Summit Entertainment. No females speak to each other in thatone.). We love this list and think many of them go farther than just passing the Bechdel test. The Wire had a lesbian couple, but they werent a focus. All Rights Reserved. All the Charlize Theron. But if females are in the story, theres no reason cant they be involved in at least one conversation with each other. 1. To pass the test, a film must have: 1) Two female characters (some variations of the test say that they must have names, which is fair I think) 2) Who talk to each other. The Bechdel Test, Bechdel-Wallace Test, or the Mo Movie Measure [1], is a sort of litmus test for female presence in movies and TV. Finally, although we can guess what the result will be, I computed the male equivalent of the test: two male characters must talk about something other than a female character. Washington Post, many films and TV shows fail the Bechdel Test (Rosenberg, 2015). A lot of Hollywood films fail this test miserably and portray women in a sexist and unfair way. There must be two female characters in the scene. New York? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: PartII. men. Did you see that fight scene where there was no music and she was just fighting and it was painful and awful and brilliant? There were a few named female characters, but they were all minor enough that its plausible that they never talked to each other. Harry and his friends (several of whom are female) begin making their final moves to take down Lord Voldemort. If you have a mixed ensemble cast its not unusual for it fail both the Bechdel test and the reverse Bechdel test because its rare for only the men or the women to have a conversation without talking about the opposite sex. And it definitely passes the Bechdel test, with a diverse cast of women focusing on their careers and friendships. Aaron Sorkin, the films writer, actually commented on the lack of three-dimensional female characters in an interview with Stephen Colbert, saying that the women are prizes. The Bechdel test is the most popular tool for assessing female representation in film. Shes brilliant and weird and is really really good at choosing great roles. After a chat of what The Hunger Games actually means, Katniss comforts her sister Primrose, whos had a bad dream. Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale, adapted from Margaret Atwood's critically acclaimed novel of the same name, does justice to the book which cannot be said about most TV/film adaptations out there. Hm, Red Dwarf probably cuts it, too, with only one main character even arguably female, and very few appearances by any character not in the main cast. Remember the test was originally invented to help lesbians find movies theyd like. Scared her people will turn on her, she runs away and loses emotional control plunging the Kingdom into an eternal winter. How about Girls? Bilko, and those already mentioned, have a good chance of failing. Movies that pass the Bechdel Test "Wonder Woman 1984" behind the scenes Courtesy Warner Bros. Movies that do pass the test include: "Kill Bill" Volumes 1 and 2 (2003-2004) "Frozen" (2013). Alex and Bradley, newly brought together co-anchors for The Morning Show, have a complicated relationship. Journal Media does not control and is not responsible I have compiled my ten movies and tv shows that have crushed the Bechdel test. The only problem is that the conversation is about Jake, who, you probably noticed, is a man. The world has changed since the Bechdel-Wallace Test was created Hulu When The Bechdel-Wallace Test first appeared in 1985, the world was an entirely different place. At this point in time, the SGO team is fully remote, and we are located across the United States. Then it might be kinda shocking to find out that out of 2,500 movies, only about half pass the test. The Bechdel Test, if you're not familiar with it, is a benchmark for movies developed by Alison Bechdel in 1985. Ted LassoWhile it may be a mans name in the title, this might be one of our favorite TV shows that passes the Bechdel test with flying colors. The actor describes Harry Styles as "a very kind guy.". Having acquired hundreds of sitcom episode transcripts, I can apply the test programmatically to each episode of these sitcoms, to compare the shows and track changes over the course of their runs. To pass the Bechdel test, a movie must follow three rules that are supposed to show if the story has a good representation of women. Cocaine Bear is the latest in a long line of movies to portray bears as bloodthirsty beasts, clamoring for the chance to feast on innocent humans. This usually occurs when Elaine overlaps briefly with a minor female character in a scene. About something besides a man. Despite all the bitchy girl-on-girl crime that goes on though, at its heart this film is about female friendships and how complicated they can be. We all play a part in creating a more equitable and just workplace and world. The Bechdel test is too incomplete to be effective. Pixar. In non-pandemic years, an average 600 or 700 films have been added to the archive annually since 2006. In some cases, my processing couldnt pick up the scene breaks, or the transcripts didnt contain any; these episodes are each treated as one long scene, which makes it easier to pass this first step, but only slightly easier to pass the other steps than when scenes are properly detected. The Bechdel Test is a simple test to see if a work of fiction passes the feminist [] This was probably intended to refer to a one-on-one conversation, but in sitcoms often a larger group of characters are present in a scene. They confront him, defeat him, age weirdly, and everyone lives happily everafter. The Bechdel Test is a simple test which names the following three criteria: (1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. Books? Land acknowledgements are a way for us to reflect upon the duality of our work while we work