Racism in Hollywood Blockbusters: Has anything improved with Obama?

When Barack Obama ran for President in 2008, he made literally hundreds of campaign promises, such as, jumpstart the economy, end the Iraq war, and healthcare insurance for all Americans.  One unspoken promise was to end racism in pop-culture.  After all, if a Black American can attain the position of most powerful man in the world, surely pop-culture will follow with non-whites being more prominently featured.  According to the United States Census Bureau, the make-up of Americans is 63% White, 17% Hispanic or Latino, 13% Black, 5% Asian, and 1% Native American.  If Hollywood accurately reflects American demographics, one would expect to see lead roles parceled out in these same percentages.  Has this happened?  According to the actor Danny Glover, it is still very difficult to get films financed that feature non-whites in the lead roles: “Producers said, ‘It’s a nice project, a great project…where are the white heroes?’” (Atlanta Blackstar.com)

Counter-intuitively, it may now be more difficult for a non-white to be cast as a hero than it was before Obama took office.  According to NYTimes.com, Hollywood is making 30% fewer movies than they were 7 years ago.  Further, when it comes to blockbuster films ($100 million+ revenue), the industry is betting on non-original films (screenplays based on another film or media property) more than they are original films.  According to an article onVulture.com by Anita Eberse, Harvard Business School Professor, non-original films accounted for 64% of 2012 movie revenues.  Hollywood is being rewarded for following this model.  2013 saw record revenues (led by Iron Man 3 – white hero), beating the previous record set in 2012.  The trend of fewer movies, bigger budgets, and non-original material severely limits the opportunities and increases the perceived risks for non-whites to be featured as heroes.  When it comes to making big budget movies, Hollywood has shown itself to be risk averse.

Each of the next 10 weeks, I will analyze one of the top 10 grossing movies released since President Obama took office.  I will compile statistics by race for the prominent roles, and qualitatively assess the characters played by non-whites for stereotypes.