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The Role of Women in Modern Hollywood
Jose D. Junco
University of Texas at El Paso
Prof. Nugent
English 1312: Research and Critical Writing














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The Role of Women in Modern Hollywood
It took a long time for Hollywood to finally open their eyes and see that films led
by women can actually make big money at the box office. From last years (2013) top ten
highest grossing films list there are specifically three female led films that were able to
make the cut. These films were The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Frozen, and Gravity.
Surprisingly Catching Fire sits at the top of the list, meanwhile Frozen got 3rd place and
Gravity 6th. The three films combined made a total of 1,099,498,761 dollars. Brooks
Barnes article From Now On, Women Save the World, gives a great look into whats in
store for women in the near future and Academy Award winner Geena Davis provides us
with an insight look into the industry thanks to an interview made by The Wall-Street
Journal named Geena Davis: Movies View of Women is Unbalanced. These specific
genres will be analyzed throughout the assignment.
Audience and Purpose
The first genre, Brooks Barnes article From Now On, Women Save the World, is
an article written on September 3, 2014 on the New York Times webpage. The article is
centered on the recent success of female led films like Maleficent, Catching Fire, and
Frozen, just to name a few. The second genre, Geena Davis: Movies View of Women is
Unbalanced is a video interview made by Rebecca Blumenstein, editor of The Wall-
Street Journal, to Academy Award winning actress Geena Davis where she states that
The percentage of female characters have been the same since 1946, and that the
situation hasnt really improved with time. She also presents a theory on why we still
have this problem today.
The intended audience for the written article is women, and young adults
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interested on the film industry living in the United States, and possibly teenagers who go
to the movie theater once in a while and like to be informed on whats to come. It is also
important to point out that the numbers displayed on the written article are purely based
on the United States box office so maybe over seas the situation can be a little different.
Knowing the type of people who creates the audience for the first genre it is easy to see
why this type of films did so well at the domestic box office, basically because certain
movies are marketed specifically to them. For the video interview, the target audience is
women who are concerned if there is any future to their careers involving film, because
of the low percentage of women working inside the industry. They are aware that the
possibilities of working on the industry are very small. Geena Davis also mentions that
the same percentage is present on different jobs and not just only on the film industry. On
Barnes article the audience needs to be familiar with movie franchises and also on how
does the box office work.
Both genres use the aspect of time on a different way. As an audience, you can
take your time reading the article, and searching all the facts mentioned in it. The article
cant be too long because if it is then the audience can get lost or bored, they need to keep
everything flowing, but at the same time they need to deliver all their main points in a
strongly manner. When changing to the second genre you need to be listening and
watching the video by being focused the entire 4 minutes and 49 seconds that the video
has, so that you can grasp the whole concept. There is also the option of replaying the
video interview. The second genre is presented as a video interview that demands the
viewers their entire attention, however the video gets cut off and the audience arent able
to see the interview in its entirety.
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Each genres purpose is to inform their audiences of subjects dealing with
Hollywood and how they have been dealing with women all these years, but the two
genres present the information in a different way. In the written article, the specific
purpose is to show that the film industry is ready for a change and that it actually gains a
lot from female led films. As the article mentions Hollywood is now ready for a Wonder
Woman solo film, even an all female remake of the classic Ghostbusters could happen!
Every studio now sees the young adult novels as an opportunity to start new franchises
because this type of films have made a lot of money, whether theyre good or not thats a
topic for another day. The point is that studios now have the confidence of releasing
female led films because they know theyll do well in the box office and will actually
make their money back rather sooner than later. The purpose of the video interview by
The Wall-Street Journal is to introduce Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media and
also to let the audience know that finally things are changing inside the industry. Geena
Davis stated that the ratio was three male characters for one female character which
made up 17% on the entire film industry. She provides the viewers with a theory in why
this is still happening and it is somehow a funny one. She states People assume women
dont gather. They also let the audience know that the 17% seems to be a pattern all
across business, politics, media, law, etc. that all of this happens thanks to an unbalanced
representation of male and female roles inside media. Both of the genres are entirely
focused on informing their audience. They show that all the facts presented are really
important so that the audience can grasp a better idea of whats really happening. The
vocabulary used in both genres is mostly professional, since they both come from big
important worldwide known companies like The New York Times and The Wall-Street
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Journal. These two big companies know that they have a large audience so they cant be
releasing uncensored pieces. The video interview got cut off so the audience isnt able to
obtain the whole concept, which is a shame because it is a really interesting topic. The
language present on the both genres is descriptive, informative and it serves its purpose.
