'Jurassic World' gets a pass, but the American public are critical of Hollywood's treatment of women
Jurassic World had the best ever opening weekend and has gone on to become one of the most popular movies of recent years, but the successful movie has also attracted accusations of sexism. The core of the controversy is that the film propagates the trope of an icy corporate schemer (park manager Claire Dearing played by Bryce Dallas Howard) facing crisis and discovering her maternal instincts.
YouGov's latest research shows that many Americans regard Hollywood as sexist, but people who saw Jurassic World don't think that the portrayal of Claire Dearing was sexist. 14% of people who saw the film, including 17% of women, thought that Dearing's character was portrayed in a sexist way while 65% of people who have seen Jurassic World think that it was not sexist.
More broadly, however, 50% of Americans think that the American movie industry as a whole is sexist while 23% think it is not. Men (47%) and women (53%) are roughly as likely as each other to think Hollywood is sexist, but men (30%) are nearly twice as likely as women (17%) to say that the industry is not sexist.
Americans were also asked whether enough movies are made which feature strong female protagonists. 30% of Americans (and 34% of women) think that there are not enough movies with strong female protagonists while 38% think there are about the right number. 11% of Americans think that there are too many movies made with strong female protagonists.
Full poll results can be found here and topline results and margin of error here.
