Broken Hollywood

Just a short post today, but with some big questions...

There is a trend I've noticed in the way films are marketed, and as usual with Hollywood it isn't exactly fair. I have noticed that on DVDs covers, movie posters, and all the other pieces of advertising that often the main picture is of a very beautiful (airbrushed) woman. Whether you are watching action films with the seductive double agent or period dramas with angelic faces in bonnets, the beautiful woman takes precedence.

So why, when I look closer at the ad, click on it, look up who stars in it, are the first names listed invariably male? Why does the woman whose face it is appear sometimes third, fourth, fifth down the list? If she is so important, why isn't she first? If the first two or three listed are the main parts and those are men's names, why can't their picture take pride of place?

This doesn't necessarily apply if the main female is say Angelina Jolie or Kiera Knightly, when their fame is also the draw. In that case their name, face and body are often plastered everywhere. I would also like to point out that this is not the case in some genres, like indie films.

More to the point, why does this kind of advertising work on us?