Kids hurt by seeing too few girls on screen, actress says

Actress Geena Davis, co-founder of the Bentonville Film Festival, arrives to kick off the inaugural event Tuesday at the 21c Museum and Hotel in downtown Bentonville.
Actress Geena Davis, co-founder of the Bentonville Film Festival, arrives to kick off the inaugural event Tuesday at the 21c Museum and Hotel in downtown Bentonville.

BENTONVILLE -- Actress Geena Davis wants to change the media world in the next seven years.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Wanda Young (right) with Walmart watches and listens Tuesday as actress Geena Davis, co-founder of the Bentonville Film Festival, speaks during a news conference to kick-off the inaugural event at the 21c Museum and Hotel in downtown Bentonville.

Only 28 percent of the characters in family films are female, and that rate hasn't changed since 1946, she told a crowd of about 60 at a panel discussion at Northwest Arkansas Community College.

If nothing is done, at the current rate, it'll take 700 years to achieve parity, Davis said.

"We don't want to raise one more generation of kids seeing girls as second-class citizens," Davis told the crowd.

The panel discussion was part of the first Bentonville Film Festival, which began Tuesday and will continue through Saturday. The festival is sponsored by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among others.

By having fewer female characters, the film industry is sending a message to girls, and that message is internalized by the time they reach elementary school, Davis said.

"Girls as young as 6 years old have learned to self-sexualize, to see themselves through the male gaze," said Davis, citing a study from Knox College in Galesburg, Ill., in which girls chose a paper doll perceived to be sexier than others. The "sexy" doll was wearing tight, revealing clothing, compared with a doll wearing a loose outfit.

The girls said they would rather be like the sexier doll because she would be more popular and have more friends, Davis said.

What the television and film industries are providing to children is shaping their self-image, said Dr. Yalda T. Uhls, a child psychologist scientist with Common Sense Media.

"We need to help them understand the content they're creating affects young minds," she told the crowd.

Wanda Young, vice president of media, digital and partnership marketing at Wal-Mart, said the Bentonville-based retailer sponsored the festival and has been working with production companies to ensure that family-oriented films get made and their DVDs sold in Wal-Mart stores.

Television viewers can vote with their remote, Young said. All they have to do is change the channel. Ratings will sort out the survivors from the canceled.

Young said Wal-Mart gets input on media matters from a group of more than 20 female bloggers known as the Walmart Moms.

"We know that moms want more family-oriented programming," Young said. "It's just that simple."

Davis said there's a misperception in Hollywood that men won't watch movies where the lead character is female, but women will watch movies where the lead character is a man.

For children, in particular, that definitely isn't true, Davis said. For example, she said, boys accounted for half the audience of the film Dora the Explorer, and many boys cited Frozen as their favorite film.

"They didn't care that the characters were female," Davis said.

Uhls told the crowd that children spend more than seven hours a day on digital devices, not counting texting.

"There is a panic, a concern among parents at large that kids are spending too much time online," she said.

But Sarah Noonan, senior vice president for live-action content at Nickelodeon Group, said that might not be a bad thing.

"We actually think it's a really great opportunity for us in a way," Noonan said. "Now, kids are in all these different platforms."

That means kids will want more content, she said.

"Our pipeline has never been more full, so it's an exciting time," Noonan said.

Laura Caraccioli, president of content marketing for Electus, added that equal employment of men and women in the television and film industry is important, not just in front of the camera but also for the crew.

Metro on 05/06/2015

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