within our team, our community, and our client organizations to promote greater inclusivity and abolish inequities, we ourselves still perpetuate and contribute to various forms of historical and present oppression. Get the best gaming deals, reviews, product advice, competitions, unmissable gaming news and more! There had never been a movie with 100% Black ownership to make over $100 million, so that this also passed the Bechdel test is massive. All rights reserved. Refine See titles to watch instantly, titles you haven't rated, etc 79 titles 1. The information needed to compute the BT for every scene and episode can be obtained from these transcripts with only a little further work. Mrs. Maisel is about a woman who is getting a divorce from her husband who cheated on her and finds her voice as a comic in the 1950s/60s and to be clear, she is definitely seen as a female comic. Seriously, in the entire 10-hour trilogy, no two female characters ever actually speak to each other. She quips that the last film she was able to go see was Alien in 1979. Its about a group of young gay men in San Francisco and the only named female character is Doris. "Glitch" is a drama that has earned its rightful place in any discussion about feminist science-fiction. Atomic BlondeYes, please give us more Charlize Theron! Having a lot of lines between different gender characters makes it harder to pass the BT; from this perspective, it is better to concentrate the male characters in one storyline/scene, and the female characters in another. Thankfully, by Toy Story 3 Pixar had included a conversation between female characters that involved something other than men. The show is set in the world of 80s womens wrestling and follows an out-of-work actress who decides to achieve fame by wrestling. Entertainment News. Fantasies are notoriously male-dominated (Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, we see you!). The Bechdel Test, also known as Mo Movie Measure and The Bechdel-Wallace Test, is a method used in media criticism to gauge the degree of representation and development of female characters within a work of fiction, and therefore, any gender bias against women that may be present in it. The Bechdel Test - Everything You Need To Know No Film School 116K subscribers Subscribe 150K views 4 years ago This video essay is part of the "Everything You Need to Know" series created. Its 2019, high time to get all underrepresented groups in significant numbers behind and in front of the camera! Another Best Picture Oscar winner that despite being groundbreaking in its representation of a gay black man, fails to have two women with names having one single teeny-tiny conversation about anything. The movie: This dystopian movie paints a bleak picture of a future where humanity has lost the ability to reproduce. To pass the Bechdel Test, two female characters who have names must have a conversation with each other about something other than a man. Padme speaks to Shmi Skywalker in Episode I and to her handmaidens at various points in Episode II, and in both cases, they discuss things other than men. If so, then the very first episode aired passes. Next on the list is the 2010 biographical drama movie The Social Network which also doesn't pass the Bechdel test. Yes, but her relationship with French agent Lasalle is significantly more interesting. One of the biggest movies of the 21st century features no dialogue between two named female characters. The Bechdel test is one of the most common ways that a movie or TV show's female representation can be judged. Most any military-based show. Other than that every conversation I remember was about Hank or Walter. Why? You can obtain a copy of the As the first woman to become pregnant in years, she carries an extremely precious cargo and faces danger on all sides. The movie: The Bride is hellbent on - surprise surprise - killing Bill because he and his assassins tried to kill her and her unborn child many years ago. We think its time to go beyond it. The WitcherAnd our second fantasy series is The Witcher, which, despite a lot of male energy (wayy more um, cleavage, in this one), does indeed pass the Bechdel test a few times Yennefer and Tissaias complicated relationship, as well as Ciri and Eithns short time together, and honestly probably more but were still working our way through this story (hey, we still have pandemic time to watch!). 2020, however, has already been a promising year for Bechdel Test-passing hits. Thankfully, by Toy Story 3 Pixar had included a conversation between female . Don't get too bogged down in the requirements of the Bechdel Test test though because even if you're not sure what it means, every film on this list is a great movie in its own right, so you won't be disappointed. More than that, all the women are fiercely strong and morally questionable, presenting a version of women not often seen in the cinema. Its a must watch! In fact it can be pretty spectacular, especially when youre hanging out with other women! So, what is the Bechdel Test? How it passes: This ones obvious. Frasier performs similarly badly; although it had two female characters in the main cast, Roz and Daphne interacted relatively rarely (this pairs conversations passed the BT in only 14% of episodes). This movie about the pressures and pleasures of family-life, will have you teary . Was it perfect? (Wikimedia) Virginia. It gets uncomfortable at times, but their stellar performances keep us glued. Answer (1 of 3): Disclaimer: I love Firefly. But it goes much further than this, with Katniss having a variety of conversations with other women, ranging from her mother and Rue, to the delightfully colourful Effie Trinket, and only once does a romance get mentioned in one conversation between Katniss and Rue. It's a quiz developed in 1985 by graphic novelist Alison Bechdel and her friend Liz Wallace that reveals just how sexist (or not) any given work of fiction might be.