Working the romance: occupational identities in romantic films by gender and race

ABSTRACT

Young people identify with on-screen depictions of workers who share their gender and racial identities, and these identifications shape career aspirations. These portrayals have the potential to reproduce or challenge the gendered and racial segregation of occupations present in the US and globally. This study examines occupations in popular, romantic films over a five-year period (n = 94 films, n = 241 leading characters) by intersectional identities and in comparison to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Romantic protagonists were overwhelming white, heterosexual, and middle or upper class. Minority women were the most likely group to be shown without a job or unemployed, while minority men were most likely to be entertainers or athletes. Professionals and entertainers were overrepresented, while working class jobs (Production, Transportation and Natural Resources) were practically nonexistent. Qualitative analyses revealed white women often used domestic skills in paid work, e.g., baking, event planning. Romantic love transformed immature men and mature women toward an equilibrium, often ending with men in stable professional careers and women in creative or domestic roles. An adversarial, battle-of-the-sexes theme characterized men and women working in the same occupation.

KEYWORDS:

• Work
• content analysis
• occupations
• films
• intersectionality
• race

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carter Rakovski

Carter Rakovski PhD in Sociology and an MS in Statistics from University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research focuses on gender, intersectionality, and occupations, often examining front-line healthcare workers. She has been published in Gender and Society, Sociology of Health & Illness, Work, Employment, and Society, Caring on the Clock, and other academic journals and books.