Good and Bad News on the Film Front

How little—and how—people with disabilities are portrayed in films has long been criticized. This year, however, the See Jane 2020 Report from the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media offers a bit of good news regarding how often people with disabilities were portrayed in the 100 top-grossing family films of 2019. At the same time, it noted a few shortcomings in the way they were portrayed.

While the percentage of family films featuring a lead with a disability in 2019 was at a historic high (8 percent), the analysis showed that the characters were portrayed in some ways that might be considered negative at a higher rate than people without disabilities. Moreover, even though 8 percent is a historic high, it’s still much lower than the percentage of people with disabilities in the population.

For more information about the research findings, visit https://bit.ly/2S7kyZb.

A FEW FINDINGS

8% OF FAMILY FILMS IN 2019 FEATURED A LEAD WITH A DISABILITY.

IN THE UNITED STATES, 12.8% OF THE POPULATION HAS A DISABILITY.

2X—CHARACTERS WITH A DISABILITY ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO BE SHOWN IN MANAGEMENT POSITIONS
THAN OTHER CHARACTERS.

CHARACTERS WITH A DISABILITY ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO DIE IN FAMILY FILMS THAN OTHER CHARACTERS.

66% OF DISABLED CHARACTERS ARE PORTRAYED AS HARD-WORKING COMPARED TO 50% OF OTHER CHARACTERS.

Statistics and image courtesy of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a project of Mount Saint Mary’s University, 2020.

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