Text Review: Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movies from the 90s.  It features some of the greatest character development and story of any movie of its time.  The story follows the life of a man with mental disabilities from his physical disabilities he had as a child, to his experiences in the army, and becoming a wildly successful entrepreneur.  However, this movie is better than many at representing the discrimination that many mentally challenged individuals face.

From being chased as a child for being mentally challenged, to being taken advantage of during his ping-pong career and made fun of by the president, to the famous line he delivers to his lifelong love Jenny when she refuses to accept his marriage proposal – “Why don’t you love me, Jenny? I’m not the smart man. But I know what love is,” he is constantly taken advantage of by others due to his mental disability.  At times Forrest does not realize what is going on and why people are laughing at him or at something he has done.  He grows over the course of the film to the point that he is able to call out Jenny for not accepting him and his disability.  At the same time, he achieves far greater success than people who have ridiculed him, becoming a billionaire business mogul by the age of 30.

Forrest Gump is a great example of the discrimination and injustice that mentally disabled individuals experience.  While many strides have been taken in the past few decades to reduce this discriminatory treatment of these individuals, it still exists.  This approach may be useful in changing the way people think about and discuss other sensitive topics as well.  Forrest Gump provides a good example of how to provide a commentary on a sensitive subject such as the treatment of mentally disabled individuals, which is why I chose it as my text review.  This topic may not as socially relevant as some of the other topics that have been discussed in this class, but it is still a very important topic that should receive some focus.

 

Zemeckis, Robert. Forrest Gump. Paramount Pictures, 1994.

“Yo, Is That Sexist?” – Essay by Adam Gieseke on the Gender Wage-Gap in Film and Television

The wage gap between men and women is a perennially debated topic in the United States.  Over the past few decades, it has become clear that a gap exists not only between men and women as a whole, but also between men and women when they hold the same position.  In the 2020 United States Census, it was reported that women earn approximately 82% of the money that men do for every dollar earned (Elsesser).  This has a huge impact on the lives that these women are able to live, forcing them to compensate for this loss of wage in comparison by either spending more time at work or by having a lower standard of living than their male counterparts.  The film industry is one of the worst offenders, and is very clear when looking at the discrimination between the pay male and female actors receive for their roles in films and shows.  In this essay, the disparity between male and female actors will be examined and decided if it’s sexist.

It is important to give background to the existence of gender wage-gap, as there has always been wage disparities between groups in the United States.  As far back as the Industrial Revolution people have received vastly different wages for their efforts.  The wages of workers in the factories were often well below the cost of living, as workers were paid around $0.10 an hour (Poddar).  As a result, most of the people who worked in these factories lived in unhealthy conditions that consisted of many people living in a single-room apartment.  Families who made this transition often could not sustain themselves on the wages of the husband alone, so the wife and even children went to work.  The women who joined got jobs at factories quickly became the subaltern, as they often received between a third and half of the wage of the average male worker, despite performing the exact same tasks (Foundations of Western Culture).  This is far from the first example of wage discrimination between men and women throughout history, but it is an important example of how women were treated as subalterns when society advanced into a more modern age.

While the rest of the country progressed both technologically and socially with the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution on August 18th, 1920.  This advancement of social justice did not immediately extend to the workforce, as women were not required to receive equal pay until the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963.  This act was a step in the right direction, requiring employers to pay women the exact same wages as men for the same job.  This act allowed for women to take legal action if it was determined they did not receive equal compensation to their male counterparts, but it has not come close to solving the issue.  As stated earlier, women still receive on average only $0.82 for every dollar earned by a white male worker with the gap widening when looking at different races.  As seen in the figure below, Asian women are the highest earning subsection of all women, making close to $0.90 per dollar a man earns.


Figure 1:
The gender wage gap based on race (Bleiweis).

This is a stark difference from the $0.62 and $0.54 that Black and Hispanic/Latino women make respectively.  This shows that women in the workforce are still considered to be inferior to men at the job they perform and are compensated as such.  There still exists some debate about these numbers, however, as this analysis does not take into account the professions chosen by these populations.  This can have a major impact on figures such as the one seen above, as it lowers the average earnings of women as a whole.  This can be attributed to many women studying for careers that are producing lower yearly earnings than the careers of the typical man (Jacobs).  This does not explain, nor defend, the existing wage gap but rather provide an explanation of how far the movement for equality of wages has come.  There has been a major shift in the careers women choose from the early 1900s to today and the difference between the wages men and women receive has shrunk, but not nearly enough.  Women are still portrayed as they are of lesser value than men, which is made abundantly clear by the fact that women composed approximately 45% of the workforce but only 20% of positions on company board of directors and an even fewer 5% are hired to be CEO of their companies (Jacobs).

