How it passes: The two leads, and indeed the majority of the cast, are women and the only time they really talk about men is when they briefly explain their crimes or discuss trying to get Geres Billy Flynn to represent them. Plus, its not as though failing the Bechdel Test means a movie is automatically terrible or sexist. To pass the Bechdel Test, two female characters who have names must have a conversation with each other about something other than a man. Seems simple enough, right? Rate. When Ive seen people discussing the Bechdel test with regard to television, theyre usually talking about individual episodes and not the series as a whole. Most of the cast is female. 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. Lauren OCallaghan. Paramount Pictures. Note: Your privacy is important to us, so please know that your information will always remain confidential! American supervillain. As a reminder, the Bechdel test is named after Alison Bechdel who introduced the concept as part of her Dykes to Watch Out For comic series in 1985, but she attributes it to her friend Liz Wallace, who attributed it to Virginia Woolf. New York? Were trying to be conscious of not just meeting this bar. Data scientist and former climate physicist, with special interest in politics and sports analytics, Having acquired hundreds of sitcom episode transcripts. 5. The Bechdel Test is a type of sexism test in the bracket of films. She works closely with Abbey Whalen (Darby Stanchfield), and has numerous confrontations with First Lady (Bellamy Young). Mary Berry Cooks / Headline Publishing Group There is no clear correlation between the budget or revenue of a movie and its Bechdel score. Black Widow, the two characters never interact to have a conversation. When Issa speaks to herself in the mirror. Lauren OCallaghan. Married With Children went in the other direction. Pipers boyfriend talks to his dad, but usually about Piper. Whats not to love? While theres been some improvement, much work is left to do. To search the database, enter a search term below. Shes brilliant and weird and is really really good at choosing great roles. But the shows that dont pass the test are about men who already have established careers, and so the relationships between women fall to the wayside. As the title lets on, Dead to Me isnt a light-hearted show. 2020, however, has already been a promising year for Bechdel Test-passing hits. Most people probably werent as mindful of the cringe-worthy storylines, one-dimensional characters, and lack of diversity that was, unfortunately, part of the norm before the early 2000s. The movie also includes Jess sister Pinky and a whole host of other named women on the football team, and besides that, the basic message of the movie is that women can do anything even become professional footballers. Neither speak to each other or ever meet. If there were ever a female landing party member and a love interest for Kirk in the same episodethey usually just glared at each other. The Bechdel Test is a test for whether a movie contains: Its commonly used as a commentary about the lack of female representation in Hollywood. How it passes: Ghost World (opens in new tab) is basically all about the friendship between super sarcastic teen Enid and her best friend Becky. Needless to say, a lot of superhero movies fail the test. There were several recurring nurse characters who had names, but when they talked to each other then IIRC it was usually about the male characters. Alison Brie's Ruth . created content and their own posts, comments and submissions and fully and effectively warrant Since an episode passing the test is usually achieved by one pair of speakers only, the results are sensitive to plot arcs in each season that affect who is present in the scenes and who the female regulars spend more time with, as indicated in the figure for the more recognisable cases. Seriously, George, why is the whole galaxy a sausage fest? But if females are in the story, theres no reason cant they be involved in at least one conversation with each other. Should it be dismissed entirely? The movie: Annies best friend is getting married so naturally shes Maid of Honor. Theres glitter, spandex, and a lot of fighting. By providing the information below you will receive early-bird invitations to our events, exclusive musings tailored to your interests, and access to our curated mentorship program. A Medium publication sharing concepts, ideas and codes. Most are finally passing the Bechdel test, aka a test that analyzes a scene where two or more women talk about anything else other than men. In fact, no two female characters actually even speak to each other. Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice. Will and Grace also scores highly, through Grace-Karen and to a lesser extent Karen-Rosario conversations. Some Western animated shows would fail a reverse. The measure sometimes is enhanced by adding that the two female characters be named in the film. Miramax Films Most of them fail, even ones full of female characters. I have compiled my ten movies and tv shows that have crushed the Bechdel test. Alex and Bradley, newly brought together co-anchors for The Morning Show, have a complicated relationship. Toy Story 1 & 2. supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press The Bechdel test was designed to point out how infrequently women in Hollywood movies are presented as characters in their own right, as opposed to adjuncts or even accessories to the male characters. They exchange quips a few times, such as when Mrs. Weasley utters the iconic line of "Not my daughter, you bitch" to Bellatix as she protects Ginny. Its a must watch! Probably because, well, just have a look at this article to see who sits behind the camera. SuperJail, unless JailBot is female. Rachel Weber is the US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Its pass rate drops dramatically at steps 2 and 3. If you were ever looking for a film that could pass the Bechdel Test, this would be it. 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. The Bechdel Test is a test for whether a movie contains: Two named female characters, who talk to each other, about something besides a man. Couldn't have used all that time to write in a conversation between two female characters that wasn't Neytiri and her mother discussing Jake, about, I don't know - like the fact that their whole planet was under threat of being destroyed? Disney Movies That Don't Pass the Bechdel Test Pinnochio Dumbo Bambi Lady and the Tramp The Sword in the Stone The Jungle Book The Fox and the Hound The Great Mouse Detective Oliver & Company Aladdin The Lion King A Goofy Movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame Avatar (2009) James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster movie does have strong feminist themes but fails the Test in one key aspect: its strong female leads Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and Dr. Grace Augustine . Marvel Studios. Henry V. Surprisingly enough, this classic Shakespearean History passes the Bechdel Test. During the comic relief French Lesson scene (Act 3, Scene 4) Alice teaches Katherine how to speak French and there is no mention of men whatsoever. 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. It gets uncomfortable at times, but their stellar performances keep us glued. To join our community, just fill out the form below. Most are finallypassing the Bechdel test, aka a test that analyzes a scene where two or more women talk about anything else other than men. Shes not like those other girls because shes basically one of the guys. While the show is problematic in a few important ways, it does move the needle, but frankly its just nice to watch fantasy with less cleavage for a change. Big Littles Lies also brings drastically different women together who have one thing in common: Their kids are in the same class. REVIEWS. Its authentic to life, and theyre all trying to make their way in New York. The Bechdel test is the most popular tool for assessing female representation in film. That doesnt mean its not funny, though! The actor describes Harry Styles as "a very kind guy.". Your home for data science. She is complicated and shes funnier than most (all?) The Good FightWe were fans of The Good Wife, and when The Good Fight aired, we were excited to see some of our favorite characters back and connecting with each other in fascinating and exciting ways. To identify female characters, I manually selected names from the list of all speaking characters in the dataset, including both major and minor characters, but excluding unnamed characters like Waitress. Of course, people watch movies for the simple pleasure that the story brings. The women of this show are complex and the show does a wonderful job of passing the Bechdel test, focusing on their friendships, their careers, their kids. It could have been so easy to write just ONE more female into the story. How it passes: This ones obvious. It doesn't hurt that Rapunzel gets to do her fair share of saving the day. Registered office: 3rd floor, Latin Hall, Golden Lane, Dublin 8. How it passes: Both the main characters are named women, who talk to each other a lot about football, their families, and yes, occasionally boys. Friends performs the best on the BT, and passes the full test in almost every episode. In order to pass the test, a film must feature at least two women who speak to each other on a subject that does not revolve around men. