75 employees laid off at Pixar, including the director of Lightyear

[irlandaise]

If I’m wrong, you’re welcome to show data proving I’m wrong.

The people I quoted and I are not the ones who made the claim. You are.

 

[Disneychick13]

I am not the poster who posted this but I did a little bit of a deep dive because I was curious so here ya go…..

According to a GLAAD study, LGBT representation on TV from 2021-2022 was at 11.9% of characters as opposed to the percentage of LGBT in the US population which was at 7.1 % in 2021 I believe.

According to 2 different UCLA reports from 2022:
in movies, lead by race:
Lead roles % in the movies //// All roles % in the movies //// %of US pop. (from the census)
white. 61.1 //////// 56.9 // ////// 58.9
black. 15.5 //////// 18.0 //////// 13.6
latino 7.1 ////////// 7.7 ///////// 19.1
asian 5.6 ///////// 6.4 ///////// 6.3
mixed 10.3 ///////// 9.3 ////////// 3.0

Then in TV: leads roles-broadcast, cable, digital.//////// all roles- broadcast, cable, digital
white 72.7, 60.4, 62.4 ////////// 53.2, 54.7, 56.2
black 11.3, 22.6, 16.1 ////////// 18.6, 24.5, 19.2
latino 5.7, 2.8, 3.2 ////////// 5.3, 4.9, 5.3
asian 3.8, 1.9, 3.2 /////////// 5.5, 3.5, 4.6
mixed 5.7, 11.3, 12.4 /////////. 14.0, 10.8, 11.6


So….LGBT characters are over represented. But I didn’t see a breakdown by media type so I really don’t know how that would break down. Black people are almost universally over represented. Asians are mostly under represented. White people are over represented in lead roles but are somewhat under represented in all roles. People of mixed race are very highly over represented. And sadly, latinos/latinas are vastly under represented in all roles.

edited to add: I had eveything separated nicely but when it posted all the numbers are squished together and I don’t know how to change the look

 

[irlandaise]

Thanks for the research, Disneychick.

Douglas Dubh's earlier comment that "If you’re over representing minorities than you’re under representing the majority, and therefore excluding some of them" was in response to two people discussing The Walt Disney Company, where one person said that Disney has "gone overboard on DEI." So although industry-wide specifics are interesting, he was specifically objecting to Disney's productions. I don't know whether anyone has statistics on those.

 

[BrianL]

I am not the poster who posted this but I did a little bit of a deep dive because I was curious so here ya go…..

According to a GLAAD study, LGBT representation on TV from 2021-2022 was at 11.9% of characters as opposed to the percentage of LGBT in the US population which was at 7.1 % in 2021 I believe.

According to 2 different UCLA reports from 2022:
in movies, lead by race:
Lead roles % in the movies //// All roles % in the movies //// %of US pop. (from the census)
white. 61.1 //////// 56.9 // ////// 58.9
black. 15.5 //////// 18.0 //////// 13.6
latino 7.1 ////////// 7.7 ///////// 19.1
asian 5.6 ///////// 6.4 ///////// 6.3
mixed 10.3 ///////// 9.3 ////////// 3.0

Then in TV: leads roles-broadcast, cable, digital.//////// all roles- broadcast, cable, digital
white 72.7, 60.4, 62.4 ////////// 53.2, 54.7, 56.2
black 11.3, 22.6, 16.1 ////////// 18.6, 24.5, 19.2
latino 5.7, 2.8, 3.2 ////////// 5.3, 4.9, 5.3
asian 3.8, 1.9, 3.2 /////////// 5.5, 3.5, 4.6
mixed 5.7, 11.3, 12.4 /////////. 14.0, 10.8, 11.6


So….LGBT characters are over represented. But I didn’t see a breakdown by media type so I really don’t know how that would break down. Black people are almost universally over represented. Asians are mostly under represented. White people are over represented in lead roles but are somewhat under represented in all roles. People of mixed race are very highly over represented. And sadly, latinos/latinas are vastly under represented in all roles.

edited to add: I had eveything separated nicely but when it posted all the numbers are squished together and I don’t know how to change the look

Interesting stuff. It seems pretty close honestly - you can tell that they at lest try.

 

[starlite_]

I am not the poster who posted this but I did a little bit of a deep dive because I was curious so here ya go…..

According to a GLAAD study, LGBT representation on TV from 2021-2022 was at 11.9% of characters as opposed to the percentage of LGBT in the US population which was at 7.1 % in 2021 I believe.

