The Bechdel Test: Which movies pass the test?

[stansimpson]

Found this on Ebert's twitter:

If you don't wanna spend the 2mins to watch, here are the rules:
#1.) It has to have at least two women in it,
#2.)  Who talk to each other,
#3.) About something besides a man

And the characters must have names.  The "name" is a rule of thumb I think, so it's more like "a well-represented female character" (this isn't an exact science like I know some people will treat this).  Typically, it helps when the main character is female.  If not, you can almost forget about it.  Anyway, I looked over my dvd collection (which is prob about 50+), here are the only ones that pass (it's really surprising the titles that don't pass):

Marie-Antoinette
Knocked Up
Whale Rider
Grave of the Fireflies

(Notice that Knocked Up is the only one with a non-female lead?)

[Darth Geek]

Isn't the real problem that most writers in Hollywood are men, and who don't know how to write women characters?

The movies that she showed that didn't pass this test, but were good movies, would not have necessarily been improved by having more women in them (or otherwise passed this test). And what women there are as both directors and writers are often not very good. Fortunately there are some exceptions like Katheryn Bigelow and Sofia Coppola. But the fact that a woman wrote Twilight, and a woman directed the movie, and that Twilight does pass this test, indicates the mere presence of women in the industry and characters are not enough.

[stansimpson]

I agree that this isn't an assessment on quality.  I think it's just more a devastating commentary on how it is that there are so few quality films that represent the female perspective properly.  Even the biggest names in female directors don't often pass.  Bigelow's heaviest hitters don't ("Point Break" and "Hurt Locker") and the only time Coppola passes is in "Marie-Atnoinette" (tho "Virgin Suicides" may, but I don't think so).  Tarantino does it quite well btw.

[TTYT]

-Satoshi Kon's Paprika (although technically this is a character talking to herself...)

-Persepolis

-Aliens

-Girl, Interrupted

-Resident Evil: Apocalypse

-Resident Evil: Extinction

-The Chronicles of Riddick

-Orphan ("I'm not your fucking mommy!")

[Relaxing Dragon]

We seem to be missing the big one here, Kill Bill (and also Death Proof, latter half at least. Tarantino likes passing this test).

[stansimpson]

We seem to be missing the big one here, Kill Bill (and also Death Proof, latter half at least. Tarantino likes passing this test).

Latter half?  Take out any conversation relating to Stuntman Mike, and It passes almost flawlessly.

[Relaxing Dragon]

We seem to be missing the big one here, Kill Bill (and also Death Proof, latter half at least. Tarantino likes passing this test).

Latter half?  Take out any conversation relating to Stuntman Mike, and It passes almost flawlessly.

Well, a lot of the first group's talk was also about their various boyfriends (and whether or not they should be allowed at the cabin), but yeah, I see your point.

[stansimpson]

We seem to be missing the big one here, Kill Bill (and also Death Proof, latter half at least. Tarantino likes passing this test).

Latter half?  Take out any conversation relating to Stuntman Mike, and It passes almost flawlessly.

Well, a lot of the first group's talk was also about their various boyfriends (and whether or not they should be allowed at the cabin), but yeah, I see your point.

Indeed, as I see yours as well.

[stansimpson]

Just reading through the comments section on YouTube.  This one may be my favorite:  " Anyone else notice? that almost 100% of the movies mentioned are awesome?"  He may be on to something there, hmmm?   

[mrbasehart]

Why would you need two women in a movie unless it's for a lesbian scene? Come on!

[Cosmic Muse]

Alot of classic movies would fail this test, like Metropolis which has only one female lead unless you count Robot Maria as a second female character.

[Darth Geek]

I always really like it when I see a well written female character in movie, partially because they are so freaking RARE. But I would far prefer no females in a movie than poorly written ones, as the bad ones tend to be far more grating and annoying than badly done male characters. That is why I am so concerned about the inclusion of Black Widow in Iron Man 2.

[Cosmic Muse]

I think that's what's absolutely risky when writing movies. It seems like a difficult thing to write effectively realistic portrayals of both genders. 95% of the time they're always dipping into Movie Cliche territory to make one look more sympathetic than the other.

[TTYT]

We seem to be missing the big one here, Kill Bill (and also Death Proof, latter half at least. Tarantino likes passing this test).

I thought about Kill Bill, but all the dialogue between women in that is in some way related to Bill or one of the other male characters (Hattari Hanzo, Pai Mei) so I didn't count it.

And I wanted to drive a spike through my head after watching Death Proof's HOUR OF NOTHING HAPPENING EXCEPT PEOPLE TALKING, so unfortunately that didn't count for me, either.

I do applaud Tarantino for his many strong female characters, though.

[SJP]

Speaking of even women directors not even passing the test, to be fair, in the writing world it's really no different.  I read "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova, thinking it would be an interesting take on the Dracula story, but instead the whole book is told pretty much from the perspective of the Historian of the title and the woman he meets, and pretty much how the two fawn over each other the entire time.  I certainly know when a vampiric menace is threatening the world, the biggest thing on my mind is the wedding plans.  There are two female leads in the book, but they don't meet...
Unless you count the last ten pages as a 'meeting...'

...but you can be sure they'd be talking about men if they did.

And while I guess one I'm listening to on Book on CD now passes the test (though maybe not; the one conversation I was thinking of was how two characters are talking about how they might be in trouble, but them I remembered this lead to them wondering if it's all a plot by the evil MAN waiting in the background somewhere), it also falls into the trap of making the main female lead one of the, "tough, no nonsense, business-savvy" kinds that make you want to punch a wall (why is it that "tough, no-nonsense" women are always actively trying to find ways to annoy everyone they meet?).  On the other hand, I guess the book balances this out by making every man, no matter how mysterious or annoying, as dull in personality as possible.  But then, maybe that's just the reader's fault; when every male character has the exact same deep, almost sleepy voice, that's just expected.  Even the sleazy, fast-talking producer sounds like he took a full box of quaaludes.

I would mention the name of the book, but as a man, I'd probably be horribly embarrassing to put the title up here.  Needless to say, I thought it would be a lot more "Saw/Ten Little Indians," like the back of the box said it was.  I WILL say it is NOT part of the Twilight series, which would probably make the Bechdel Test explode faster than Homer Simpson at a lie detector.

As for movies, I do believe the movie "Ginger Snaps" does pass this test, and it's a damn good movie.  It's also not written by Tarantino, which does show such a thing is possible.   

I will say, though, that when I do write myself, I try to write female characters as fairly normal human beings, not as boy-crazy nymphomaniacs.  However, I will honestly admit that I don't have MANY female characters in my writing, either, so a woman to woman talk doesn't come up very much.  I think that's less a sexist thing than it is my worry that dialogue would sound like crap, and I don't think that would be doing women a service anytime soon.  As Cosmic Muse pointed out, writing realistic portrayals of both genders is difficult when you aren't one of those genders.  I think the same applies to writing characters from other countries...I probably know about as much about the female psyche as I do about a man's thinking from Aberdeen.

Which reminds me...does even Joss Whedon pass the test?  If I remember "Dollhouse" correctly, any time Echo talked to another woman, it was almost always about the head of the evil corporation or Alpha, who were both men, or about horrible men from their pasts.  It was only in man/woman conversations that anything plot-important ever happened.  I would also state, for the record, that for as much as Joss Whedon prides himself on strong female leads, I noticed Dollhouse had a lot of women getting slapped around for a feminist show.