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled. Are there any TV shows you can think of though that fail the Bechdel Test? The Duchess of York casts "no judgment" toward her nephew. You can obtain a copy of the 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. HelloGiggles.com is part of the Dotdash Meredith Beauty & Style Group. Then it might be kinda shocking to find out that out of 2,500 movies, only about half pass the test. The movie: This dystopian movie paints a bleak picture of a future where humanity has lost the ability to reproduce. They might as well be talking to themselves (or, more likely, the audience). It also crushed the Golden Globes in 2017. Im trying to remember any women on McHales Navy. Rise Together is key to creating greater opportunity by providing you with the support, knowledge, and community to break through barriers. The Bechdel Test, if you're not familiar with it, is a benchmark for movies developed by Alison Bechdel in 1985. The single episode with the most Nurse/Nurse interaction, they were basically spending the episode bitching about Maj. Hoolihan. She joined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team. However, its not the case that these shows were full of male-male conversations without female involvement: as seen by the fact that no show lies below 0.8 on the y-axis, these shows had as many, or almost as many, male-female conversations, as male-male conversations. Summit Entertainment. One difference between what we found in our broader sample of 1,794 films released between 1970 and 2013 and the analysis at BechdelTest.com of about 5,000 films is that BechdelTest.com shows 56. Starring Jeon YeoBeen (as Hong JiHyo) and Afterschool's NaNa (as Huh BoRa), "Glitch" is a dazzling celebration of female friendships and WLW relationships, and the theme is brought out with the utmost grace and delicate nuance. Sutton, Kat, and Jane are rising HBICs (aka head bitches in charge) in their industries. Whether related to law, business, or politics, Diane, Lucca, Marissa, and Liz in particular had stunning moments of grace, confidence, and jaw dropping cool that we simply loved watching. For fun, how about shows that not only regularly pass the normal test but fail the reverse Bechdel Test? Lola must figure out how to come up with 100,000 Deutsche Marks in twenty minutes or her boyfriend will be killed. The meaning of BECHDEL TEST is a set of criteria used as a test to evaluate a work of fiction (such as a film) on the basis of its inclusion and representation of female characters. Literally, it can be about anything but a man! Heres an excerpt on research conducted on film and gender in 2021: After reaching historic highs in 2020, the percentages of women directing top grossing films declined in 2021. 1. And to be clear, passing doesnt mean the movies good or bad. All rights reserved. Stay tuned by signing up for our newsletter! Despite being a children's animation company, only 25% of the characters in it are female, only 4 out of 14 Pixar films pass the Bechdel test, and Brave is the only movie to have a female protagonist. Miramax Films. Love and hate, fear and obsession, joy and anger, are all represented in their dance. Rise Together is key to creating greater opportunity by providing you with the support, knowledge, and community to break through barriers. Heres how the test works a piece of fiction has to satisfy three requirements: Thats it. Pixar. Big Little Lies was produced by Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman, two women who were sick of seeing women portrayed in a one-dimensional way. The movie, which tells the story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, features a few female characters, but they never talk to each other. EEEP! 6) Encanto. So viewers would expect it to pass the Bechdel test with flying colors - and it does. TV shows tend to run far longer than movies and thus, most of them end up passing the Bechdel Test. The movie: Jess loves football, but she comes from an orthodox Sikh background, which means her traditional parents want her to give up playing and go to university, become a doctor, and marry a nice Indian boy. It uses the same lines identified above as part of a back-and-forth between two characters, and sums these by the gender of the pair of characters involved: female-female, male-male, or male-female. note Additionally. posts, comments and submissions available. To pass the Bechdel test, a work of fiction must fulfil the above criteria at least once. The View from the Window by Carina Paredes-Rivera. To pass the Test, the movie must include at least two women, who have names in the film, and that have a conversation with each other about something other than a man. 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. Now its up to Elsa to find her and help her get control of her powers so she can unfreeze their home. Alison Bechdel Has Amended the Bechdel Test Just for Fire Island The cartoonist chimed in on the fiery Twitter debate spurred by one user's claim that the gay rom-com Fire Island did not. She talks to her father, her boyfriend, the security guard at her fathers bankand not a single woman. She+ Geeks Out was originally founded on land that is the traditional territory of the Massachusett and Pawtucket tribes, and which is still home to descendants of these peoples. A scene fails this step if any of the three lines in the back-and-forth mention any of the main male characters by name, a male pronoun like he or his, or any of a short list of other male identifiers, such as men, boyfriend, dad, or mr. It doesn't cover the case when the lead character