An important example of the disparity that still exists between men and women’s wages is the difference in earnings of male and female actors in a film or show.  Whereas many of the wage-gap arguments take place lower on the economic pyramid, both male and female actors are some of the highest-earning and are featured among the highest net worth of any industry.  Many people would hear the outrageous sums of money that some actors can make off of a movie or chain of movies and assume that their actress counterparts are earning similar amounts for their roles.  However, this is actually far from the truth, as women are often making fractions of what their male co-stars earning.  This occurs even for actresses who are playing larger roles than their male counter parts, such as Robin Wright in House of Cards who had to negotiate with the producers to be paid the same as Kevin Spacey.  There are plenty of examples of this occurring in the film industry, and even fewer examples of female stars getting paid equal or more than their male co-stars without serious negotiation.  A great example of this discrimination happening in the film and television industry is the wage gap between Ellen Pompeo and Patrick Dempsey who played Meredith Grey, the titular character, and Derek Shepherd respectively in the extremely popular medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.

The two main stars of one of the most popular dramas on television for the past 15 years, Grey’s Anatomy, were paid vastly different sums of money during the early seasons of the show.  According to Pompeo, it took years for Pompeo to negotiate a salary that was close to Dempsey’s despite her being the main, titular character of the drama.  She stated that at one point she had asked to be paid only $5,000 more than Dempsey due to the fact that she show was named after her character, only to be rejected (Martin).  The producers not only paid Dempsey more, but also used his character as a threat, saying “We don’t need [Ellen]; we have Patrick — which they did for years,” (Martin).  Only after Dempsey’s departure from the show in 2015 was Pompeo given the highest contract on the show, where she was making over $500,000 per episode along with other incentives (Martin).  She has, as some would say, secured the bag.

Figure 2: Salaries of male and female actors over the past thirty years (Pedace).

Now, Pompeo is one of the highest earning actresses in Hollywood these days, but there are still many issues concerning equal pay between male and female actors in Hollywood.  Despite growing into a major role in House of Cards, Robin Wright had to negotiate heavily with the producers to get paid similar to Kevin Spacey (Muneer).  Another example is Jessica Chastain, who co-starred with Matt Damon in the Martian, was payed significantly less for her role.  Some reports state that she earned $7 million while Damon earned approximately $25 million, while other report that Chastain earned $2 million to Damon’s $18 million (Katz) (Muneer).  The examples of women who are payed equal to the co-stars are even fewer, with one of the biggest shows ending over 15 years ago.  Friends was an extremely popular sit-com that brought fame and fortune to all its actors, but only through the decision as a cast to negotiate equal pay for all actors as early as season 3 (Hedash).  This needs to be a greater focus for producers and studios in the future.  Actors need to understand that their fellow actresses are just as valuable to the projects they are undertaking and prioritize that while deciding what projects to work on.

Figure 3: The Friends cast negotiated for equal salary for each episode in the late 90s – early 2000s  (Hedash).

This topic of unequal within the film and television industry may seem like a topic that is very different from the topics that have been discussed so far in class, but in reality it ties directly into it.  In Hollywood, actresses are treated as the subaltern despite their irreplaceable impact on the industry itself due to the fact that they are not value the same as their actor counterparts.  These women are in most cases literally given less value for performing the same role in a production.  A potential counterargument to this topic relating to the topics discussed in class would be that these actresses are still earning somewhere in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars range for their roles while the majority of women experiencing this discrimination are working jobs with more realistic earning potential.  This argument is invalid for a variety of reasons, such as many actors and actresses are not being paid millions of dollars to star in blockbuster movies, but are excited to get a minor role that has the slim chance of further success.  The examples mentioned above are important examples of the problem that exists in the film industry, only at a much larger scale with successful actors and actresses instead of those who haven’t yet achieved success.  A great example of an aspiring actress would be Penny from The Big Bang Theory, a woman who moves out to Hollywood with the dream of becoming rich and famous.  While failing to become a successful actress, Penny accepts many badly paying roles in questionable projects all while living paycheck to paycheck.  Penny is the typical aspiring actress who is treated as the subaltern by the film and television production world.

