Title of research proposal and keywords

Does what happen in the film industry stay in the film industry? An analytical study of whether breaking the celluloid ceiling would improve women’s social conditions
and promote women empowerment.
Keywords:
Audience, Celluloid Ceiling, Film Industry, Gender balance, Women empowerment.
1. General Statement of the area of research
The aim of this dissertation project is to challenge and prove the idea that movies can promote gender balance and that to make this happen more women behind and in
front of the camera are needed. The influence of movies on audience has been the topic of many pieces of research and arguments for several years. Psychologists and
sociologists from all over the world have been debating about this controversial topic without really coming to an agreement or a final solution. Even though several
studies proved a tangible impact of movies on the brain (Cline, 1972), significant literature keeps on supporting the notion of a ‘smart audience’, autonomous and able
to critically filter the meaning of contents shown through movies (Barker and Petley, 2001). Hence, according to those authors, movies might havesome side effects on
people, but not as severe as other researchers want the public to believe. This dissertation will outline why, how and to which extent films can change and improve
culture and society. In this frame, it will be briefly introduced and analysed the celluloid ceiling,which can be defined as the invisible barrier that female
filmmakers and actresses face when trying to break into the film industry. It will be explained why being aware of the presence of this issue and finding solutions to
eliminate it is essential to promote gender balance not only within the film industry but in the whole society. Finally, it will be explained the historical and
cultural reasons why men are not able to portray realistic women. Hence, to have three-dimensional, inspiring women on the screen who can positively impact society, it
is crucial to have female filmmakers in key roles.
Working as Production Assistant in a film production company in London patronised by Women in Film and Television and promoting women empowerment, I am deeply involved
in supporting gender balance within and out of the film industry. Indeed, as a human being, I believe that rewards and opportunities should be given on a purely
meritocratic basis, according to a person’s skills and not to his or her genitals conformation. I started working in the film industry because I believe in the
cultural impact that movies have and I think that filmmakers should be more aware of the social influence that they can have and social responsibility should be
promoted within the film industry. Hence, the ultimate aim of this dissertation is to sensibilise readers both about the misrepresented picture of 21st-century women
that is portrayed through movies and the need of changing this reality to improve social rights that should be granted in the twenty-first century.
2. Introduction to the literature
Literature will be divided into three different sections, that might be subjected to changes:
• How movies can affect the audience
• The celluloid ceiling: issue and data
• Why female filmmakers are crucial to have three-dimensional women on screen
The first section will investigate whether movies are one of the most powerful tools that today’s society has to affect culture. It will analyse Barker and Petley
(2001) claim that films do not have relevant impact on the audience. After that, it will argue about the several occasions in which was proven a correlation between
movies and people’s behaviour. It will report the results of research showing that correlation tended to be stronger when the audience to be affected was composed by
young people(Canadian PaediatricSociety, 2003). Different types of influence will be observed, depending on genre and themes that movies share. ‘Imitative learning’
will have a key role in understanding why and how movies can affect the audience, especially when young. In fact, as the Stanford psychologist Bandura concluded,
‘imitative learning’ has a crucial role in developing social changes (Cline, 1972). It will be written about the physical and measurable effect that movies have on
body, such as dilating blood vessels by 22% lowering bloody pressure when watching a comedy, or improving heart-rate and adrenaline when watching horrors (Braff,
2011).Moreover, it will be argued that the reason why firms are inclined topay high rates to producers to insert their products in movies to stimulate people to buy
them, is indeed because movies do influence audience’s behaviour(Cline, 1972).
Movies are society-shaping and their power can’t be underestimated. Hence, the final part of this section of the dissertation will argue whether movies affect the
vision of women’s role in society and how movies could help to promote gender balance telling stories about three-dimensional women chasing their dreams, being
successful in their careers or just telling stories from their point of view. Instead, promoting the stereotyped image of women as mother-housewife-whore can incite
behaves such as sexual harassment.In particular, several studies have shown how teenagers’ accessibility to strong sexual contents is negatively affecting their sexual
beliefs and values (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2003). Moreover, sexualisation can lead women, especially when young, to low self-esteem, eating disorders and finally
depression (Barber, 2011).