According to 2 different UCLA reports from 2022:
in movies, lead by race:
Lead roles % in the movies //// All roles % in the movies //// %of US pop. (from the census)
white. 61.1 //////// 56.9 // ////// 58.9
black. 15.5 //////// 18.0 //////// 13.6
latino 7.1 ////////// 7.7 ///////// 19.1
asian 5.6 ///////// 6.4 ///////// 6.3
mixed 10.3 ///////// 9.3 ////////// 3.0

Then in TV: leads roles-broadcast, cable, digital.//////// all roles- broadcast, cable, digital
white 72.7, 60.4, 62.4 ////////// 53.2, 54.7, 56.2
black 11.3, 22.6, 16.1 ////////// 18.6, 24.5, 19.2
latino 5.7, 2.8, 3.2 ////////// 5.3, 4.9, 5.3
asian 3.8, 1.9, 3.2 /////////// 5.5, 3.5, 4.6
mixed 5.7, 11.3, 12.4 /////////. 14.0, 10.8, 11.6


So….LGBT characters are over represented. But I didn’t see a breakdown by media type so I really don’t know how that would break down. Black people are almost universally over represented. Asians are mostly under represented. White people are over represented in lead roles but are somewhat under represented in all roles. People of mixed race are very highly over represented. And sadly, latinos/latinas are vastly under represented in all roles.

edited to add: I had eveything separated nicely but when it posted all the numbers are squished together and I don’t know how to change the look

I wonder if those 11.9% of LGBT+ characters are actual characters or if they are counting characters like the police woman in Onward or the non binary fella in Elemental. Imo, blink and you miss characters should not be counted for that type of statistic.

It's also important to remember that there are a lot of LGBT+ folks that are not out for various reasons.

 

[fatmanatee]

UCLA puts out a report every year on diversity in film and television, been doing this for the last ten years I think. They usually cover both how lead roles and overall roles are handled.

 

[Disneychick13]

I wonder if those 11.9% of LGBT+ characters are actual characters or if they are counting characters like the police woman in Onward or the non binary fella in Elemental. Imo, blink and you miss characters should not be counted for that type of statistic.

It's also important to remember that there are a lot of LGBT+ folks that are not out for various reasons.

The GLAAD report if for TV shows and they do one every year. Here is a link:
https://assets.glaad.org/m/114d72edf8a779a6/original/GLAAD-2022-23-Where-We-Are-on-TV.pdf

I didn’t see one for movies and this isn’t Disney specific.

Thanks for the research, Disneychick.

Douglas Dubh's earlier comment that "If you’re over representing minorities than you’re under representing the majority, and therefore excluding some of them" was in response to two people discussing The Walt Disney Company, where one person said that Disney has "gone overboard on DEI." So although industry-wide specifics are interesting, he was specifically objecting to Disney's productions. I don't know whether anyone has statistics on those.

I tried to find a report specifically targeting Disney shows/films but couldn’t find one. There were many articles saying there wasn’t enough diversity or they wanted to increase diversity but there was never any links to show the levels of diversity so making those statements were just unhelpful. I might try to do my own calculations because now I am just curious. I will report back.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

So although industry-wide specifics are interesting, he was specifically objecting to Disney's productions.

No I wasn’t. I made a general conditional statement.

 

[Disneychick13]

So I tried to do some calculations for Disney and Pixar animated films from 2020-2023:

For lead roles: 44% white, 17% black, 28% Asian, 11% latinas
Of note- there were no Latinos in a lead role. There was only 1 white woman meaning they were vastly under represented as this equated to 6% of lead roles. White men were over represented (but because there was only 1 white woman this came out to still be below the average for all white people). There were no LGBT characters in lead roles.

For all roles: 45% white, 18% black, 28% Asian, 10% Latinos, 5% LGBT

So black and Asian people have been overrepresented. White, Latinos, and LGBT have been underrepresented. Of note though if you just look at white men the percentage is about spot on for the US population (again white women are under represented). There were also other minority groups (Māori, Native American, Indian, etc) but I was trying to simplify it and limited to the most represented groups.

 

[irlandaise]

No I wasn’t. I made a general conditional statement.

Perhaps that was your intention but you were responding to comments about Disney so that's what it appeared you were talking about. Thank you for the clarification.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

So I tried to do some calculations for Disney and Pixar animated films from 2020-2023:

For lead roles: 44% white, 17% black, 28% Asian, 11% latinas
Of note- there were no Latinos in a lead role. There was only 1 white woman meaning they were vastly under represented as this equated to 6% of lead roles. White men were over represented (but because there was only 1 white woman this came out to still be below the average for all white people). There were no LGBT characters in lead roles.

For all roles: 45% white, 18% black, 28% Asian, 10% Latinos, 5% LGBT

So black and Asian people have been overrepresented. White, Latinos, and LGBT have been underrepresented. Of note though if you just look at white men the percentage is about spot on for the US population (again white women are under represented). There were also other minority groups (Māori, Native American, Indian, etc) but I was trying to simplify it and limited to the most represented groups.

