There are few genres that are as widely shared across the globe as comedy. Everyone loves to laugh, but not everyone sees themselves on the big screen. Like any other movie genre, comedy has primarily been created by and for white men, leaving minorities in race and gender without any representation. But even in the past 30 years, there may be signs of improvement, a changing cast of those that make us laugh. The past 30 years of comedy, starting from 1992 to 2017, were analyzed and discussed in the context of diversity in race and gender, with the question of whether or not there has been an increase in representation in one of the largest genres of the film industry in mind.
Each film was either selected using the RottenTomatoes Top 100 Comedy Movies page (linked below), or by using Movieweb’s list of comedy movies released in a certain year (for this article, only the years 1997 and 2002 were researched on the website; also linked below). If there were various top comedy movies for a particular year, the movies were compared according to their combined rating from the Tomatometer (RottenTomatoes critics) and the audience score. Those with the highest combined scores were further analyzed.
For each film included, the cast/crew roles included in the data analysis include director, writer, lead actors, producers, and executive producers. The data is also formatted into the racial categories of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Middle Eastern, as well as the gender categories of Male and Female. This was all sorted into 2 separate pie charts for each movie analyzed.
The Player (1992), a Hollywood satire that gets it right, focuses on the classic comedic setup of an accidental murder. The entertainingly, cynical film drew a 98% rating from critics and a 84% rating from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes. Similar to a typical Hollywood cast, within its leadership, 100% of the cast/crew roles of The Player were occupied by White members. Even in its gender diversity, 14% of the cast/crew is made up of female members, with a remaining 86% of male members.
Backed by Steven Spielberg’s name and a comic book base, Men in Black gained the attention of science fiction fans and more when it premiered in 1997. The everything-alien agency film that stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as a dynamic duo received a 92% rating from critics and a 79% rating from viewers on RottenTomatoes. Though set in a sci-fi basis, only 12.5% of its leadership roles went to Black individuals, while 87.5% went to White individuals. The film displays a similar gender distribution, as 12.5% of its cast/crew is made up of female members and 87.5% are made up of male members.
One of the animated adventures released during Disney’s “weird phase”, Lilo & Stitch (2002) proved to be a hit among audiences of all ages. Set in both the islands of Hawaii and the galaxy at large, the family-oriented movie gained a 86% rating from RottenTomatoes critics and a 77% rating from viewers. Though it does feature diversity in its on-screen depiction, the reality is that 100% of the film’s background cast/crew members are White. But there is an increase in its gender diversity, as Lilo & Stitch features a 25% female cast/crew, with a remaining 75% male cast/crew.
Ratatouille (2007), a Brad Bird animated film that recently rose in popularity, is another of Disney Pixar’s crowning achievements. Centering on the culinary dream of a Parisian rat, the movie received a 96% rating from RottenTomatoes critics and a 87% rating from viewers. Though the movie is set in an animated Paris, the leadership of the film is made up of 100% White individuals, with the same number featuring within its gender composition: 100% of the cast/crew are male.
One of Wes Anderson’s films, Moonrise Kingdom (2012) follows a 1965 New England community and its quirky residents as they traverse the heart of adventure. The imaginative film received a 93% rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics and a 86% rating from viewers. Though it lacks diversity in other areas, as 89% of the film’s leadership is White, 11% is Hispanic, and 100% of the cast/crew is male, Moonrise Kingdom appeals to the universal feelings of being young and not wanting to forget it.
Lady Bird has made waves for its leading voice, Greta Gerwig, since it came out in 2017. Focusing on the adolescent conflict between a mother and her daughter, the film received a 99% rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics and a 79% rating from viewers. Though it does emphasize women’s voices within its story, as 71% of Lady Bird’s cast/crew is female, the film does have a racial distribution of 100% White cast/crew members, following the typical trend set by the films before it.
Though everyone loves to laugh, not everyone can laugh at the diversity statistics of the comedy genre. Even in just the past 30 years, it seems that there has been very little change in the typical cast and crew makeup of a Hollywood comedy; the majority of film leadership has remained white and male. Though there have been some occasional shifts away from this pattern, such as with Lady Bird (2017), it will take more time and effort before the numbers reflect the reality of the world: minorities love to laugh and make others laugh too.
Sources
“Comedy Movies: 1997.” MovieWeb, 8 Jan. 1997, movieweb.com/movies/1997/comedy/.
“Comedy Movies: 2002 .” MovieWeb, 10 Jan. 2002, movieweb.com/movies/2002/comedy/.
“Top 100 Comedy Movies .” Rotten Tomatoes,
www.rottentomatoes.com/top/bestofrt/top_100_comedy_movies/.
