Transnational TV Series Adaptations: What Artificial Intelligence Can Tell Us About Gender Inequality In France And The US

Abstract

The present research analyzes the inequality of gender representation in transnational TV series. For this purpose, a content analysis was carried out on 18 episodes of the US crime show Law & Order: Criminal Intent and its French adaptation Paris Enquêtes Criminelles. To conduct this research, we used the artificial intelligence toolkit the Möbius Trip, which is equipped with a gender and emotion recognition feature and relies on big data. The main findings indicate that male characters overwhelmingly dominate the onscreen time equally in both the US and the French versions. The data also show that male characters are more emotionally expressive and that women tend to display a wider range of emotions. The French characters are slightly more emotionally expressive than their American counterparts. The data also suggest that male characters tend to display violent behavior and that female characters tend to be portrayed as a victim in both versions of the show. The emotions-related results show a trend, but the difference of emotions between male and female characters and between the French and American cultures remain fairly narrow.