Every once in a while I’m talking about movies or television and I’m reminded of the Bechdel Test, which is also known as the Bechdel-Wallace Test, the Mo Movie Measure, or simply The Rule. The test comes from a particular 1985 installment of Alison Bechdel’s comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, and is meant to gauge gender bias in film and television. In order to pass, a movie or TV show must:
- Include at least two (named) women
- Who have at least one conversation with one another
- About something other than men
Try to name a few that pass. It’s easier with TV shows, because the casts are usually larger and the stories can span dozens of episodes. But with movies, where the format generally imposes a limit on the number of developed characters and plot lines, The Rule is surprisingly limiting.
The Bechdel Test Movie List provides a forum for reviewing movies based on whether or not they pass the test. As of today there are 2,595 movies listed, and some of the comment threads are pretty interesting. Like any litmus test, whether or not a given film passes does not necessarily say much about how “feminist” that film is. For example, as is pointed out in the strip, Alien passes the test; however, it does so only because the women talk about the monster they’re trying not to get impregnated by, rather than the men that their lives revolve around.
Ok, actually, I suppose there’s a mountain of subtext there if you look at the movie like that.
In any case, the point is to draw attention to a bias in pop culture — without necessarily making a value judgement about it — because it is surprisingly easy to overlook. Probably no one expects an obvious sausage party like The Expendables to spend much screen time on the ladies, but did you notice that the latest Harry Potter movie fails the test too? I didn’t.