Lately, there has been a push to amplify women and people of colour both on- and off-screen; in the realm of directing, writing and casting we have seen an increase in representation. While there’s a more diverse pool of stories being brought to the screen each year, the diversity of movies that are revered as masterpieces hasn’t been growing at the same rate. The seemingly biased review of movies can be seen in how the Academy Awards have been slow to recognize actors and directors other than white men.
Movie critics aren’t often thought about when conversations about diversifying the film industry are on the table, but they play an influential role in forging the discourse around movies by assessing their cultural and creative value. The world of movie critics remains overwhelmingly white and male. Diversifying the film industry is going to require diversifying the film criticism sector in order to expand what movies are regarded as worthy of viewership.
In 2018, the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released a study headed by Stacy Smith called Critics Choice? which used reviews of the 100 top grossing films of 2017 on Rotten Tomatoes to gather data on gender and race-ethnicity. While the results were astounding, they weren’t exactly shocking.
All critics
- 77.8% males
- 22.2% females
- 82% not under-represented
- 18% under-represented
Top critics
- 76% males
- 24% females
- 88.8% not under-represented
- 11.2% under-represented
The film critic industry is largely white and male as the results showcase. Carlos Aguilar, a film critic, spoke of the difficulties he faced breaking into the industry as a Latino immigrant. He mentions how the industry is made up of both freelancers and those who are permanent writers for major outlets. In his early days, he noticed that not only are there rarely positions open but also that the small applicant pool means that everybody is vying for the same positions, like vultures awaiting their prey. Aguilar also mentioned in his piece with regard to the availability of positions that “those who are fortunate enough to land one tend to keep it as long as possible.”
Given the longevity of the industry, the majority of those who work for the major outlets are white and male. These are also the critics most likely to get assigned the review for major movies. A lot of newcomers start out with freelance writing but this isn’t a financially viable option for many. Freelance writing as a movie critic rarely pays well at the beginning of a career when one hasn’t yet made a name for themselves and many of the costs of transportation to various press screenings have to be covered personally. Aguilar speaks of experiencing this in his early days as well. All of this makes it incredibly difficult for newcomers to break into the industry of film criticism.
Why does this matter for the common viewer? Put simply, not all movies are made for everyone. Black Panther,for instance, did well with the critics but that isn’t necessarily the point. Why should it matter what middle-aged white people thought of a movie meant to empower and inspire Black youth to be proud of their identity? Your identity is not something you can separate yourself from, even when you try to take an impartial view. Who you are informs how you understand the meaning of art. As a white woman, I can enjoy movies with Black leads, male leads, South Asian leads,for instance, but it isn’t really my opinion that matters—or at least it shouldn’t be the dominant one. If a movie is representing a lived-experience that white and male critics can’t relate to, it’s entirely probable that they can’t fully comprehend the ideas and feelings that underscore the film. That doesn’t meanthese critics are bad at their jobs but it does mean that everyone is inherently biased as a result of their own lived experiences, which is why it is important that the breadth of identities is represented in film criticism.
Film criticism holds power. The reviews of a movie affect how seriously it will be considered for awards and whether people will pay money to go see it in theatres. It is a sad reality, but box-office numbers are important for future film production; if a certain genre of movies simply doesn’t make money, it’s difficult to convince production companies to fund more of those stories. We can see how this all connects now. If the majority of film critics are white and male, stories that don’t represent them are more likely to receive lower reviews which can make it hard to justify, from an economic standpoint, making movies that represent that perspective. Having more diverse critics means that opinions from people with a variety of experiences are heard and those who see themselves represented in the film can actually have a say in whether they liked it or not.
Film criticism may not seem like the most important sector of the film industry to pay attention to but it plays a significant role in dictating popular culture. They have the power to shape public opinion and as a result, what kind of movies get made in the future. If we want the diversification of stories we see on screen to continue to grow so that more people see themselves as worthy of taking up space, it is important not to overlook what goes on behind the scenes.