Bechdel Movie Test

[Manic Impressive]

This is a really simple test to highlight gender bias within films.
The rules are:



The film must have two or more main characters who are women
Who talk to each other,
about anything other than men


Sounds easy right? But it's amazing how many films don't meet this criteria. I'd like to start a list of films which do and don't meet the criteria of this test, so next time you watch a film keep these rules in mind and report back with your findings.

Here's a few to kick off with

The Shawshank Redemption :(
The Wrestler :(
Deliverance :(
Midnight Cowboy :(
The Godfather :(
Old Boy :(
Star Wars :(

I hope you get the idea

[khlib]

I don't get it, like even in the Sex and the City movies they sometimes talk about shoes in addition to men.

[ВАЛТЕР]

Thelma and Louise.

:cool:

[Manic Impressive]

I don't get it, like even in the Sex and the City movies they sometimes talk about shoes in addition to men.
Sex and the City movies probably pass I haven't seen them so I can't be sure. The rules are really simple it must have more than two women who have a single scene of dialogue in which they do not discuss men. Thelma and Louise is a good example of a film that passes, they spend a lot of time talking about men but they do talk about other stuff as well. Here's a short clip which explains it further.
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[ВАЛТЕР]

Why does it matter? I doubt this is some intentional, international conspiracy against women.

:confused:

[OhYesIdid]

nope, not a conspiracy but an unintentional result of screenwriters living on a patriarchal culture which, in turn, helps perpetuate the patriarchy. kind of like how no one wants to kill children but selling fatty foods is just more profitable

[Manic Impressive]

Why does it matter? I doubt this is some intentional, international conspiracy against women.

:confused:
If in most films half the population is severely under-represented or only talking about the opposite sex what do you think that tells us? This isn't about providing an answer it's about involving people in the process of researching evidence on their own so that they can draw their own conclusions from their findings. I find it's a good way to get people to question the norm if you don't tell them but make them do it for themselves, it's also a bit of fun.

[x359594]

Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Je, tu, il, elle
Les rendez-vous d'Anna
A Film About a Woman Who...
Kristina Talking Pictures

The first three movies are by Chantal Ackerman, the last two by Yvonne Rainer. You're more likely to find movies about women made by women, and then there are a few male directors who make movies about women, most notably Jean-Luc Godard, Mizoguchi Kenji and George Cukor.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I don't think it really matters in a film like Midnight Cowboy, does it? Midnight Cowboy is a character study of two men, Hoffman and Voight's characters are practically pretty much the only characters in the film actually. Likewise TSR is a movie set in a men's prison, so I wouldn't expect there to be any female characters there either.

[Manic Impressive]

It's not saying that the films are good films or bad films or even if those films are sexist. It's the general trend of how many films do not feature any women at all or at least not in any meaningful sense and not only concerned with men.

I'd kind of given up on this thread I thought it would be fun if we made our own list but that doesn't look like happening. If anyone is interested there are complete lists out there if you google search it you'll see how many films do not pass this simplest of tests. It really is quite shocking how many films are made about men for men and only concerning men.

[Princess Luna]

It brings up a good point, but the context of the movie has to be look at first. Some movies fail the test, because they are pandering to the average male audience (like Tranformers) and deserve to be criticized, other movies fail the test simply because of the way the story is set up (like the Shawshank redemption) and don't deserve condemnation because of it.

[The Young Pioneer]

How about...The Help?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/

[Manic Impressive]

again this isn't about condemning any particular film or it's story it's about showing a systemic trend for films to be made which feature 0 women. Did you watch the video I linked? I can't think how this could be any clearer.

[Princess Luna]

I just grabbed several random movies from my collection, lets see which ones passed the test
Platoon: fails but Because of the context of the movie I don't think there is anyway it could have passed.
Kill Bill: passes
Natural born killers: Fails
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (original, not shitty remake) : passes
Scarface: Fails
The green mile: Fails, but like the shawshank redemption it is set in a men's prison so its understandable.
Dirty Harry: Fails
Alien: passes
The warriors : fails
The Baader Meinhoof Complex: Passes
that's 4 passes, 4 in-excusable fails, and 2 fails that are understandable