So, a few months ago I suggested to a moderator on theforce.net forums that someone should analyse the diversity of the biggest film franchise in Hollywood right now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a.k.a. the MCU. You see, the moderator Mike is a major advocate of greater diversity in media in general and in Star Wars in particular, having started and actively participated in a number of threads focusing on the topic in Star Wars and greater pop culture entitled, punnily enough, "Ignorance is Bias". As a recurring participant in the thread (though my visits to the forums are more sparing than they used to be, Ignorance is Bias is always a thread I click on when I do visit the forum's Literature section), I've read and voiced my thoughts on diversity issues in entertainment, particularly genre works, and it occurred to me that few properties, maybe none, are at the level of popularity and visibility right now of the Marvel Universe films. Other studios are trying to ape their winning formula, from other comic properties (DC, Sony with Spider-Man, 20th Century Fox with X-Men and Fantastic Four) to other genre properties (Disney and Star Wars, Universal and their classic monsters, bizarrely enough).
Marvel is king right now and with that has come extra attention and extra scrutiny, much of it deserved. It's easiest to see one of the biggest issues by looking at the leads in the Marvel movies so far. 10 movies in and 9 films have had a white man as the lead character. The only exception is the ensemble The Avengers which has... five white men and one white woman as its title leads. At this point, our first person of color in a starring role will be the 18th planned MCU film (Black Panther) while the first woman in a starring role will be the 19th (Captain Marvel). So, it made me wonder, just how diverse are the Marvel films? Are they becoming more diverse as time goes one? How do things break down as far as race, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation go?
Mike has a simple and enlightening system he uses to measure the diversity of any given work when he experiences Star Wars stories, simply tallying up the dramatis pesonae of any work and finding the percentage of characters who are not white male humans. So, for example, if you were viewing The Empire Strikes Back and simply wanted to know the diversity of the main characters, this might be your tally:
Luke Skywalker
Leia Organa
Han Solo
Chewbacca
C-3PO
R2-D2
Lando Calrissian
Darth Vader
Yoda
You can debate whether or not all of those characters count as "main", but for this exercise it works. There we have 9 characters listed, 3 of whom are portrayed as white men (Luke, Han, and, knowing what we know after Jedi and the prequels, Vader). If you wanted to take it a step further you could go with how many are portrayed by white men (in this case only Leia and Lando would qualify as exceptions, along with half of Vader since the voice is James Earl Jones and the body David Prowse). In the case of the characters, you have a diversity score of 66 (67 if you're rounding up). For the actors, the diversity score drops to 28 (though arguably it's 39 since R2's performer, Kenny Baker, is a little person, a member of another minority group, though one marginalized enough that it's rarely brought up when speaking of diversity).
With the scoring in mind, I had to make a decision of who to count when I'm making my tally. Tony Stark is one thing, some random bartender with a single line, not so much. Any lines I draw between characters are bound to be arbitrary, but I had to draw it somewhere. Here are the categories I've settled on:
Main Characters - Characters I consider to be the main stars of the films. It can be harder to categorize than you'd think, especially as the casts grow.
Supporting Characters - Characters with multiple scenes, who contribute largely to the plot, are a major part of the ensemble, but the story isn't necessarily about or driven by them. Think Legolas and Gimli.
Minor Characters - Characters that are at least in two scenes, that a viewer will probably recognize on multiple viewings, but don't get much if any definition in the story. They basically qualify if they appear in two or more scenes and get lines or some focus.
Miscellaneous - Finally, the section where I cover everything else. It can be major non-white male (WM) characters that only appear in a single scene, notable settings or extras that demonstrate diversity, or other thoughts on a movie's portrayal of diverse characters. This is also a grab bag of any additional thoughts I have.
So, with that out of the way, the next post will be the first in the series where we look at the film that kicked everything off way back in 2008, Iron Man.
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