Film critics are still mostly white males, a new study by USC Annenberg’s Inclusion Initiative has found.
The newest study, entitled “Critic’s Choice?”, assessed reviews of the 100 top grossing films of 2017 posted on the site Rotten Tomatoes to determine gender and race/ethnicity of critics.
Of the 19,559 reviews examined, 22.2 percent were written by females, while 77.9 percent were written by males, equaling a gender ratio of 3.55 males to every one female reviewer. The study also found that 18 percent of all reviews were written by critics from underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds, while 82 percent were by white critics.
“The very individuals who are attuned to the under and misrepresentation of females on screen and behind the camera are often left out of the conversation and critiques,” said Dr. Stacy Smith, founder and director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. “The publicity, marketing, and distribution teams in moviemaking have an opportunity to change this quickly by increasing the access and opportunities given to women of color as film reviewers.”
Of all reviews, 63.2 percent were written by white males, 18.1 percent by white females, 13.8 percent by underrepresented men and 5.1 percent by underrepresented women.
The study also looked at the “Top Critics” section of the site, and found that 76 percent of all 3,359 reviews were written by men. Only 2.5 percent of the reviews by the top critics were written by women of color. Top film reviews written by white males outnumber reviews written by underrepresented females by almost 27 to 1.
“Even among top critics, the words of white and male critics fill a greater share of the conversation than females and people of color,” added Marc Choueiti, lead author of the study. “Re-examining the definition of a top critic or simply casting a wider net can be the opportunity to open up and diversify the voices heard in the critic space.”
Among the 36 female-driven movies in 2017, 70 percent of those films were reviewed by groups where women amounted to less than 30 percent of its reviewers. Women of color were absent as top critics from the 45 out of the 100 female-driven films analyzed.
“The report reveals the absence of women of color working as reviewers, especially on movies built around female and underrepresented leads,” added Smith.”
White male critics wrote the highest average number of reviews each year, at 14.3, while underrepresented males wrote an average of 11.1. White women wrote an average of 9.4, while underrepresented females only wrote 5.6 reviews.
12 Best Movies of 2017, From 'Dunkirk' to 'Call Me by Your Name' (Photos)
2017 was a strong year for cinema, with achievements that can be measured on many yardsticks: It was the year a Wonder Woman got to rock the seemingly unassailable superhero genre, the year a black sketch comedian became a massively profitable writer-director, and the year when Tiffany Haddish ascended to the comedy cosmos. Corporate filmmaking may continue to choke Hollywood (and a Disney-Fox merger isn't good news in that department), but this was a year when there was always something to recommend, whether it was blasting to the big screen or streaming to a smaller one.
The runners-up (alphabetically)
“Beach Rats,” “Blade Runner 2049,” “BPM,” “The Florida Project,” “God’s Own Country,” "Graduation," “I, Tonya,” “Ingrid Goes West,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer,” “Phantom Thread,” “Professor Marston and the Wonder Women,” "Sieranevada."
Warner Bros.
10. “My Happy Family”
Currently streaming on Netflix, this import from Georgia features one of the year’s most powerful performances: Ia Shugliasvili stars as Manana, a wife and mother living in an overcrowded Tbilisi apartment with her parents, husband, and adult children. She shocks all of them by moving out and getting her own place in this powerful and often darkly funny character study.
Netflix
9. “Dunkirk” and “Detroit”
Amidst the popcorn fluff of summer, we got two auteurist films that dropped audiences into the middle of historical brutality. Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” was a suspenseful, staccato WWII story presented from a variety of perspectives, while Kathryn Bigelow’s “Detroit” was a hard-to-watch horror-show about police brutality in 1967 that rang all too true in 2017 America. Both films were illuminating, visceral experiences.
Warner Bros./Annapurna
8. “Personal Shopper”
This very contemporary ghost story -- where are those texts coming from, and how recently were they sent? -- reteamed Kristen Stewart with director Olivier Assayas, who previously guided her through the acclaimed “Clouds of Sils Maria.” Stewart is never less than brilliant as a millennial medium who is as trapped between life and death as she is stuck between career paths.
