Going to the movies this summer? Chances are outstanding that you’ll see a film directed by a white male.
A new study conducted by TheWrap.com shows a stunning lack of diversity from an industry which collectively speaks with a loud, progressive voice.
White men are directing or co-directing 37 of the 39 major releases this summer, including a biopic of legendary black entertainer James Brown. (Director Tate Taylor, who last directed “The Help,” is doing the honors for “Get on Up.”) White men are directing intimate dramas (“The Fault in Our Stars”), comedies (“Blended”), horror fare (“Deliver Us From Evil”), action movies starring women (“Lucy”), action movies starring men (“The Expendables 3”), effects-laden spectacle (“Transformers 4”) and revisionist fairy tales (“Maleficent”).
Two upcoming summer films were directed by black men (Think Like a Man Too, When the Game Stands Tall), one was co-directed by a Mexican American (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) and one was co-directed by a woman (Lana Wachowski, Jupiter Ascending).
The survey is merely more of the same regarding Hollywood’s diversity track record. Recent research has found stark diversity imbalances with the number of women featured prominently on screen as well as how few people of color are writing the stories we pay to see.