I learned that patience is key. Because we have had to stay inside through the whole pandemic, I’ve learned that we have to wait for things in life and there are times when we just can’t have or do what we want, so we have to wait. I have also learned the importance of exercise in maintaining mental health.
Have you learned anything about how you use media and technology because of COVID-19?
I learned how important media is. For example, without platforms like Zoom being used for communication, it would be so hard to get through this pandemic. Media can also be very helpful for different situations, such as teaching for school and having access to educational material.
Interview conducted by: Neeku Salehi, UCLA 4th Year Student