Last Picture Show

Hey, so I wrote about the pathetic lack of lesbian and bisexual roles for actresses in my latest Woman and Hollywood column. (Click on over, read, enjoy, comment.) It’s so appalling that only two films featured lesbian characters and five featured bisexual characters – out of 114 major studio releases. The irony of this is that most of us who are old enough to buy beer legally saw our first glimpses of ourselves on screen thanks to films. Granted, they were small independent films that for the most part only other lesbian and bisexual women know, love and can recite by heart. But today, young LGBT folks are much more likely to see themselves on television. And they’re much more likely to see a more accurate depiction of themselves on television. Way to get eclipsed by your upstart little sibling, movies.

While I applaud the great gains the not-so idiot box has taken in recent years, I’m perplex at the lack of progress in film. Actually, that’s a lie. Of the top-grossing films of last year only 30 percent of the speaking roles went to women. And only 12 percent of those film had a female protagonist. Yep, that means 88 percent of the films featured male protagonists. And don’t get me started on the lack of diversity in movies. Really don’t get me started. I will Feminist Hulk Smash all over the place.

Right, where was I? Oh, yeah. Movies need to step the fuck up. Stop being such a wanker, Hollywood.