Month: January 2020

A new study shows that the percentage of movies featuring female leads reached a new all-time high in 2019, though the amount of time women spoke on screen in 2019 fell slightly.

The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University released the results of its 2019 poll that showed the percentage of the year’s highest-grossing movies featuring female leads jumped from 31 percent to 40 percent.

The study also showed that 43 percent of these films focused on male protagonists, while 17 percent had ensemble casts or a combination of men and women in lead roles.

For this study, a protagonist is defined as the character “from whose perspective the story is told.” Additionally, these characters are described as being “instrumental to the narrative of the story.” The study looked at more than 2,300 characters in the top 100 grossing American movies.

“There’s been a fierce debate in the industry about the reasons that movies have historically failed to tell stories about people of color, women, or members of the LGBTQ community, as well as spirited discussions about how to change things,” reads a line from the study’s excerpt. “Despite those gains, it’s worth noting that audiences are still twice as likely to see men on screen as women.”

Some of the other statistics in the study include that 37 percent of major characters were women, up 1 percent from 2018. Additionally, while the number of female protagonists rose in 2019, these characters overall spoke less. The study showed that 34 percent of all speaking characters were women, which is down 1 percent year-over-year.

The study also revealed that the percentage of black women in speaking roles dropped to 20 percent, down 1 percent from 2018, while the percentage of Latinas jumped from 4 percent to 5 percent, and 7 percent of female characters were of Asian descent (down 3 percent).

Some of 2019’s biggest movies featuring women in lead roles included Little Women, Us, Frozen 2, and Captain Marvel, among many others.

Some other statistics from the study include:

• Female characters were more likely (46 percent) than male characters (34 percent) to have a known marital status.
• 73 percent of male characters had an identifiable occupation in their movie, compared to 61 percent for women.
• Male characters were more likely to be shown at work, doing their job (59 percent) compared to women (43 percent).
• 45 percent of female leads were in studio movies, while 55 percent appeared in independent films. For comparison, 2018’s data showed that women were more than twice as likely to appear in an independent movie compared to a studio film.

Go to the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University’s website to read the full studies and get more details.

Given that this is the final season of Vikings, it should come as no surprise that viewers will be saying goodbye to certain familiar faces. After all, the series has never shied away from killing beloved–or hated–characters, whether they were a major force like Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) or any number of guest stars that appeared here and there. The latest death on the show hurts, though, and it’s going to be one that takes some time to properly mourn.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Vikings Season 6 episode “Death and the Serpent.” If you haven’t seen this installment yet, stop reading now then come back after you catch up. This isn’t one you’re going to want spoiled.

In the final moments, the Seer’s prophecy came to pass as Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick) was killed by a son of Ragnar, her former husband. Losing his mind to hallucinations, Hvitserk (Stephen Rockett) believes he sees a giant snake–the episode’s titular serpent–stalking him, at which point he viciously attacks it with a knife, stabbing it countless times. It’s then revealed that the snake was actually a gravely injured Lagertha, fresh off a nearly fatal battle with the bandits that had attacked her settlement.

If you’re surprised it was Hvitserk that ended up being the son of Ragnar to end Lagertha’s life, you’re not the only one. “I thought it would be Ivar for a long time,” series creator Michael Hirst told GameSpot. “Hvitserk, in some ways, has come up and surprised me in many ways. I think I have such a strong sense of the other sons, who they were by and large, and I didn’t have that same clarity about Hvitserk. I wasn’t sure, in a sense, what I was going to do to him, but it was very interesting to have him as a sort of free agent.”

Still, even Winnick herself knew her character’s story had to end with her death. After all, it’s the Vikings way. “It was a long time coming in the sense that we’ve talked about feeling that Lagertha’s time is coming. She’s a granny,” the actress said. “After so many years and playing a whole my whole life on the show, in a sense. She started out as a young farmer, and now she’s a grandmother and retired shieldmaiden. Not many actors in their lives can say that they had a chance to play such an iconic character like Lagertha.”

When it came to crafting her exit from the show, though, Winnick wanted to make sure the character for a proper ending. “After all those years, I wanted to make sure in working with Michael that if Lathertha’s going to go, then make that it’s done right and does her character justice. And I do feel that with the last battle, it was an epic battle and it was a surprise of how she actually ended up going.”

“I have to say that Katheryn just grabbed hold of the whole storyline and her last fight is I think is one of the best jobs she did in this whole show,” Hirst revealed. “It’s this incredible fight, and during [the battle], it’s like the first time you could see in her eyes that she thinks she might lose. You know, I think that’s the first time that the warrior has ever felt [like], ‘I might not make it to this one.'”

Still, while she did survive that battle, Lagertha wasn’t long for the world. This isn’t the last you’ve seen of her on Vikings, though. The next episode will feature a funeral for the character in grand Viking fashion. In that way, not only will the people of Kattegat get to say goodbye, but so will the fans.

What of Hvitserk, though? After killing the mother of his own brother, his story is far from over. “It’s only just started because Hvitserk has gone down as low as he can get but slowly after that, and certainly [the second half of Season 6] be he rises to something quite extraordinary,” Hirst teased.

Vikings airs Wednesdays on History.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Alienware and Dell came to CES 2020 with something bold and new: the Concept UFO. It’s a PC with a condensed handheld form factor with Nintendo Switch-like capabilities. While it’s only a prototype, we were able to test it out and get a closer look at the show. In the video above, we give our impressions after playing F1 2019 and Mortal Kombat 11 on it and look at some of its finer details.

At its core, the Alienware Concept UFO is a Windows 10 PC using an Intel 10th generation processor with an eight-inch touchscreen that has a max resolution of 720p resolution. In terms of functionality similar to the Switch, the UFO has a USB-C docking station that lets you output to external displays through HDMI. The two controllers detach from the device itself like Joy-Cons but Alienware’s controllers have to be snapped into a grip (called the bridge) in order to use them since it’s what sends the signal to the UFO itself. There’s also a backplate that can be pulled out to act as a kickstand which allows you to prop up the UFO at several angles.

This being a prototype device, no definitive technical details were given in terms of battery life and exact specs–the Concept UFO has no release date or price range. For more on at the show, be sure to check out our CES 2020 coverage and our sister site CNET for what’s new in tech.

During CES 2020, Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan unveiled the PlayStation 5 logo to a muted reception. But while the reveal of a logo isn’t the bombshell some fans were hoping for, Ryan has said that there is more exciting news about the system around the corner, and some key pieces of information that have not been revealed yet.

In an interview with Business Insider Japan, which has been translated by Gematsu, Ryan says that the PlayStation 5 will have unique features. He cites the improvements Sony has already announced, including 3D audio, haptic feedback in the controllers, and the addition of a solid state drive. But he also hints at features beyond these.

“There are still more unique elements for PlayStation 5 to come that separate it from previous consoles,” Ryan says. “The ‘bigger differences’ have yet to be announced.”

This is a vague statement, but it means that we haven’t seen the system’s full range of possibilities yet, and that the system might be able to do things we’re not anticipating–and that Sony is holding back features they consider even bigger than full backwards compatibility.

Elsewhere in the interview, Ryan says that he does not believe that delaying the PlayStation 4’s Japanese release was “a good idea” on reflection, and suggests that PlayStation 4 support will not immediately cease when the PS5 releases.

“During the migration from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation 5, there will still be a great deal of PlayStation 4 users. That is very important and we have an obligation to those users.”