Disney Will Use Artificial Intelligence To Avoid Sexist Biases in Scripts
Disney, as one of the world's leading entertainment companies, is aware that diversity in film is important. That is why they decided to use a tool to block sexism in their content.
The Woman Post | Ariel Cipolla
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It has currently formed an important pool of products and channels relevant to the industry since it owns the Marvel and Star Wars franchises and is even creating new content for its new transmission platform, Disney Plus.
At the same time, Walt Disney Studios wants to implement progressive policies. For example, it was recently announced that actress Gina Carano would be leaving The Mandalorian series after making possible anti-Semitic posts on social media. From the mouse company, they argued that such behavior is "unacceptable" and that it is not related to the values of the company.
However, it does not end there. From Disney, they are aware that the role of women must also be increasingly important within the film industry. The future Marvel movie Black Widow, which will star Scarlett Johansson, shows that the company is interested in opening up to female audiences with stories that take this approach.
Thus, they also want to eliminate the possible sexism that can be found in the scripts of their future productions… thanks to artificial intelligence. This is revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, which says that one of the most important activists of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood, actress Geena Davis, would be in charge of it.
Feminist Scripts at Disney
More specifically, this actress's company, the Institute on Gender in Media, managed to develop technology that could radically change the way Disney creates its productions. It is a system, known as "GD-IQ: Spell Check for Bias" that allows analyzing the amount of gender biases within a film, but also the representation of different groups.
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For example, racial issues, LGTBQ + sexual orientation, and other historically underrepresented groups. In this way, this technology would seek to address the social inequities that are depicted in movies. The scripts would evaluate how many lines each character has and how they are categorized, to avoid possible conflicts or scandals.
Davis announced during the Power of Inclusion Summit in Australia that her company will collaborate with Disney to use this tool when making decisions. She also clarified that it will not be a software that will generate new content, but that it will help creators to evaluate the existing prejudices in many projects that could generate problems against minorities.
The actress's foundation has been trying to change the paradigms on which movies and series are generated for about 15 years. Today, there is more and more representation of LGTBQ + groups, racial variety, or female empowerment. However, the truth is that, at times, scripts are still biased because they are created within a patriarchal culture.
In the past, Disney has been the subject of scandals due to various accusations of racism or gender issues related to the bygone era. For example, Disney princesses always depended on the arrival of a man to be rescued. The same is true of some classic movies that are present within Disney Plus, which the BBC reports have a "racist content" warning label for stereotypes from other decades.
Spell Check for Bias will serve to generate a democratization of the invisible sectors in Hollywood, but also to improve the reputation of a company that is ashamed of part of its past. This includes gender disparity, where women have rarely been seen in leadership positions, for example. In this way, Disney will seek to make its productions increasingly progressive and feminist, thanks to the collaboration with Geena Davis.
