Gender Discrepancy of Sci-Fi Movies
Introduction
I am conducting research on the gender discrepancies of the ten movie genres: action, animation, comedy, drama, family, horror, musical, mystery, romance, and sci-fi.
Source
My source is the IMDB movie rankings as they pertain to my top 10 movies of each genre. The movie rankings are weighted averages of individual rankings on a scale of 1 to 10 for each movie. Average rankings are broken down into men, women, and the following four age groups: under 18, 18-29, 30-44, and 45 and up.
Men vs. Women
The following two tables show the weighted average rankings for men and women respectively for each age range for each of the top 10 sci-fi movies, as well as the averages of these numbers for all 10 films and for all age ranges.
Weighted Average Rankings for Men
movie |
<18 |
18-29 |
30-44 |
45+ |
total |
2001: A Space Odyssey |
8.9 |
8.4 |
8.3 |
8.5 |
8.4 |
Star Wars |
9.1 |
8.8 |
8.9 |
8.4 |
8.8 |
Back to the Future |
8.6 |
8.3 |
8.0 |
7.8 |
8.2 |
Contact |
7.5 |
7.2 |
7.2 |
7.3 |
7.2 |
2010: The Year We Make Contact |
6.6 |
6.5 |
6.4 |
6.4 |
6.4 |
The Empire Strikes Back |
9.1 |
9.0 |
8.9 |
8.1 |
8.9 |
Time After Time |
5.9 |
7.0 |
7.1 |
7.5 |
7.2 |
Superman |
7.6 |
7.2 |
7.2 |
7.3 |
7.2 |
Back to the Future Part II |
7.8 |
7.4 |
6.7 |
6.7 |
7.1 |
The Truman Show |
8.5 |
8.0 |
7.5 |
7.3 |
7.8 |
| total |
7.96 |
7.78 |
7.62 |
7.53 |
7.72 |
Weighted
Average Rankings for Women
movie |
<18 |
18-29 |
30-44 |
45+ |
total |
2001: A Space Odyssey |
8.3 |
7.3 |
7.4 |
7.7 |
7.5 |
Star Wars |
9.0 |
8.5 |
8.6 |
8.6 |
8.6 |
Back to the Future |
7.8 |
8.1 |
7.7 |
8.0 |
8.0 |
Contact |
4.7 |
7.2 |
7.1 |
7.3 |
7.1 |
2010: The Year We Make Contact |
2.5 |
5.5 |
5.4 |
6.4 |
5.5 |
The Empire Strikes Back |
9.1 |
8.6 |
8.4 |
8.3 |
8.5 |
Time After Time |
7.0 |
6.6 |
6.9 |
7.8 |
7.3 |
Superman |
8.0 |
7.3 |
7.3 |
7.5 |
7.3 |
Back to the Future Part II |
7.0 |
7.2 |
6.3 |
6.8 |
6.9 |
The Truman Show |
7.3 |
7.7 |
7.3 |
7.3 |
7.6 |
| total |
7.07 |
7.10 |
7.24 |
7.57 |
7.43 |
Conclusion
Men prefer sci-fi movies but this is highly age-dependent.
- Teens (under 18) - 7.96 vs. 7.07 (+0.89)
- Young Adults (18-29) - 7.78 vs. 7.10 (+0.68)
- Middle-Aged (30-44) - 7.62 vs. 7.24 (+0.38)
- Older Adults (45+) - 7.53 vs. 7.57 (-0.04)
The difference is sharpest for teens (under 18), becoming progressively less sharp for young (18-29) and middle-aged (30-44) adults and actually reversing for adults 45 and over.
Potential Sources of Error
There are several potential sources of error in this survey. Since the movie rankings on IMDB are voluntary, they do not necessarily (and most likely do not in fact) reflect the true opinions of moviegoers. Also, not all moviegoers visit IMDB, which further biases the results. For instance, it is likely that moviegoers 45 and over who vote on IMDB are more likely to enjoy sci-fi movies than moviegoers in general.
Possible Correlation to Sex Drive
Younger men and older women tend to have stronger sex drives. This also seems to be the trend in the preference of sci-fi movies. Perhaps there is a correlation between people's sex drive and how much they like sci-fi films? This would make an interesting study.
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