Stereotypes In Movies

American society has begun to transition from books to movies. While movies have become mainstream now, there is a problem with Hollywood and it's movies. It is a white, heterosexual, male dominated field with little representation of minorites in Hollywood and in films. While it has gotten better at representing them in film, it still does not represent them enough, or it misrepresents them with stereotypes that become social norms. This lack of representation can impact the groups of people looking for someone like them to idolize. This is a problem I'd like to solve.

The main reason I want to be a screenwriter is to fix this problem. As a little girl, I grew up with a scarce supply of female role models on television and in movies, especially in the genre's I liked. Besides Kim Possible and the pink and yellow rangers in Power Rangers, there weren't many girls in action shows for little kids. All the leads in action and sci-fi genres were men. There also aren't any LGBTQ+ characters in little kid shows because that's "controversial" and little kids "shouldn't be introduced to that". This is hurtful to those little kids who may not like the other sex and wonder what's wrong with them. When you're little, girls are suppose to like "girly" things like ballet and are suppose to be turned off by action and vice versa for boys according to society plagued gender roles. These problems also carry over into adult shows and movies, so even as an adult, it is still hard to find a character that is part of your race, gender, sexuality, etc.
Television and film have such a huge social impact that it can influence gender roles and social norms.
If Hollywood would start breaking them and teach little girls it's okay to like "masculine" things and for little boys to like "feminine" things, then maybe gender equality wouldn't be such a touchy
topic.

This lack of representation is significant because when I'm an adult and have kids, I want my kids to know it's perfectly okay if they don't fit these gender roles. I want them to have diverse characters they can look up to and idolize.

As a screenwriter, it will be my job to create characters and that's a beginning to the solution. I want to start breaking these social norms and gender roles, create main characters that are part of a minority and don't fit the stereotypes film has made them. Writing characters that will properly represent minorities instead of make fun of them.

As for Hollywood's lack of diverse workers, I am a female. That's one step. Through my writing and my outlet, I can encourage more diverse people to work and try to minimize the sexism, racism, etc. minorities in the field often face.

I have a voice, a problem to fix, and a message. Hollywood has the power and the impact to make that message heard and received in every house hold.