The Hollywood Jim Crow. Maryann Erigha

true reflection that lies beneath the surface.48 By this view, Hollywood’s liberal front is emblematic of complete racial integration only superficially, while beneath the surface lies a racially conservative industry that remains monopolized by white men. Although substantively this book focuses on film directors, this lens of hierarchical representation can be used to interrogate how inequality works in other creative professions off camera, from writing to producing. Rethinking representation to closely examine the quality of work within a systemic U.S. racial hierarchy provides a comprehensive way to assess progress toward racial equality in the film industry and beyond.

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      Representation in a popular-culture industry involves the interface among creative workers, media organizations, movies, and audiences around the globe. The character of representation takes on different forms. Representation is as much about securing jobs and depicting images as it is about having one’s voice heard, being counted, and belonging in a nation. Images and award recognition constitute a symbolic form of representation that stands for something beyond sheer numbers. Representation in the form of numbers ranges from seats around a table of decision-makers to people behind and in front of a camera. Both symbols and numbers are common ways of thinking about representation as a form of demography—counting the tangible presence or absence of racial minorities in a particular medium.