Imperfect Paradise: Women speak a quarter of words in the 2026 Oscars Best Picture nominated films. What that tells us about the movies Hollywood values
California City
LAist Studios
4.5 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 13 March 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
The Academy has historically favored men when it comes to giving out its Oscars statuettes. Women are once again not only underrepresented among this year’s Best Picture nominees, but also fared worse than last year. Emily Tarinelli analyzed how much female characters speak across the 10 nominated films, including top contenders like Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet. On Imperfect Paradise, Emily talks about her findings, why what female characters are saying on-screen matters, and what gender disparity in dialogue can tell us about the kinds of movies that are institutionally valued.
Read Emily’s full report at LAist.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Julia Paskin. |
| 0:01.1 | Ever been enthralled in an LAS story and your car radio loses the signal at just the wrong time? |
| 0:06.7 | Ah, me too. And it drives me bananas. That FM signal cannot interrupt your listen when you're streaming through the LAS app, though. That's for iPhone and Android. Hey, everybody. It's Kyle Rizzdahl, the host of Marketplace. I'm going to be live on stage at the Aratani Theater on Sunday, |
| 0:21.5 | March 29th, unpacking the headlines of this economy. Get tickets now at laist.com |
| 0:27.7 | slash events. I hope to see you there. This is in Perfect Paradise. I'm Nereida Moreno. |
| 0:48.2 | Take a close look at this year's Academy Awards, the glitz, the glamour on the red carpet, with some of Hollywood's biggest names. |
| 0:56.8 | The scene will look similar to the previous years, but zoom in closer on the Best Picture nominees, the story is far more complicated. |
| 0:57.6 | For women and my from high-profile female, you are the absolute artist. |
| 1:01.7 | I'm the normal. |
| 1:03.2 | Beautiful, isn't it? |
| 1:04.7 | One is, but I'll be seeing you very soon. |
| 1:06.7 | Very difficult person. |
| 1:07.7 | The Best Picture category is widely considered the most prestigious honor, |
| 1:14.1 | but the reality of the characters and their spoken words on screen becomes stark. |
| 1:21.1 | On this week's In Perfect Paradise, we look at this year's Best Picture nominees |
| 1:25.3 | and what they underscore about disparity and the |
| 1:28.3 | questions they continue to raise about gender representation. Emily Taranelli, who is getting her |
| 1:34.0 | journalism masters at Stanford, has been digging into these very things for LAist using data |
| 1:39.0 | analysis. And she joins us now to discuss her findings. Hey, Emily. Hello. |
| 1:48.6 | Emily, so what made you look into this year's Best Picture nominees? |
| 1:53.8 | Well, this project began as part of a data journalism class that I'm taking at Stanford. |
| 2:02.7 | And in this class, I came across a similar analysis that the LA Times did for dialogue across genders in the Star Wars movies. |
... |
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