IFC
7. “Brad’s Status” and “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)”
Mike White and Noah Baumbach strengthened their reputations as two of the leading voices of graying white Gen X-ers with these hilarious and heartbreaking character studies of middle-aged men facing regrets, paths not taken, and the angst of sending your kid off to college. Adam Sandler (in “Meyerowitz”) and Ben Stiller (in both movies) are given the opportunity to offer some of their most heartfelt, adult acting.
Annapurna/Netflix
6. “Marjorie Prime”
Lois Smith’s heartbreaking performance deserves notice, but there’s a lot more to this poignant and provocative look at the end of life and how we often become the unreliable narrators of our own lives. The extraordinary ensemble also features Jon Hamm, Geena Davis and Tim Robbins, all under the subtle and humane direction of Michael Almereyda (adapting the play by Jordan Harrison).
FIlmRise
5. “Get Out”
It’s a brilliant horror movie that follows the Blumhouse rules -- maximum scares on as few sets as possible -- but this chiller is so much more. Making his debut as writer-director, Jordan Peele crafts a prickly, hilarious and terrifying metaphor for American life in 2017; what Ira Levin did for feminism with “The Stepford Wives,” Peele does here for #BlackLivesMatter.
Universal
4. “Their Finest”
Of the three Dunkirk movies I saw this year, this one’s my favorite. Unlike so many of the valentines to filmmaking we’ve seen lately, this one cannily sends up its subject -- wartime propaganda movies -- while telling a story that pushes all the same buttons. (It’s as stirring, funny, romantic and poignant as anything turned out by the War Office.) Gemma Arterton shines as a copywriter who gets promoted to the pictures, and Bill Nighy is, as always, a charmingly roguish ham, but it’s Sam Claflin who makes the most of his meatiest role to date, proving he’s more than just a YA crush object.
STX
3. “The Shape of Water”
A hauntingly beautiful salute to just about everything that’s come out of the Hollywood dream factory -- from monster movies to silents to musicals -- and the best movie Guillermo del Toro has made since “Pan’s Labyrinth.” Sally Hawkins suffuses her mute character with longing, Richard Jenkins upends gay-best-friend clichés, and the beauty of 1962 design hides men’s ugliest impulses in this breathtaking creature-feature romance.
Fox Searchlight
2. “Lady Bird”
Greta Gerwig has been dazzling art-house audiences for years in vehicles like “Frances Ha” (which she co-wrote) and “Damsels in Distress,” but no one was quite prepared for how lovely or heartfelt her solo debut as writer-director would be. Saoirse Ronan dazzles anew in this smart and unsentimental coming-of-age tale, and Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet provide key support as boys who cross her path, but it’s Laurie Metcalf’s brusquely funny turn as a frazzled mom that allows this stage and TV legend a rare chance to shine at the movies.
A24
1. “Call Me By Your Name”
First love is awkward, and it involves lots of second-guessing and misreading of signals and badly hidden obsession. Movies don’t usually get that part right, but Luca Guadagnino’s 1983-set tale of a teenager and his slightly older crush traverses the terrain of the inexperienced heart with subtlety and sensitivity. James Ivory’s script (from the novel by André Aciman) and the two astonishing lead performances by Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer make this a romance to remember.
Sony Pictures Classics
Now be sure to check out Alonso Duralde's picks for the worst movies of 2017.
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TheWrap’s Best & Worst 2017: TheWrap reviews editor Alonso Duralde picks out the very best of a very good year
2017 was a strong year for cinema, with achievements that can be measured on many yardsticks: It was the year a Wonder Woman got to rock the seemingly unassailable superhero genre, the year a black sketch comedian became a massively profitable writer-director, and the year when Tiffany Haddish ascended to the comedy cosmos. Corporate filmmaking may continue to choke Hollywood (and a Disney-Fox merger isn't good news in that department), but this was a year when there was always something to recommend, whether it was blasting to the big screen or streaming to a smaller one.
Warner Bros.
