There are few issues more pertinent to contemporary feminism than that of the pay gap.
In so many industries, women are being consistently shortchanged, and are (if a number of sources are to be believed) on average, paid a shocking amount less than their male counterparts for performing the same job at the same level of competency.
Although many naysayers have denied that the statistics show a skew in favour of men, feminist scholars and other activists have argued that this wage gap reveals the fundamental sexism of modern society.
Nowhere is this disparity more apparent than in Hollywood, where male actors are often paid far more than their female co-stars. Many activists have decried this kind of sexism, but yet it continues to go on happening, and when actresses voice their complaints about the practice, they are often shouted down.
If you want an example of this kind of pay gap then look no further than the case of Emily Blunt and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.
According to a report by tabloid website TMZ, Johnson is being paid almost twice as much as Blunt is on an upcoming Disney project. The two actors are both set to star in Jungle Cruise, but according to TMZ's sources, The Rock is being paid $22 million to play the lead male character, Frank, while Emily Blunt is only getting $9 million to play the lead female Lily.
This news seems to be all the more jarring for Disney fans to cope with after the Rock made an Instagram post in which he alluded to an overall positive working relationship between the Jungle Cruise cast members.
Posting a video of himself, Blunt and British comedian Jack Whitehall, Johnson wrote: "My British voice is beautiful & sexy. Their 'Rock voice' is repugnant & nauseating. The cast that trains together ... stays together. And the cast that talks smack to each other ... become LIFERS. Just your typical day in the IRON PARADISE with my JUNGLE CRUISE ohana, the relentlessly badass @jackwhitehall and the Incomparable One herself, Emily Blunt. Now bring it on in for a nice, long, sweaty, hug that goes on for way too long making it beautifully weird, while wearing 50lb chains. [sic]"
Jungle Cruise is a feature film based on the theme park ride of the same name. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the film is set for release on July 24, 2020, and will also star Édgar Ramírez, Jesse Plemons and Paul Giamatti.
Set in the 1930s during the Great Depression, a riverboat captain named Frank (Dwayne Johnson) takes a scientist (Emily Blunt) and her brother (Jack Whitehall) into the jungle to find a tree with supposed healing powers. The trio are then forced to fight against wild animals and an enemy German expedition.
I'm sure the movie will be a good one, but it's a shame that this controversy will likely now overshadow the release.