What is the sample size on this? Percentages are interesting and the right way to compare it. I'm just curious how much 1 movie would sway the percentage.

 

[Disneychick13]

What is the sample size on this? Percentages are interesting and the right way to compare it. I'm just curious how much 1 movie would sway the percentage.

So for the leads it was 18/ there were 9 films released from Disney and Pixar from 2020-23. I believe there were 83 characters total. You are correct that the total for Asian actors was very skewed by I think it was Raya and the last dragon which only had one white actor (all the rest were Asian- 10 or 11). Luca had a predominance of white (Italian) actors. Encanto was mostly Latino actors/actresses. But I didn’t want to omit a movie because or those things. I did omit a bunch of minority actors that didn’t fit neatly into one of those categories as I was sticking with the 4 predominant ones. There were various Native Americans, Māori, Iranian, mixed race, Indian, etc. So all of those percentages I posted(except for the lead roles) would all be slightly lower.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Add live action to your data set and things would change drastically. She Hulk, Wasp, Black Widow, The Marvels, The entire cast of Ashoka basically, Bo Katan, Helena Shaw, etc. I can't image the female lead would be unrepresented with the current slate of Disney+ and Theatrical Releases. If anything it feels like there is a concerted effort to focus on more females in lead roles.

Also many future projects are female leads: Rey Movie, Ashoka Movie, Acolyte is said to have mostly female leads, etc.

I suspect the female data is about to catch up very quickly!

 

[BrianL]

Add live action to your data set and things would change drastically. She Hulk, Wasp, Black Widow, The Marvels, The entire cast of Ashoka basically, Bo Katan, Helena Shaw, etc. I can't image the female lead would be unrepresented with the current slate of Disney+ and Theatrical Releases. If anything it feels like there is a concerted effort to focus on more females in lead roles.

Also many future projects are female leads: Rey Movie, Ashoka Movie, Acolyte is said to have mostly female leads, etc.

I suspect the female data is about to catch up very quickly!

Neitehr Helena Shaw nor Bo Katan were in lead roles. They are supporting roles, or maybe considered "supporting leads." But, you know, don't let me convince you that that big, bag feminist bogey-woman isn't out to take all the roles.

Don't worry though, they have several man-friendly movies on the way, like The Creator, A Huanting in Venice, Elio, Captain America: Brave New World, Deadpool 3, Blade, and Planet of the Apes. I know I'll rest easy knowing that males will continue to be represented in film, because I was worried there for a second!

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

How can you possibly watch Indy 5 and say with a straight face that Helena Shaw is not a lead role? She was way more Indy than Indy was in many scenes. She literally throws a haymaker and knocks him out and saves him from himself for heavens sakes. Who ends the movie running off to have another swashbuckling adventure?

Also pretty funny that you pick two names to question out of a big long list of like 14 leads.

 

[BrianL]

How can you possibly watch Indy 5 and say with a straight face that Helena Shaw is not a lead role? She was way more Indy than Indy was in many scenes. She literally throws a haymaker and knocks him out and saves him from himself for heavens sakes. Who ends the movie running off to have another swashbuckling adventure?

Because Indy was still the lead and still had the most to do. Lead roles aren't determined by who is the physically strongest person in the film. The film is called "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." Indy is the lead and the main protagonist. Certainly Helena does have a major role, but it is still a supporting role - in support of the primary character.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

Ok, let's test your Theory on this. Who is the Main Protagonist in The Last Jedi? How about The Rise of Skywalker?

How about in Mado 3?

How about in Obi-Wan?

 

[Disneychick13]

Because Indy was still the lead and still had the most to do. Lead roles aren't determined by who is the physically strongest person in the film. The film is called "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." Indy is the lead and the main protagonist. Certainly Helena does have a major role, but it is still a supporting role - in support of the primary character.

While you are correct that Harrison Ford is the lead role as the protagonist, I would have also said Phoebe Waller-Bridge was a lead too if I was doing an analysis.

 

[BrianL]

Ok, let's test your Theory on this. Who is the Main Protagonist in The Last Jedi? How about The Rise of Skywalker?

Well, that would clearly be Rey. It can be a little harder to determine who is "supporitng" in larger, ensemble casts, but Rey is lead and maybe Kylo Ren, thogh antagonists aren't typically considered leads. Leads were traditional one male and one female and the romantic couple of the film. Lot's of movies these days don't really fall into that old-Hollywood style anymore though.

EDIT: and since you added Mando S3 and Obi-Wan, the leads are very clearly Dinn Djarin and Obi-Wan Kenobi. That is plain as day.

 

[PolymerSkywalker]

While you are correct that Harrison Ford is the lead role as the protagonist, I would have also said Phoebe Waller-Bridge was a lead too if I was doing an analysis.

Exactly correct, and he knows this.