Beyond the Habitual Studying the gender balance in the Nordic feature film releases of 2012

Abstract

With the feature film releases of the Nordic countries in 2012 as a starting point, the thesis tentatively disserts the gender balance among lead roles and key positions of 98 films. A quantitative method is used for data on gender shares. The qualitative part of the study is a narrative analysis of the plot summaries. Both the quantitative and qualitative material proved gender imbalance, according to who made the films, as well as who were portrayed. Men held an average of 78% of the key positions and 64% of the lead roles. In general, women were depicted in more passive positions or were active subjects in relation to men. The dominant and active male subject are found in all discourses in the qualitative study, which may connect to the dominance of male filmmakers and the normalisation of men as both consumers and narrative protagonists.