{"id":3826,"date":"2022-05-05T19:36:13","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T19:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vpms1.humber.smartmanagedservers.com\/convergencemag\/?p=3826"},"modified":"2022-06-30T18:19:12","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T18:19:12","slug":"girls-on-film-the-glamorization-and-whitewashing-of-female-journalists-in-rom-coms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/girls-on-film-the-glamorization-and-whitewashing-of-female-journalists-in-rom-coms\/","title":{"rendered":"Girls On Film: The glamorization and whitewashing of female journalists in rom-coms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Erin LeBlanc<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From ruthless crime reporters to ditsy fashion writers, the stereotypes placed upon female journalists in movies are endless. Portrayals of journalists such as Bridget Jones, Lois Lane and Andy in the Devil Wears Prada are not always the most flattering or honest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They may seem like harmless film archetypes, but the skewed views of female journalists in the media can have unfortunate effects on an already waning and seemingly untrustworthy industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a survey of 1,500 Canadians conducted by the CBC, nearly 50 per cent of participants said they believe journalists are purposely trying to mislead the public through false claims and exaggeration. The stereotypes of journalists portrayed in movies may play a part in pushing these negative views. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think they [stereotypes] can be negative, especially for women journalists. They can create rather sexist stereotypes concerning real life women journalists, the idea that they do things that are unprofessional, for the sake of getting a story. And at their worst, they can feed into sort of the negative stereotypes of the media as the enemy of the people and being kind of a menace to society,\u201d Matthew C. Ehrlich said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ehrlich is a journalism professor emeritus at the Illinois College of Media. He also penned the book “Journalism In The Movies\u2019, a deep dive into journalism archetypes displayed in movies in the 20th century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ehrlich spoke to Convergence about how stereotypes that were discussed in his novel still exist today, even as the journalism industry changes rapidly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is the hard driving female reporter who is as good as the men are in pursuing the news, but is also seen as sometimes trading sex for stories. That\u2019s one of the more pervasive and negative stereotypes that\u2019s lasted for a long time,\u201c Ehrlich said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This trope is ever-present in films, and the genre in which it is most common is the romcom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the movie \u201cTrainwreck\u201d (2015) Amy (Amy Schumer) is a reporter writing a sports profile on Dr. Aaron Conners (Bill Hader). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe knows nothing about the stuff she\u2019s supposed to be writing about, which is like, if that happened to you as an actual journalist, she would be kicked out of the interview, you know for doing a shoddy job of preparation. But with her it seems kind of adorable and cute and she doesn\u2019t know anything about sports medicine and he finds it adorable, and then they end up having a relationship,\u201d Elizabeth Renzetti said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renzetti is a columnist and feature writer at the Globe and Mail. She says romcoms often show the idea that women only write lifestyle stories, and that the only women who are interesting in a romantic comedy are the ones who are doing lighter topics in journalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romcoms often depict women writing for magazines or gossip and advice columns in newspapers. They often write specialty columns on design, fashion and relationships. Their jobs are seen as \u2018fluff\u2019 journalism, a term that is often used to describe topics in journalism that are mostly women-dominant, and are often not perceived as \u201creal journalism\u2019\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see in the real world a lot of demeaning of women journalists. You know, we see reporters having horrible, hateful, sexist language yelled at them when they\u2019re doing live stand ups, or female journalists being targeted online. So there\u2019s an actual real-world problem with sexism that I think is not something that is ever highlighting these movies,\u201d Renzetti said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renzetti says that though romcoms are often comedies, their light-hearted plots can sometimes sugar coat the deeper issues women in the industry face. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the movie \u201cMorning Glory\u201d, a chaotic, workaholic television producer Becky played by Rachel McAdams gets a job as a lead producer on the morning newscast \u201cDaybreak\u201d. She is tasked with bringing up the ratings of the morning broadcast that haven\u2019t been doing so well. To do this she must enlist the help of Mike Pomroy (Harrison Ford) a famous evening news anchorman. The main conflict revolves around Mike not believing that the stories covered on Daybreak were real news. This is one of the many examples of the stereotype of lifestyle news not being \u201creal journalism,\u201d which can lead to women being looked down upon in the field. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Morning Glory starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, and Diane Keaton is just one of the few films produced and bent on showing the dark and ugly side of journalism. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Joe Saltzman is a professor of Journalism and Communication and the director of the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (IJPC) at the University of Southern California. He wrote a paper titled \u2018The 21st Century Image of the Journalist in Hallmark Films,\u2019 where he analyzed 360 Hallmark films from 2000-2020, to study the way journalists were portrayed in them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saltzman found that 40 per cent of journalist characters in Hallmark films were women. He also found that of all journalist characters in the films, 84 per cent of the characters were depicted positively, as the \u2018good guy\u2019 of the film. Though a positive portrayal of journalists in these films may seem good for the industry, there was a glaring issue depicted in the data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 70 per cent of the journalists depicted in these films were white. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t really think off the top of my head of movies that I enjoyed watching that show Black journalists. I think if they had more black writers and creators at the forefront of creating this content, I think we would have more representation of Black journalists. Obviously we\u2019re out here and we\u2019re making tons of content\u2026 and so I think it just has to be that we have to get to the table of creating the content for there to be more representation for us in these movies,\u201d Brittny Pierre said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre has been freelance writing for nearly 10 years, with her works published in several different publications throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. She focuses on entertainment and aims to amplify Black voices and movies in predominantly white publications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a conscious effort for me to make sure that there is at least some content on their website that is reflective of someone that looks like me,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Shows and cartoons don’t always portray the hate and loathe that journalists receive on a day to day basis, only showing what they want viewers to believe. Photo from Thomas Gorman on Flickr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She says that there is a lack of women of colour in romcoms and that when Black women are featured in a film, they often display the same personality tropes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s like this trope, Black women in romcoms that they\u2019re like, uber successful and very career driven. And their personal life is lacking a lot of things because they\u2019re so focused on their career\u2026 And that\u2019s kind of always the trope in all these romcoms that have Black women in it, that she\u2019s overachieving. She doesn\u2019t take time for self care and for love,\u201d Pierre said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre also added that the portrayal of overachieving Black women doesn\u2019t reflect who Black women are in reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it does create a stereotype about black women these days. Like I look at the conversations that\u2019s generating on Twitter about Black women in general as always, that they\u2019re too career-focused. And I don\u2019t really think that\u2019s really the case,\u201d she said. \u201cI think a lot of us really would like to have a relationship or pay more attention to our mental health and we are trying to balance everything that\u2019s going on in our life plus what\u2019s happening in the world. And so I think that we just get this negative connotation about it, but there\u2019s nothing wrong with being career-focused. I think every woman, every nationality is career-focused. And I\u2019m not sure why that\u2019s considered the negative connotation towards black women.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another issue in films depicting female journalists is the glamorization of the field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey [movies] also make journalism seem very glamorous and exciting. Even when these journalists we see on screen are doing things that we would never teach \u2026 anyone to do in journalism school,\u201d Ehrlich said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When young students think of pursuing a career in journalism, it is important to have accurate and inspiring characters for them to look up to. Many people may pursue this career because of stereotypes in films and can be disappointed when it is not as they expected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe truth is, for a lot of real world professionals, real world journalists coming out of school, they\u2019ll do it for two, three, four, five years and finally decide the hours are not worth it, sometimes a low salary is not worth it, I\u2019m going to take a different kind of job that has more predictable hours, and where I can get holidays off, and maybe not have to explain to my significant other all the time. Why I can\u2019t go out at night,\u201d Ehrlich said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renzetti agrees that these movies depict a glamorized sense of what the journalism industry is really like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo you see this in, some representations of female journalists who are often lifestyle journalists or fashion journalists, that they live this crazy, glamorous lifestyle that is completely out of odds with the reality of what journalists actually make,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re living, they\u2019re floating around the world. They\u2019re taking planes or drinking champagne at parties, which most journalists could only ever dream of happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Renzetti also said that movies present a false sense of the day-to-day activities of a journalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are probably just eating a sandwich at your desk and on the phone eight hours a day. That\u2019s more like the reality unfortunately,\u201d Renzetti said. \u201cIf people go into the field, just thinking it\u2019s all going to be sort of sunshine and free champagne and flirtatious banter, you know, they\u2019re going to be disappointed, right?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalism is, if anything, the opposite of sunshine and free champagne. For women in the industry, especially women of colour, hate, racism, sexism and harassment can be very common when they are just trying to do their jobs. The whitewashing and glamorization in films can give outsiders a fallacious view of the industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a world where journalists are already mistrusted by many, these portrayals are the last thing they need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From ruthless crime reporters to ditsy fashion writers, the stereotypes placed upon female journalists in movies are endless. Portrayals of journalists such as Bridget Jones, Lois Lane and Andy in the Devil Wears Prada are not always the most flattering or honest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[353,1],"tags":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-scaled.jpg",2560,1783,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-170x120.jpg",160,113,true],"medium":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-300x209.jpg",300,209,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-768x535.jpg",696,485,true],"large":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-1024x713.jpg",696,485,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-1536x1070.jpg",1536,1070,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-2048x1426.jpg",2048,1426,true],"td_150x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-150x104.jpg",150,104,true],"td_218x150":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-218x150.jpg",218,150,true],"td_300x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-300x209.jpg",300,209,true],"td_324x400":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-324x400.jpg",324,400,true],"td_485x360":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-485x360.jpg",485,360,true],"td_696x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-696x485.jpg",696,485,true],"td_1068x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-1068x744.jpg",1068,744,true],"td_1920x0":["https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/Lois-lane-by-Thomas-Gorman-1920x1337.jpg",1920,1337,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"convergencemag","author_link":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/author\/convergencemag\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"From ruthless crime reporters to ditsy fashion writers, the stereotypes placed upon female journalists in movies are endless. Portrayals of journalists such as Bridget Jones, Lois Lane and Andy in the Devil Wears Prada are not always the most flattering or honest.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3826"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4174,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3826\/revisions\/4174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humberjournalism.com\/convergencemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}