The second section, will explain what the celluloid ceiling is and how it impacts gender equality not only within the film industry, but in all the fields. The
celluloid ceiling was defined for the first time in mid-eighties. Since then, despite of several organisations denouncing the issue, there have been no significant
changes in the number of women having key roles behind the scenes(Smith et al., 2016).The main reasons why the celluloid ceiling exists aresix and can be simplified as
follows:
• Presence of unconscious gender bias (Follows et al., 2016)determined by gender stereotypes (Smith et al., 2014).In fact, according to Follows et al. (2016)
most of the people working in the film industry are not aware ofbarriers that female filmmakers face every day. Furthermore, the vast majority of the sample
interviewed by Smith et al. (2014) believes that women do not have the skills required to work in certain roles behind the scenes, such as directors, require masculine
traits.
• Gendered finance, supported by the deep-rooted belief that women are not trustable with money and that stories written by or representing women are not
attractive (Smith et al., 2014).This credenceis unfounded, and the proof is the economic success that movies with female lead characters had in the last years at the
box office. In fact, according to the results of a research conducted by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (2016a),movies proposing empowered women as lead
roles earned the 15.8% more on average that movies with male lead characters. Thus, it can be argued that the audience expressed the willingness of watching movies
with scripts including diversity through its choice at the box office. This would wreck the defence-wall that string-holders in Hollywood used to appeal claiming that
movies written/produced/directed by women or with female leads are not interesting, boring and as a consequence not economically sustainable (Smith et al., 2014).
• Homophily, which is people’s tendencyof feeling more comfortable working with people of the same gender and cultural background(Smith et al., 2014; Wing-Fai et
al., 2015). It has to be considered that the film industry developed in a historical period in which women were not a significant part of the work force. Furthermore,
the film industry a reputation economy, which means that people are mainly hired through informal methods by insiders who base their choices on personal impressions
(Wing-Fai et al., 2015, p. 10). Because of homophily, women have troubles to be hired in a male dominated industry. Hence, they have either no chance to build their
reputation and to get known.
• The precarious environment of the film industry, which drives filmmakers to see each movie as a risky gamble. Because of this, filmmakers do not want to add
unnecessary risks. Hence, they do things as they have always been done, for example hiring the same type of archetypes, who are men. (Follows et al., 2016).
• Family-unfriendly environment: because of the unpredictable and short-term work environment, women have not guaranteed basic protections and services such as
maternity leave and childcare. Furthermore, Follows et al. (2016) observed that people in key-roles behind the camera are chosen because of their non-transferable
skills; hence they are hard to be replaced. This means that if a female cinematographer would go on maternity leave, substituting her would be difficult because of her
unique artistic skills, which are the ones she was chosen for. Moreover, women are perceived to lose attention on their career once they become mothers. Because of
this, women face a barrier whether they are planning to have a child or not, just due to their potential to get pregnant or to become a mother one day(Wing-Fai et al.,
2015).
• Lack of a regulatory system actively driving change and promoting gender equality within the film industry. In fact, it has been already argued that there have
been no relevant changes within the film industry during the last thirty years. Thus, to solve the celluloid ceiling industry, it should be introduced a regulatory
system, which at the moment does not exist (Follows et al., 2016).
