Explanation:
purpose of this short report is to overview character race/ethnicity in 100 top-
grossing fictional films theatrically released in the United States and Canada during
2008.
1
Every distinct speaking and named character is assessed for demographic and
appearance-related information. Categorization of race/ethnicity occurs by using all cues
available over the course of the unfolding narrative (i.e., verbal references, physical
features, clothing, geographic setting of the plot). Across the 100 films, a total of 4,016
characters could be evaluated for race/ethnicity. Four main findings are outlined below,
with particular attention paid to black characters and their relationship to black directors.
We end the report by comparing the current trends in black characters and black directors
to those observed across 100 top-grossing films released in 2007.
#1 Prevalence of Black Characters in Film On Par with U.S. Census
71.2% (n=2,859) of all speaking characters in the 100 top-grossing films from 2008 are
White, 13.2% (n=531) are Black, 7.1% (n=287) are Asian, 4.9% (n=198) are Hispanic,
2.8% (n=111) are Middle Eastern, and < 1% (n=30) are from other ethnicities. Table 1
compares the race/ethnicity of speaking characters in 2008 films to the composition of
race/ethnicity in the United States. As demonstrated in the table, the greatest deviation
occurs with Hispanics. Though Hispanics/Latinos/Mexicans represent 16.3% of the U.S.