There are a few images on the first genre, and also some propaganda; no high-pitched
colors were used. The second genre principally utilizes video and its sitting on a black
background with some light blue highlights. The titles are presented on a different way.
First genre utilizes a big font so that the audience can identify the subject matter;
meanwhile the second genre positions the title below the video.
Rhetorical Issues
Both genres have rhetorical issues presented throughout the assignments.
Ethos
In the first genre, the writer presents us with some facts, box office wise and
audience wise, that Hollywood is now ready for the big step and it shows to the audience
that females can actually carry a film, and sometimes-even franchises. The writer gains
the credibility thanks to various credible and well-known sources. In the second genre,
Geena Davis makes sure to send his point across via confident stats and personal
experiences. People recognize The Wall-Street Journal always submits credible material.
The credibility is gained by the webpage itself and also by having someone of that caliber
on the interview who understands how the industry works, and is also able to provide
some insight into the near future thanks to her institution.
Pathos
The first genre doesnt utilize the emotional appeal at all. The written article only
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utilizes facts throughout the whole paper. The second genre utilizes the emotional appeal
by telling some funny theory that grasps the audience attention and helps understand the
situation a little bit more.
Logos
Both genres utilize logos on a very similar way by using professional language,
and tone. This helped both genres in maintaining the professionalism while at the same
time maintaining the audience attention. The type of evidence used on the written article
was facts and details that supported the main point throughout the whole article. The
evidence is reliable since it comes from credible sources and a renamed journalist writes
everything. In the second genre, they present some facts via Geena Davis Institute, the
creator of the Institute supports all this facts and she also provides the audience with
more detail. These facts are credible because they come from a person who knows the
industry and its surroundings.
Structure and Delivery
The main points on both genres differ from one another, and the information
delivery was certainly different. In the first genre, the writer provides us with a statement
that grasps our immediate attention Hollywood has long known that women are better
customers than men. Its right there in the annual reports from the Motion Picture
Association of America: Moviegoing in the United States and Canada was 52 percent
female last year. Just as it was five years earlier. The second genre goes straight into the
interview and doesnt provide a sufficient backstory into why they are there having this
interview. Since one genre is presented as a written article and the second one as a video
interview, they both differ on time management and delivery information. They both
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have engaging and concise content though.
Conclusion
In general, both genres explain fairly well the main topic, with the written article
having an advantage since it doesnt have a specific run time, and doesnt get cut off in
the middle of it like the video interview. The first genre gave an easier look into the
problem and stated some important information regarding the topic. Meanwhile the
second genre only gave a glimpse of what was all about. Each genre provide a different
side, but still relevant, of the problem, and let the audience know what is really going on
inside the film industry and whats left to come. Hollywood is making a big step for
equality, and if this last few years have been any indication of whats to come then we
have a great future ahead of us, and I couldn't be more excited.












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References
Barnes, B. (2014, September 3). From Now On, Women Save the World.
Retrieved September 18, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/movies/fall-
arts-preview-hollywood-has-realized-that-movies-starring-women-can-make-
money.html?_r=0
Blumenstein, R. (2012, May 1). Geena Davis: Movies' View of Women Is
Unbalanced. Retrieved September 18, 2014, from http://www.wsj.com/video/geena-
davis-movies-view-of-women-is-unbalanced/D064B940-D6E8-4756-9AA0-
223F82F39E26.html