The third and last section will explain why to portrait inspiring and rules-changing three-dimensional women in front of the camera, it is crucial to have women in
key-roles behind the scenes.In fact, as Willens (2013) argued, women can relate to centuries of literature with male characters when writing about men, while men find
more challenging to understand women’s point of view because they have no references to think about. Even Madam Bovary was ‘suspicious’, in the sense that the reader
had the feeling it was not a quite realistic portray of a woman. Transposing this reality to movies, it means that male writers will always find easier to write about
men and to address their point of view.Furthermore, as Bloom (2013) observedwhen it is not because of a lack of ability, it is because male writers and male audience
do not believe that women are smart, or anyway not enough to be three-dimensional.Thus, as Lauzen (2016) analysed, the lack of women in key roles within the film
industry, leads to a misrepresentation of women on the screen.For example,it was observed that when there are women in key-roles behind the scenes, female characters
have more lines and are less likely to be sexualised during the movie (Lauzen, 2016). Furthermore, even when male filmmakers show powerful women in movies, they are
always shown as people not capable of finding a work-private life balance. In some ways, those few successful women who are represented inmovies are denaturalised and
portrayed as unsatisfied, masculine, cold, selfish and incapable to take care of their children or to have a decent love story. When women watch a movie with a
powerful female-manager such as Miranda Priestly from ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, the question the movie seems asking to them is: are you sure you want to be like this
woman? Old, cold, alone and in the middle of a divorce? And all of this for what, for a career? On the other hand, when screening a male-manager career, what the
audience often sees is a happy and rewarded mid-age man who achieved everything he wanted in his life. He doesn’t have to care too much about dedicating time to raise
children; his wife is there for that. Because of the overwhelming presence of men behind the scenes of the film industry, the representation of women in movies is
backwords. Hence, they portray the concept of a woman that doesn’t exist anymore. A clear example of this was given by Smith et al.in 2012, when analysing 1469 female
characters in top Hollywood movies between 2006 and 2011, it came out that just the 20.3% of those characters was employed.Actually, in real life, the percentage of
women working in the USA in 2011 was the 47%. Furthermore, among 58 characters in top leading positions, only two were female, against 25.5% female chief executives in
2010 (Smith et al., 2012).
3. Research design and methodology
Research design will be both longitudinal and cross-sectional, as it will analyse several cases over about thirty years, in order to challenge and demonstrate the
positive answer to the initial question. The methodology will conjoin objective ontology and interpretative epistemology. Indeed, in the dissertation mixed methods
strategy will be used, combining both quantitative and qualitative data. In fact, even though according to Pickering (2008) quantitative data are not appropriate
toanalyse social and cultural events by themselves, when supported by qualitative observations they can furnish numeric evidence ofthe observed phenomenon,
strengthening or disproving the initial hypothesis. Indeed, as Saukko (2003) underlined, the combination of different methods allows the recreation of a more
verisimilar picture of the reality that the research is analysing. This technique is commonly known as ‘triangulation’ (Saukko, 2003).In particular, both quantitative
and qualitative secondary data will be used in order to be able to analyse the impact of movies on society and of the lack of female filmmakers over a period of thirty
years. Firstly, quantitative data will serve to prove a clear correlation between cause and effect. In fact, as Bruhn Jensen (2011) argued, the precious feature of
quantitative data is their capability of reducing complex phenomena to clear and measurable numerical codes, proving the initial hypothesis through irrefutable
evidence. Hence, among the others, will be used data collected by illustriousassociationsspecifically studying issues regarding the film industry, such as Women in
Film and Television, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism,European Women’s Audiovisual Network, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and other
prestigious institutional bodies.
Secondly, qualitative data will help tointerpret the meaning of the numeric data previously analysed, contextualising them and observing the relationships occurring
among apparently unrelated phenomena. Indeed, qualitative data lead to an in-depth understanding of social structures and human interactions, configuring themselves as
more appropriate when conducting a social research (Pickering, 2008).In particular, will be used:
• Interviews conducted by Smith et al. (2014)with 51 People working in the film industry, who were asked their opinion about the reasons why female filmmakers
face several barriers when trying to break in the film industry.
• Interviews conducted by Follows et al. (2016) with cinema-goers, asking them whether the gender of the director of the movie would affect their willingness to
watch the movie.
More interviews and other types of qualitative data might be used if considered useful to support the initial hypothesis.