This topic is also an important discussion piece as actors and actresses are often idolized by people throughout the world.  Children grow up watching these people and idolizing their every move.  This is far from the only influence they have, as others who see actresses receiving less compensation than their actor co-stars may see this movement as further incentive to continue treating their own female employees as less important.  Film and television has a huge impact on many people’s lives as so many people spend so much time watching it.  As a result, the culture of treating women as if they are not as valuable as men in the production industry is something that needs to be changed.  Actors and actresses provide an example for the rest of the world, so if actresses are treated with the same intrinsic value as actors, they will no longer be the subaltern of the acting world and potentially help change the way the wage gap is viewed in general.

The gender wage-gap has been an issue throughout the last century of the United States history.  Women have always been discriminated against by employers and portrayed as the subaltern despite possessing the capability to perform the job to the same, if not better, standard as men.  The film and television industry has long been one of the worst offenders of this as women often portray just as important roles as men, but are not valued as highly as them.  If this important issue were discussed more it might bring a greater understanding and allow for one-more step to be taken so that the gender gap would no longer exist.

 

Bibliography

Bleiweis, Robin. Quick Facts About the Gender Wage Gap. 24 March 2020. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/03/24/482141/quick-facts-gender-wage-gap/. 5 April 2021.

Elsesser, Kim. On Equal Pay Day, What Is The Real Gender Pay Gap? 30 March 2020. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimelsesser/2020/03/30/on-equal-pay-day-what-is-the-real-gender-pay-gap/?sh=7f18391228ba. 5 April 2021.

Foundations of Western Culture. Women’s Roles in the Industrial Revolution. 2016. https://foundations.uwgb.org/womensroles/#:~:text=Throughout%20the%20Industrial%20Revolution%2C%20gender,salaries%20amongst%20women%20and%20children. 5 April 2021.

Hedash, Kara. Friends: How Much The Cast STILL Gets Paid. 29 August 2020. https://screenrant.com/friends-cast-paid-how-much-2020-updates/. 5 April 2021.

Jacobs, Rose. Chicago Booth’s Marianne Bertrand examines the ‘glass ceiling’ phenomenon. 17 December 2018. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/whats-holding-women-back-top-paying-jobs. 5 April 2021.

Katz, Emily Tess. Jessica Chastain: ‘I Made Less Than A Quarter’ Of What Was Reported For ‘The Martian’. 16 October 2015. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jessica-chastain-the-martian-wage-gap_n_56214dc3e4b02f6a900c44cf. 5 April 2021.

Martin, Emmie. ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star Ellen Pompeo explains why she chose to ‘make money’ instead of pursuing a more diverse career. 6 August 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/06/ellen-pompeo-stayed-on-greys-anatomy-in-order-to-make-money.html#:~:text=It%20was%20a%20groundbreaking%20moment,she%20was%20the%20titular%20character. 5 April 2021.

Muneer. 18 Alarming Examples Of The Gender Pay Gap In Hollywood. 29 March 2021. https://fandomwire.com/18-alarming-examples-of-the-gender-pay-gap-in-hollywood/. 5 April 2021.

Pedace, Roberto. Exploring the data on Hollywood’s gender pay gap. 20 December 2019. https://theconversation.com/exploring-the-data-on-hollywoods-gender-pay-gap-127414#:~:text=In%20the%20film%20industry%2C%20the,as%20the%20top%20male%20actors. 5 April 2021.

Poddar, Ankur. Working and Living Conditions of the Industrial Revolution. n.d. https://firstindustrialrevolution.weebly.com/working-and-living-conditions.html. 5 April 2021.

Diary of Systemic Injustice Showcase: Minimum Wage Issues

The Minimum Wage Problem

Adam Gieseke

This is slightly different from other diary entries, but I thought it was important to mention.  The minimum wage of the country has always been an issue.  This number that describes the value the least important job is worth has been an issue since its inception.  While the United States did not have a minimum wage while the industrial revolution was occurring, it was implemented by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938.  This initial federal standard was set at $0.25 per hour, which is equivalent to approximately $4 an hour today due to inflation (Bose).  The value of the United States Dollar has continued to rise, with the value of $100 in 1938 being equivalent to approximately $1,865 in current USD (Webster).  Conversely, the federal standard for minimum wage is only $7.25 currently in comparison to the equivalent $4 standard that was implemented in 1938.  This is a major injustice that has had a negative effect on the lives of Americans by valuing different areas of the country differently, despite performing the same job.

Figure 1: Inflation of the United States Dollar since the implementation of the minimum wage (Webster).

