Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The Pay Gap Is Not Just Between Sexes In The Entertainment Business

In response to: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/13/jennifer-lawrence-s-equal-pay-crusade-does-more-money-really-equal-more-respect.html
and
http://www.mtv.com/news/2719851/chris-rock-jennifer-lawrence/


               When Sony got hacked a lot was revealed. One of the most shocking was how much less Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were paid compared to their costars for American Hustle. This brought to light one of the biggest issues nowadays, the gender pay gap. This is not a new issue, but it has been getting a lot more attention nowadays. But, the article and Chris Rock pointed out two other major pay gaps, racial and stature. While gender and race are commonly brought up, stature is one that many don’t consider, but nonetheless is a major factor.

                The gender pay gap has been a constant issue. Women, who have constantly fought for equal treatment, have yet to achieve this, which is ridiculous, but is nonetheless true. People usually think of this as applying to regular jobs, but this also applies to high profile people like actresses. Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, and countless other women who have starring roles in movies are getting paid less than the male counterparts, which, considering the size of their roles, is not fair at all.

               Also, race has always been a major issue when it comes to pay. Again, this also applies to celebrities and actors. This has also been becoming a more well-known issue, for good reason. Because there are now more parts available for people who aren’t white, starring roles, they should be paid for the size of the role. But, because of how the world works studios believe they can get away with paying them less, which isn’t cool.

               The biggest issue though is paying people by how famous they are rather than the part they play. Big name celebrities can have ridiculous salaries for a cameo in a movie. It doesn’t make sense. Someone who is in ¼ of the movie shouldn’t be paid $50 million more than its star. But, because of the nature of Hollywood, they get paid a ridiculous amount more. Such was the case of Harrison Ford in Star Wars the Force Awakens and Robert Downey Jr. In Avengers Age of Ultron. Although Robert was in far more than Harrison was in in their respective movies. If this issue were fixed and everyone was paid more or less equally and in consideration of the part they play then studios would be able to have a much bigger budget for films.

               The fact that there is a pay gap is wrong. And, the fact that gender, race, and stature are causes of it are stupid. If there weren’t a pay gap, movies could make a lot more money.

No comments:

Post a Comment