Case studies will be used. In detail, there will be several small case studies divided into four main sections
• Violent movies which had a quantifiable impact on the audience. For instance,‘Fight Club’, which inspired people to start street fighting and to open some real
Fight Clubs (Munro, 2013).Moreover, on the 25th of May 2009, a seventeen years old student caused an explosion with a home-made bomb. Police reported the boy stated of
having been inspired by ‘Project Mayhem’, a terroristic plan originated by Tyler Durden, ‘Fight Club’ lead character (Tao, 2009).
• Firms/products which had a positive/negative impact on their business/sales because of movies they were represented in. For instance, ‘Sideways’, a movie about
the road trip of a wine-lover writer, caused a drop of the 2% of sales of Merlot in the US and other countries like UK, and an increase of 16% of sales of Pinot Noir
(Munro, 2013).
• Movies which had a social impact and or led to social awareness about unconsidered or underestimated matters. For instance, Disney movie ‘Bambi’, led new
generations todevelopa critical awareness of environmental issues and has been endorsed as the icon of many activists. Furthermore, his impact was so feared by
hunters, that they started protesting against the movie before it was released (University of Cambridge, 2008).
• The impact of ‘The Hunger Games’ trilogy on young girls. In particular, it will be observed the increase in the number of young girls practising archery just
because of Katniss, the main character, used a bow during the movie (Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 2016b).
The ratio behind the choice is of these case studies, is to slowly conduct the reader to a final question: What would happen if we would promote more successful female
scientists, managers and generally more powerful and successful women? On a personal note, I was highly recommended to watch ‘Hidden Figures’, because of its
empowering vision of women. I had not the time to watch it yet, but I might consider to use it as well as a further case study for the last section.
4. Research work plan and timetable
The main sections of this dissertation will be:
1. Introduction: 1000-2000 words. This section will outline the dissertation structure, aims, the issues analysed throughout the paper and the outcomes of the
analysis.
2. Methodology: 1000-2000 words. This section will explain the research design, the methods used and the reasons why those specific approaches were chosen.
3. Literature review- How movies can affect the audience: 1500-2500 words. This section will be supported by several studies conducted by different scientists,
proving that movies have an actual impact. It will also analyse the use of advertisement in movies and it will report people who attributed the start of a new hobby or
the arrival of a new idea to a movie they watched.
4. Literature review- The celluloid ceiling, issue and data: 1500-2500 words. This section will describe what the celluloid ceiling issue is and why it is vital
for society to solve it. The analysis will be supported by data about the number of women behind the scenes and the relegation to stereotyped and trivial roles of
women in front of the camera.
5. Literature review- Why female filmmakers are crucial to have three-dimensional women on screen: 1500-2500 words. This section will explain the natural
inclination of human beings to talk about what they are familiar with and to empathise about events they have been experiencing in the past. Because of this, movies
written, produced and directed by men, will always have a male point of view, relegating women to secondary in insignificant roles, which are not representing how real
women are today (Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 2016a).
6. Case study- Movies that had a proven influence on the audience: 2500-3500 words. This section will provide different case studies divided in for main
categories depending on their genre and the type of impact on the audience they had. It will prove the initial statement, justifying the claim that more women are
needed in key roles in the film industry.
7. Conclusion: 1000-2000 words. This section will underline one last time the aim of this dissertation and the importance of understanding the social impact that
movies have on audiences. Furthermore, it will emphasisethe undeniable convenience of allowing more women to enter the industry, not because they are women, but
because they are smart, creative and valuable human beings who can only enrich the cultural context.

The timetable of the dissertation will presumably be as follows:
• March and April– literature research, case studies research and data collection
Tutorial with dissertation supervisor
• May, the 5th – June, the 4th – Drafting literature review and case study
Tutorial with dissertation supervisor
• June, the 6th – June, the 30th – improving the first draft and completing in order: methodology, conclusion and introduction.
Tutorial with dissertation supervisor
• June, the 30th – July, the 20th – editing, proofreading and cleaning up references
• August, the 31st– Hand in date

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