A Black male actor or A White Female actor. Who has it harder?

[CliffHanger2]

Sticking to the question I'd say black male actors.

[Osiris-Rex]

Black men don't have their careers ruined because they won't sleep with Harvey Weinstein and others of his ilk, so I would say women.

[ed2962]

I'm not so sure it's an either or thing, both have hardships for different reasons. Plus, despite being the faster growing minority in America, Hispanics have the lowest representation in Hollywood ( if I'm remembering a certain report from a few years back correctly).

[skyvolt2000]

Black men don't have their careers ruined because they won't sleep with Harvey Weinstein and others of his ilk, so I would say women.

Well Harvey can find other ways to RUIN that black male's career.

If we talk in terms of body of work in general-women have it easier as they can be almost ANYTHING they want on the screen. While a lead solo female superhero is n ongoing battle.

She can be the dumb blonde, hooker, President, single mother, business woman and so on. No one will QUESTION that role as "do THEY really do that."

Meanwhile Black males catch all sorts of heck at times. If the role is dumb jock, silly rapper, thug 1-10,000, magical black guy, token black guy or guy needing a white savior-those roles are in abundance.

Then when you get Black Panther, Get Out, Static Shock, Moonlight and Dope-folks go NUTS because those type of guys tend not to appear in big time projects.

In terms of development building up that female character does not seem to be an issue like it is with most black male roles.

Take Rey & Finn in Star Wars-who is more developed?
Take Star Trek TNG-writers had to REWRITE stories to build up Laforge.
Eric McCommick had to complain to the writers on Perception about how they were wasting Arjay Smith on the show. Next thing you knew Arjay's character had a background.


I would say it's a case by case situation.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

In general, I would say that Black Men have a harder time than a white woman and movie history proves it.

There is a movie genre specifically targeted to women: the romantic comedy. Overwhelmingly, these movies feature women in the lead roles, and the story is generally told from the woman's perspective. How well these movies represent women and their hopes and dreams is another matter, but the romantic comedy or drama goes all the way back to the beginnings of cinema.

In fact, during the 1940s, the female actors were often given top billing over their male co-stars. Of course, this continues to today as well.

The movie genres devoted to blacks tend to be stereotypical and exploitative in nature from 1970s blaxploitation movies to 1990s gangsta movies. These are fewer in number than female-centric films and tend to feature majority black casts, so you're not getting lots of movies where a black actor is top billed over his white counterpart.

[j9ac9k]

I agree with the person who said it was pointless to compare the two against each other - are we supposed to debate the merits of how badly people have been held back or discriminated against? I mean, what's the point of phrasing it that way?

[Killerbee911]

A white female actor will get a lead role in movie and studio to back her easy.We literally have had Jessica Chastain "bully" a studio to get Oliva Spencer more money.The biggest black movie to date Black Panther in China covered Chadwick face when the all the american posters had his face uncovered. Why? Up until Black Panther there was still myth that Black Actor can't sell movies in foreign countries.

[jetengine]

Black men don't have their careers ruined because they won't sleep with Harvey Weinstein and others of his ilk, so I would say women.

What about Terry Crews?

[kjn]

Agree with Comic-Reader Lad. Most every movie has at least some women in important roles, if only as love interests. And when you add in genres like soap operas, romantic comedies, and drama films the opportunities for young female actors are relatively plentiful.

However, I do think age bias strikes differently for women and men, and I'd say strikes much harder against women (all women) than men. Actors like Morgan Freeman or Samuel Jackson or James Earl Jones still have a decent amount and variety of roles open to them, but older women find that the roles dry up very quickly.

[Kieran_Frost]

Oh dear... I'm not sure it's productive being... ummm, so competitive on a trophy NO ONE wants. Oppression Olympics is never good.

THAT SAID (ha)... I will offer my opinion as a full time working actor, that I have gleamed over years of doing this. And while the bulk of my work is based in the UK, I've also worked abroad (including America), and I haven't seen any noticeable difference in consistency on my following statement. The reality is this: there are more actresses (of all ethnicity and race) trying to succeed than actors. Period. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what they are talking about. The last film I did more women applied for the TWO female roles than all the male roles (7+) put together (we're talking main parts, here). Very few shows or films have more women than men, when in reality EVERY show and film should have more women than men, because more women are trying to succeed than men. There are more actresses than actors; the industry should reflect that in the character breakdowns.

Add to the fact more women are competing against fewer roles, AND YET they are also judged harsher on visuals than men. Most female roles advertised TELL YOU about her visuals. Is she stunning, was she once a beauty, is she homely, does she have pretty eyes, etc. Most male roles leave attractiveness (or lack of) out. The character breakdown is about their personality. So not only are more women competing for fewer roles, they also have to keep themselves in better physical shape than a fewer number of men going for a greater number of roles.

Actresses of all race and ethnicity have it harder than actors of all race and ethnicity. Period. #factsarefacts

[Colossus1980]

I didn't want to bring it up because they were outside the paramenters of the original post but yeah... my first though when reading this was that asians probably have it harder in Hollywood than either of the 2 groups mentioned.

Thanks for the acknowledgement. I didn't want to derail this thread but it's a subject that hits close to home for me.

[Colossus1980]

Actresses of all race and ethnicity have it harder than actors of all race and ethnicity. Period. #factsarefacts

Except when it comes to Chinese American actors. I can imagine Chinese American boys wondering where their role models are. Definitely can be an identity crisis for them.

[Osiris-Rex]

Well Harvey can find other ways to RUIN that black male's career.

But why would Harvey want to?

What about Terry Crews?

How has his career been ruined by Harvey Weinstein? He still gets works.

[ed2962]

But why would Harvey want to?

How has his career been ruined by Harvey Weinstein? He still gets works.

It's not that Weinstein in particular ruined his career, but Crews has said that he didn't punch the guy who sexually harassed him initially becuase he knew that he himself would have been the one who went to jail/had his career ruined rather than the harasser.

[dkrook]

The fact that most posters on this thread are running so hard away from the basic premise and the question that includes black men and white women only goes to prove the poignancy of the question. It funny how I'm reading people are dropping in gay people, Asian, Hispanic...? Anything to conflate the issue that our society is conditioned to look past black men in particular and have codified the image and agency of white women.