Power and Agency in modern films: Character portrayal analyses using computational tools

Character portrayal analyses using computational tools

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How a movie character is written or portrayed influences a viewer's impression, which can in turn influence people's stereotypes on gender norms. We develop a computational framework, called connotation frames, to measure the power and agency given to characters in movies. Our new tool allows for in-depth analyses of subtle nuances in how characters are written about in movie screenplays.

AI tool to quantify power imbalance between female and male characters in movies

The team used machine-learning-based tools to analyze the language in nearly 800 movie scripts, quantifying how much power and agency those scripts give to individual characters. In their study, recently presented in Denmark at the 2017 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, the researchers found subtle but widespread gender bias in the way male and female characters are portrayed.

Gender Gap, Tool, Movie, ResearchBrigitte BellanDecember 1, 2017Movie, University of Washington, power imbalance, gender inbalance

F-Rated

The F-Rating is applied to films by cinemas and film festivals giving moviegoers an easily identifiable label so they can choose films that fairly represent women on screen and behind the camera. Highlighting these films sends a clear message to distributors, producers and funders that women can and should have more than just a supporting role within the industry.

The F-Rating is applied to all films which are directed by women and/or written by women. If the film ALSO has significant women on screen, it receives a TRIPLE F-Rating, our gold standard. The rating allows audiences to “vote with your seat” and proactively choose to go and see F-Rated films.