Watch This Instead
The Bechdel Test is a test of women's representation in film.
There are three criteria:
- There must be at least two women in the film;
- Who talk to one another;
- About something other than a man.
In a sample of over 5000 movies covered by the Bechdel Test website:
10% did not even have two women in the film;
23% had two women who never spoke to one another;
10% had two women to spoke to each other only about a man;
57% actually passed the test.
23% had two women who never spoke to one another;
10% had two women to spoke to each other only about a man;
57% actually passed the test.
The Bechdel Test isn't even a high bar to clear -- it's the absolute minimum!
Can you think of any movies where:
- There aren't two men;
- Or there are two men, but they don't talk to each other;
- Or they talk to each other, but they only talk about a woman?
It seems absurd -- but for women's representation in film, this is commonplace.
Articles about the Bechdel Test
Bechdel Test (Wikipedia)
Why the Bechdel Test is more important than you realize (i09)
The Dollar and Cents Case Against Hollywood's Exclusion of Women (Five Thirty Eight)
Why Film Schools Teach Screenwriters Not to Pass the Bechdel Test (The Hathor Legacy)
Swedish cinemas take aim at gender bias with Bechdel test rating
The Oscars and the Bechdel Test (Feminist Frequency)
The Bechdel Test - It's Not about Passing (The Hathor Legacy)
The Bechdel Test and Race in Popular Fiction (Angry Black Woman)