‘I take everything too far,’ joked Geena Davis at the BFI London Film Festival - but when it comes to her feminist campaign See Jane, there’s no such thing as too far.
Speaking to a packed room of influential women and men, the Thelma & Louise actress explained how her strong onscreen roles inspired her to commission studies about gender on screen.
The results were shocking: on average women take up only 17% of parts - including crowd scenes - and are just as sexualised in family films as they are in films for adults.
Few women on screen have powerful jobs. ‘No matter how few women CEOs in real life, there are far fewer on screen in fiction.’ And incredibly, nothing has changed since 1946.
Determined to make a difference, Davis founded The Geena Davis Institute On Gender In Media, focusing on family films by reasoning that ‘if she can see it, she can be it’.
She began lobbying studios and production companies to create more positive roles for women and say she’s had some success.
But there’s a long way to go, as a series of lively panels agreed during Davis’ first Symposium outside the US.
Suffragette writer Abi Morgan and Women in Film And TV Chair Elizabeth Karlsen were among the women passionately debating what we are all fighting for: equality both on screen and off.
Words: Anna Smith
