Hollywood’s dim view of banking and the real-world threat it poses

The film industry is painting an ugly picture of what life is like inside banks. And there are real-world dangers in that fiction. Top films about the industry from 2006 to 2016 showed bankers mostly as the bad guys — with an emphasis on the guys — an analysis conducted by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media shows. Men make up 81% of the characters, and are three times more likely than women to be shown in senior executive roles. None of the films portray banking as an industry where promotion is driven solely by merit; and in three-quarters of the films, bank employees are seen rising through the ranks at least partly because of cronyism and a willingness to bend the rules. Read More…