Evaluating the cinematic soundscape: The gender gap in flm composing

The soundscape of the big screen has perennially captured the American imagination. From the rollicking tunes of “Indiana Jones” to the bombastic marches of “Captain America,” film music has molded entire universes from the clay of writing and directing. Yet the diversity of these worlds on-screen is hardly reflected behind the scenes: Institutionalized sexism has consistently excluded women from the profession of film composing.

Time after time, the same few dozen names dominate the end credits of films. Case in point: Of the 32 films Marvel Studios has released, only one features a score by a female composer—2019’s “Captain Marvel,” for which Pinar Toprak wrote the music. This year, no female composers were nominated for the Best Original Score category of the Oscars. The 2023 Celluloid Ceiling report (an annual assessment of women’s behind-the-scenes employment in film) found that in 2022, 91% of the 250 domestic top-grossing films had no women composers.

The industry’s issue is the cumulative result of various practices preventing women from getting a foot in the door, from sexual harassment to stereotyping to a lack of mentorship. Through examining these systemic barriers, we can better understand not only where the gender gap begins, but how best to close it.

Harassment

“We don’t have an HR department. We don’t have a union. Where are we supposed to go?” pianist and composer Nomi Abadi said in an article from the Hollywood Reporter titled “#MeToo Missed Us: Female Composers Speak Out.”

Abadi’s sentiment highlights how female composers are often exploited: According to an article from the Guardian titled “The Hollywood crisis #MeToo missed: ‘Every female composer has been through it,’” because composers mostly work freelance for independent music-production supervisors, few existing structures can address sexual harassment claims. The absence of these human resources departments and unions—along with the isolated nature of the profession and the mentor-student relationships it relies on—make it easy for male composers to exploit their female co-workers or proteges. Moreover, female composers often must network with male co-workers to access job opportunities, enabling harassment. phers, and 6% of composers (top 250 films),” the report found.

Patty Macmillan, a composer and the founder of Allegro Talent Group, attributed this phenomenon to women’s being able to better identify with the struggles faced in a male-dominated industry in a Variety story titled “Women Composers Seek to Score Progress: ‘There’s Just So Much Work To Be Done.’” Because women filmmakers lack representation, though, there’s a long way left for women composers to achieve parity.

Moving forward Stereotyping

As in other industries, stereotypes contribute to the continued scarcity of female composers. Directors assume female composers are only capable of composing soft, romantic scores, and pass them by believing their music will lack the gumption necessary for a fight scene or a thrilling chase.

According to the same article from the Hollywood Reporter, composer Laura Karpman was once told her music wasn’t “masculine” enough and subsequently fired. These entrenched views make it di cult for women composers to even get a foot in the door.

Lack of mentorship

The movie industry remains overwhelmingly male: The 2023 Celluloid Ceiling Annual Report found that in 2022, “women comprised 24% of directors, writers, producers, executive producers, editors, and cinematographers working on the top 250 grossing films,” a decline of 1% from the year before. On these top 250 films, 18% of directors were women.

Why does this matter? Gender gaps in leadership roles on films can trickle down to create ones in composing, as female directors are more likely than male directors to hire female composers and other sta , according to the Celluloid Ceiling Report. “On films with at least one woman director, women comprised 53% of writers, 39% of editors, 19% of cinematographers, and 18% of composers. On films with male directors, women accounted for 12% of writers, 19% of editors, 4% of cinematogra-

Of course, the issues discussed here are just a few of many factors a ecting women’s representation in film composing. A gender gap in composition degrees awarded to women indicates an educational discrepancy; moreover, film music is historically tied to classical music, which relies heavily on the works of white, male composers.

Fortunately, female composers themselves are taking initiative to create opportunities for one another. Aside from the Female Composer Safety League, there’s also the Alliance for Women Composers, founded by Karpman in 2014 with the goal to “support and celebrate the work of women composers through advocacy and education.”

E orts have also been made on the parts of other agencies. According to an article from the New York Times titled “Female Composers Are Trying to Break Film’s Sound Barrier,” groups such as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers have tried to address the gender gap.

At the heart of these e orts lies one simple truth, voiced by composer Pinar Toprak in the same New York Times article. “Music, and art in general, it’s genderless, because emotions are genderless,” she said.

—Written by Amann Mahajan, a STEM Editor.