The Bechdel Test

With the 90th academy awards put to rest, and the empowerment found in the “MeToo” and “TimesUp” movement, it might be a good time to review the “Bechdel Test,” or perhaps hear about it for the first time. The Bechdel Test's namesake is Alison Bechdel, an American Cartoonist who pens the strip “Dykes to Watch Out For.” Not a strip you are likely to find in your hometown newspaper. In one of her early strips she proposed a very simple, but highly telling test to gauge the sexism in movies. Keep in mind that women boast a slight majority in the world population, and one would think they would at least have an equal share in portrayal and dialogue in movies. Not so much. The test goes like this. First question: are there are least two significant female characters in the movie? Think of a few movies you know, and you'll quickly be surprised how many don't even get this far. So many movies feature one woman (damsel in distress), surrounded by men. Second question: do these two women have a substantial conversation with each other? The final question: is this conversation about something other than men? In a nutshell, does the story spend any time at all away from the male focused story line? Even thirty seconds in a ninety minute movie would be enough to pass the Bechdel test. And yet, except for movies that are designated, “Chick Flicks” very few modern movies pass the test. The big money films, the blockbusters, are the worst. Even when big movies try, the results are less than satisfying. I point to Gamora and Nebula's sisterly rivalry in “Guardians of the Galaxy 2.” Any one else felt like those scenes were like nails on a chalk board? Please go back to Drax calling Mantis ugly. Don't get me started on Rogue One, or any of the Star Wars movies, really. The point is that the Bechdel test is not a rabid feminist “all men are evil” test to pass. It doesn't even expect to move the bar to 50%. It's more of a weak hope that we might get to 10%. I run the test on every movie I like, to remind myself and to keep myself aware. You really have to tease some of these movies out to get a passing grade, and most fail. Was listening to a radio discussion about Frances McDormand's call for an “inclusion rider” at the Oscars. The reporter asked if isn't having that rider on movie contracts the same as putting in quotas? The answer was spot on, and applies to movies failing the test as well. “If there's a plumber in the movie, it will always be cast as a man. Isn't that an already existing quota?” Over half the population of the world are women, and yet movies can't pass the test. How hard must it be to maintain the existing quota with those statistics? And why? Are women just not that interesting on screen? Or is it still a matter of the point of view of the money? By the way, in the comic strip that first proposes the test, one woman explains to the other that she won't go to a movie that doesn't pass the test, as they are deciding which movie to go to. After a moment of going through their choices, they go off to enjoy a night at home.