We would be shocked if you knew what the bechdel test is. We didn’t until we stumbled across an interesting story that put a number of movies through the bechdel test. For those of you who are not familiar with the bechdel test it was created in 1985 by a feminist named Alison Bechdel (hence the name the “bechdel” test.) Ok, so what does this have to do with movies?
Simple, in order for a movie to pass the test it has to have at least two women in the movie that talk to each other. However, here is where it gets tricky. The women that talk to each other have to do so by talking about something other than a man.
Seems simple enough right?
Actually it’s not. In fact, a study done by www.bechdeltest.com showed that 46.08% of movies entered into their database have failed the test (They have well over 2,500 movies entered.) Now, we are not saying that this is necessarily bad. After all, one of our favorite movies of all times is Harry Met Sally. Even though this movie is considered by many to be one of the greatest romance movies of all time it would definitely fail the test.
Nevertheless, when you see numbers like those stated above (46% of movies fail) it is a little shocking. Oh, and we are not talking about old time movies. Some of the most popular and well known movies of our time have failed this test. We took the liberty of listing a few of the most popular movies below and the reasons why they failed.
Avatar
Image Source: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/
Avatar fails because most of the scenes between women involve the women talking about Jake (a man.)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
Image Source: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/
The last Harry Potter film (Deathly Hallows Part 2) fails because they are hardly any scenes where women talk to each other. In those scenes that they do talk to one another a conversation really isn’t happening it is just usually one woman calling the other a name or something to that effect.
The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy
Image Source: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/
The entire Lord Of The Rings Trilogy fails because none of the strong female characters ever meet.
I would argue that the “Bechdel Test” is not complete unless it also looks for conversations between two men that are not about a woman, women or sex. If a movie is equally vapid, I would suggest that the movie is making no particular comment about women, conversations or relationships, but rather about the view of movie-makers toward their public. Given the box-office gross figures even if the latter is true it may be good business.
What if we add the “Pincus Test” looking for a conversation between 2 men that is not about a woman, women or sex, sports, or violence–in other words a real conversation. I wonder how many movies would fail that test?
…as our culture races headlong, reaching for an even lower common denominator.
Thank you for Intresting post:))
I think it is not suitable as a method of evaluation of the movie. Charlie’s Angels is the best movie best when assessed in the way;)