Are Increasing Female Leads in Movies a Response to the MeToo Movement?

No, it is a response to the fact that women are increasingly becoming the bread winners. The movie industry has discovered that movies with strong female leads make a lot of money. Studios are businesses so they're concerned with their profits, and strong female leads bring significant profit to the table.

The Shift in Movie Audiences

The reasoning behind the increase in movies with female leads has its roots in more than just the #MeToo movement. As the population of movie-goers continues to become more inclusive, half of the demographic is women. For years, movies, especially big tentpole movies, were made primarily to appeal to a very specific audience: white men. This paradigm began to shift as recent successes with female leads and directors demonstrated that movies with strong female characters can not only attract women but also men and other demographics.

The Myth of Failure

The belief that a female lead or director couldn’t succeed was a self-fulfilling prophecy. When movie studios claimed that female-led movies couldn't succeed, they limited themselves to only producing films with male leads and directors. This ideology led to a cycle where female-led projects were often set up to fail, and when they did, it was attributed to the female lead rather than the quality of the film itself.

The Impact on Careers

The disparity in career impacts for male and female directors is stark. A female director who publishes a flop rarely gets another opportunity in the industry, while male directors often get multiple chances regardless of the quality of their films. For example, a movie like Catwoman flopped not because it lacked quality but because it featured a female lead. In contrast, a movie like Daredevil may fail due to poor execution, not due to the gender of the lead.

These examples highlight a broader issue of gender bias in the movie industry, where the success or failure is often judged more harshly against female filmmakers than their male counterparts, solely based on demographic trends and expectations that have been proven wrong.

The Business of Cinema

As the movie industry has evolved, the realization dawned that catering to a diverse audience is not only ethically sound but also good for the bottom line. The recent successes of films with female and minority leads demonstrate that there are people, besides white men, who not only care about movies but have disposable income to spend on them. This understanding has encouraged studios to increase the number of female leads and put more women in the director's chair.

The push for more female leads and directors isn't a response to the MeToo movement, but rather a recognition of a changing market. By doing so, the industry is better positioned to capture a larger share of the market and ensure that all voices are heard, not just those of a single demographic.