It is hard to believe that no one in the decision making process never says a thing like movie A is similar to movies that grossed big on a regular basis in the past, so we will chose it over other candidates when research projects close outcomes. But even if that was the case, there are many other ways past biases can creep up into your research.
Seriously the more you talk the less I think you know. Scripts aren't competing with one another. They are decided upon ALONE. If "research projects close outcomes" they don't decide between movies, they make both(unless those projected outcomes are low, in which case they make neither).
Various kinds of biases in big data is a well known and actively researched problem. There are even jokes about it, like Zip code is the most racist piece of information you can collect.
Seriously, what point are you trying to make? Of course research will have biases, anything that doesn't survey every single individual will. They've done all they can to make it not biased to get the best predictive plotting; and any biases present are minimal, much smaller than anything you're insinuating.
In your case, you may ask people how often do they go to the movies. And then give higher value to tastes of people who go to the movies often. This right there gives you a bias against people who rarely find something they want to watch in the theatres.
No a question like that would have followups along the lines of "what would make you see more movies?" and "when you go, what movies do you most enjoy." Market research is some of the most comprehensive research done. When hundreds of millions are on the line, they don't trust their money to morons.
And then there is an amplification effect from too much trust in the research. In reality there may be only a 60/40 preference for a man lead, but when everyone is chasing that 60%, you end up with 90% of the movies made for that market.
75/25 and the market isn't zero sum. 90% of the movies can target 75% of the market and have every one of them make big money. Not that 90% is anywhere close in an estimate, unless you're exclusively talking action films.
And when you consider that the projected market advantage for man lead does not have to be big for it to get amplified into a serious issue, I think it is reasonable to explain it as a combination of research confirming pre-existing bias, MPAA ratings, and an occasional biased decision by a male exec.
Except it's not reasonable. I've already explained your errors with all of these. The only reason you think it's reasonable is because you have absolutely no idea how the field works. That would be like a chemical engineer stating that wiring a home on a series circuit(electrical) is completely reasonable because electrons can still flow. When anyone who actually knows the field will tell you that setup will result in an open circuit any time an outlet is unplugged or something is turned off.
Like I said the direct effect does not have to be big to get amplified into the bigger problem.
It has to be big enough. 1 to 2 children per city does not equate to tens of millions of dollars in difference, let alone hundreds. Changing the rating wouldn't change anything. Not to mention, you're acting as if it's actually lax here. PG and PG-13 movies are allowed to show breasts, full frontal, ass, etc.
I am glad we agree on gore. But I want to see violence restrictions normalized with other adult themes, so that violent movies do not get unfair advantage.
Violence in itself isn't an adult theme. It also is normalized with adult themes so many PG movies have cursing and nudity in them.
I think there needs to be combination of some additional restrictions on violence and some easing up of restrictions on other adult themes.
Cool, I don't. Most people don't. But if you feel more censorship should be a thing then do something about it and quit complaining on the internet.
here is an example: http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/ugly-reality-in-movie-ratings
Selective ignorance to fit an agenda, gave me a laugh. Ignoring the fact that nudity happens all the time in PG and PG13 movies. Everything from Titanic, to Romeo and Juliet, to Clash of the Titans contain nudity; but those are ignored in order to support the agenda that nudity is always suppressed.