Jason Fraley, WTOP film critic
WASHINGTON – From Ellen Ripley (“Aliens”) to Clarice Starling (“The Silence of the Lambs”), some of the greatest movie heroes have been women.
Yet women made up just 33 percent of all movie characters last year, according to a new San Diego State University study.
That’s a slight increase from 28 percent back in 2002.
It’s disproportionate considering women make up 51 percent of the population, and a huge chunk of movie-goers.
Today’s female characters are younger than their male counterparts, The Miami Herald reports. They are less likely to be shown as leaders, and more likely to be identified by their marital status.
With leading ladies in “The Hunger Games” and “The Cabin the Woods,” will 2012 turn the tide?
The study — called “It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World” — was done by the university’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.
Looks like Ginger Rogers is still doing everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels.
Read more from WTOP Film Critic Jason Fraley by clicking “Fraley on Film” under the “Living” tab above, following @JasonFraleyWTOP on Twitter, and checking out his blog, The Film Spectrum.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
