Hollywood never had real problems with sexism as women have been known to be well respected at par with their male counterparts since the very beginning. But it’s quite obvious as our society being a male dominated one and the cinema being the reflection of the society itself, there is a slight difference between the two sexes on certain levels in the way they are being portrayed on the silver screen. Recently, a lot of celebrities, especially the female ones are raising their voices against the discrimination within the industry based on sex. The recent addition to the long list is Liv Tyler.
However, another fact to mention here is that most of the behind the camera action in movies is usually a very intense physical work and men being stronger physically are always preferred over women. But when it comes to the real thing, the acting, women have shown from time to time what they are capable of. Divas such as Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep have always been at par with their male counterparts when it comes to getting fat paychecks and churning out some amazing performances. Then what is that bugging the female artist community now a days that they are trying to fix? Well, talking about Liv Tyler, it seems like the issue she has is that women are getting ignored by the industry after they cross a certain age.
“Thirty-eight is a crazy number,” Tyler, 38, said in an interview with More magazine. “It’s not fun when you see things start to change. When you’re in your teens or 20s there is an abundance of ingenue parts which fare exciting to play. But at [my age], you’re usually the wife or the girlfriend, a sort of second-class citizen. There are more interesting roles for women when they get a bit older.”
However, the situation doesn’t seem to be getting too ugly as there are many female celebrities who stayed away from making comments on gender bias present in the industry. But actresses such as Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren has recently raised their voices for the issue and given their strong hold on the industry, Hollywood does seem to be listening quite attentively to both. They have openly slammed what is called ‘systematic gender bias’ in the industry. Major civil rights organizations have even weighed in—earlier this year the American Civil Liberties Union called on the federal government to correct gender bias in the industry.
Our opinion on the issue is however not important as being outsiders we don’t have the right to say what is right for them and what is not. But we can certainly say with utter confidence that these internal matters do affect the harmony and proper working environment within the industry and must be taken care of in a peaceful and lively fashion.
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