SDSU prof says that when times get tough, moviegoers want men on screen

According to a new study from San Diego State’s Center for the Study of Women and Television in Film, the percentage of top-grossing films featuring female protagonists dropped from 40% in 2019 to just 29% in 2020, the year that coronavirus brought the world to its knees. This despite the fact that, according to the Center’s executive director Marsha Loozin, the percentage of females as major characters and in speaking roles actually increased slightly, rising from 37% in 2019 to 38% in 2020. “Clearly, when times are hard, moviegoers want the strong, confident presence of men onscreen — men whom they can trust to save the day when all seems lost. Here, you had more women in major roles, and yet a serious drop in corresponding box office draw. I grant that it’s not the outcome I hoped for, but we here at the Center for the Study of Women and Television in Film are nothing if not honest. And it’s not like these findings make women unimportant to the movie world. After all, the men need someone to save, right?”