Feminism Friday: A Look at the Trailers Before Ghostbusters

So last week, I looked at the trailers in front of The Secret Life of Pets. And in front of a G rated movie marketed to children, 49 male characters spoke to only 29 female.

Let’s see what sort of trailers were marketed to a female-led PG-13 movie. I’M SURE THIS WILL GO WELL.

To start:

Florence Foster Jenkins
Main character: Female
Male speakers: 7
Female speakers: 3

Nerve
Main character: Female
Male speakers: 5
Female speakers: 3

Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Main character: Male
Male speakers: 5
Female speakers: 2

Sully
Main character: Male
Male speakers: 7
Female speakers: 6

Trolls
Main character: Male
Male speakers: 3
Female speakers: 1

Inferno
Main character: Male
Male speakers: 5
Female speakers: 3

Bridget Jones’s Baby
Main character: Female
Male speakers: 3
Female speakers: 5

Totals:

I find it interesting that, while there are 3 female lead movies out of the 7 shown, ONLY ONE of those have more female speakers than male featured in the trailer. And that it’s Bridget Jones’s Baby, which isn’t the first movie that pops to mind when you think of equality.

But even so, for trailers featured in front of Ghostbusters – a film led by 4 female characters, the fact that there are only 3 female led movies out of the 7 being advertised is a bit boggling.

Sully comes the closest to having equal number of male and female speakers in the trailer. I was particularly bothered by Florence Foster Jenkins, which only counts 3 seperate female speakers if you could the blonde bombshell who shakes her boobs at one point before having one tiny cheer that I’m counting as a line.

Overall, there are 35 male speakers compared to 23 female speakers.

Ongoing count from last week and this:
Male speakers: 84
Female speakers: 52