Women, gay and black people still shown as stereotypes in film

"Films are perpetuating harmful and out-of-date sexual, racial and gender stereotypes, according to the biggest-ever study of its kind into cinema audiences' opinions.

Of 4,315 adults across the UK who were surveyed, a clear majority believe cinema too often falls back on discredited stereotypes, including sexless older women, drug dealing, oversexualised black people and gay people whose lives are dominated by their sexuality.

Almost two-thirds of those questioned believe older women are "significantly underrepresented" in films. They are rarely portrayed as sexual beings and are, generally, only given marginal roles, according to the findings, published exclusively in the Guardian today.

Respondents said film-makers needed to try harder to create films which authentically reflected their lives.
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"Contrary to what one would expect, older women are increasingly comfortable with the 'cougar' image: they feel it signifies renewed interest and admiration for this age group," said Steve Evans, research director of Harris Interactive and author of the report, pointing to Melissa Leo, who won the supporting-actress Academy Award for her role as a domineering matriarch in The Fighter.

But Ariel Levy, author of Female Chauvinist Pigs, said the structure of films made it "almost impossible" to show nuanced, accurate portrayals of women. "Films are very formulaic and straitjacketed," she said. "Films are fairytales that, unless they have an unusually politically astute and creatively imaginative director, need to fall back on often insulting gender and racial archetypes to generate the energy necessary in the short amount of time they have."

Shirley Conran, author of Superwoman, said she had long given up expecting films to portray older women in anything other than a "grotesque" way. She agreed with Levy that the problem was inherent in the film industry. "They always say there are no good parts for women but there are lots of stories with great female characters. I have written some of them myself, and had them optioned by film companies," she said. "The problem is that the money men won't let those films get made because they underestimate audiences."