It's not just Samuel L. Jackson. Hollywood really does love snakes on the silver screen.
The MRC's Business & Media Institute today released the second installment of our Bad Company trilogy today.
The three-part special report series examines the television entertainment, cinematic, and network news media's biases against the American businessman.
In our first study we found, among other things that boob tube businessmen "committed crimes five times more often than terrorists and four times more often than gangs."
With a bigger budget comes bigger bias. Here's what we found when we went to the movies:
BMI looked at the 16 films that received 2005’s 30 nominations for the top Oscar awards – Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress. The Oscars are the pinnacle of cinematic success and are an essential measure to determine how
perceives the American businessman. In this look at the silver screen, BMI found: Hollywood
- It’s a Crime: Half of the movies earning top Oscar nominations (8 of 16) portrayed businessmen in either primary or secondary roles committing crimes – ranging from petty drug offenses to murder, mass murder and an international conspiracy to overthrow a nation’s government.
- Only One Ethical Businessman: Only one major character out of more than 70 across all 16 movies was depicted as successful and ethical while actively engaged in business.
- Bad Businessmen: Businessmen were portrayed as either criminal or simply unethical four times as often as they were portrayed in a positive light. The star of “Hustle & Flow” funded his rap efforts by drug sales and prostitution. The owner of a small diner in “A History of Violence” went from local hero to murdering mobster almost overnight.
- Bad Business: Of the movies that included businessmen, 79 percent (11 out of 14) portrayed business in a negative way. Three (21 percent) were direct assaults on industry – oil, mining and pharmaceuticals.