The minimum wage has often been linked to the poverty line.  Since the late 1980s, an individual working a minimum wage job for 50 weeks a year while working 40 hours each year would make around 60% of the national poverty line, or they are 40% under the poverty line (Bose).  This does not factor in the different minimum wages that are present in different states and cities.  For example, the minimum wage is $14 in California, which seems like an improvement over the federal standard (Department of Industrial Relations in California).  However, the cost of living is much higher in California than in other states.  A worker in California should be expected to make up to double their equivalent salary in Ohio to live the same quality of life (Best Places).  This is an important injustice, as the minimum wage of Ohio ($8.80) is not half of that in California allowing the minimum wage worker in Ohio a better chance to reach living standards (Meibers).  The minimum wage was originally implemented in order to guarantee a better standard of life for the people working the jobs, but with the current inflation levels of the USD, there is no way that it is capable of providing enough sustainability for people to thrive within the United States.  This has led to a difference in the value of the USD in different parts of the country, furthering the injustice towards those working minimum wage jobs.

Relative value of $100 in your state 2019 purchasing power 2019 price parity map, biggest bang for your buck states 2019 biggest bang for your buck states, price parity map, purchasing power, real income, nominal income, time value of money, best value states

Figure 2: A map of the United States showing relative value of the United States Dollar (Bellafiore).

 

Bibliography

Bellafiore, Robert. What is the Real Value of $100 in Your State? 14 August 2019. https://taxfoundation.org/real-value-100-state-2019/. 14 March 2021.

Best Places. 2021 Cost of Living Calculator. 2021. https://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/columbus-oh/los-angeles-ca/75000. 27 March 2021.

Bose, Apurva. History of Minimum Wage. 2016. https://bebusinessed.com/history/history-of-minimum-wage/#:~:text=Minimum%20wage%20was%20set%20at,Labor%20Standards%20Act%20(FLSA). 27 March 2021.

Department of Industrial Relations in California. Minimum Wage. December 2020. https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm. 27 March 2021.

Meibers, Bonnie. Ohio minimum wage gets inflation boost in 2021. 4 January 2021. https://www.journal-news.com/news/ohio-minimum-wage-gets-inflation-boost-in-2021/HLG2ISKKWJG23GKFXALDAITDCA/. 27 March 2021.

Minimum Wage. December 2020. https://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_minimumwage.htm. 27 March 2021.

Webster, Ian. CPI Inflation Calculator. 2021. https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1938. 27 March 2021.

 

 

Ko, The Leavers, Part Two (pages 150-end) Context Presentation

The Leavers by Lisa Ko presents a situation that many Chinese immigrants face.  When people come over from China, they are often discriminated against and are unable to land a job outside of manual labor.  Peilan Guo is a good example of how much Chinese immigrants will give up getting to the United States, but often experience extreme disappointment upon arrival.  Her story is an example of the challenges that immigrants face when coming to the United States as many Asian immigrants have been forced into working in factories or other manual labor positions to survive due to the inherent racism present in the United States history.  This presentation will discuss the difficulty of Chinese immigrants to successfully assimilate into American society to survive in different periods of history in the United States.

Initially when Chinese immigration began to the United States, it consisted of male workers who took manual labor positions in agriculture, mining, and other uneducated positions.  Americans became so upset about tine influx of Chinese workers that in 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed to prevent this immigration.  This horrible act was not repealed for over 60 years until 1943, but the problem still exists in the United States today.  As shown in The Leavers there are still individuals who make it into the country and are forced into menial jobs to try and create a better life for themselves and their families.  This happens to many immigrants, some who have professional education in their home country and are then forced into these positions to repay debts.  Unfortunately, this discrimination also extends to those with professional degrees in China.  While Peilan may not have had any professional experience, there are those who immigrate that were doctors in China or other Asian countries but are unable to continue pursuing these careers in the United States due to race and the language barrier it sometimes presents.

This is a fatal flaw of the immigration policies that are enforced as law within the United States, as it puts these people in an impossible situation.  This issue does not receive enough attention from most of the citizens in the United States.  There should be a greater focus on allowing and easing the process of integration for these immigrants into the country.  This problem existed back in the 1800s when Chinese immigration to the United States began and still existed during the unstated, but recent, period during The Leavers.  Chinese immigrants like Peilan are forced to take on huge amounts of debt from illegal and shady sources such as loan sharks and sacrifice living their lives at their fullest potential, all in the hope that they too might be able to achieve the “American Dream.”

 

Hsu, Irene. “The Echoes of Chinese Exclusion.” The New Republic, 28 June 2018, newrepublic.com/article/149437/echoes-chinese-exclusion.

Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Little, Brown, 2018.