is female. Toy Story is such a beloved film to so many, but it unfortunately doesn't pass the test. So real. Atomic BlondeYes, please give us more Charlize Theron! New Line Cinema. Lauren OCallaghan. GLOWThis Netflix series on its second season features a fictionalized account of how GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) came to be a cultural phenomenon in the 1980s. 5. policy. The Legend of Korra might regularly fail both because of the ensemble, but later seasons have a majority female cast. Although nearly the entire show involves interactions strictly between men. Yes, Good Girls is about three women who find themselves caught in an organized crime ringyet its not that dark (except for a few scenes). To pass, the work simply has . Pixar's record in general is pretty poor. The movie: In this particular post-apocalyptic world, children are sent to battle to the death on TV. The best movies that pass the Bechdel Test are female-positive and great watches in their own right. Star Trek: DiscoveryThe latest addition to the Star Trek universe is soooo goooooood. Despite having an array of fierce and funny female characters, the last movie of the Harry Potter installments disappointingly doesn't feature a single conversation between the women. Overall, women accounted for 25% of those working in key behind-the-scenes roles (directors, writers, executive producers, producers, editors, cinematographers) on the top 250 grossing films in 2021, up from 23% in 2020. This may feel a bit more like a soap opera than a drama, but it absolutely passes the test! For the most part, the shows that pass the Bechdel Test are shows about women who are devoted to their careers, Leslie Knope, Olivia Pope, Alicia Florrick. Grace and FrankieHow often do we get to see older women rise up against adversity with a whole lot of laughter and a whole lot of love? It has to have at least two [named] women in it 2. Who talk to each other 3. 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. These 11 iconic films, including "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" and "Mean Girls," pass with flying colors. Leia and Rey have more agency than weve seen women have in previous movies, and one of our favorite scenes is when Laura Derns character (Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo) and other female soldiers were discussing their next military move. Having acquired hundreds of sitcom episode transcripts, I can apply the test programmatically to each episode of these . For example, the archive has almost 120 films passing for 2019 out of those couple hundred that were added. 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 women of this show are complex and the show does a wonderful job of passing the Bechdel test, focusing on their friendships, their careers, their kids. InsecureThe real love between Issa and Molly gives us all the feels like all of them. Beyond that, it paved the way for 2018's reboot, which does pass the Bechdel test, as star Alicia Vikander told Metro in 2016. Some of the most popular films of all time fail The Bechdel Test, and often for reasons you may have never considered. Gomer Pyle, Sgt. Seinfeld, Frasier, and The Office have more male than female main characters, so inevitably there are many more male-male than female-female conversations. ** Okay the first pilot actually has two women speak to each other. Kate McKinnon was everything. The test asks whether a film features at least two women talking to each other about something other than a man. At this point in time, the SGO team is fully remote, and we are located across the United States. How it passes: Although we dont hear The Brides real name until about halfway through the second movie, her codename is enough to set her apart as a named character. Well, if you're looking for a female fish in the sea you'd be hard pressed to find one in Nemo's world. 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. for the content of external websites. Its a good thing that she has good friends to help her do it. The Social Network stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin . Directed by Amy Poehler, Moxie is an overt rebellion against the toxic patriarchal systems that are rife in youth culture. Theyre primarily white and primarily male and it makes sense that those who control the stories, will ensure they reflect their own world views. However, since her name is never mentioned in the film, it fails the test. In order to pass, a film must feature at least two women on screen talking to each other about. Take Game of Thrones for example. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The dramedy follows Issa, her best friend Molly, and their other girlfriends as they navigate life in Los Angeles. Shes got a bit of a grudge. When you finish the breakdown, you will have a full measure of the quality of the female presence. Lauren OCallaghan. The Bechdel Test is a metric used for measuring how women are represented in a given film. Zoe Delahunty-Light. The Bechdel test ( / bkdl / BEK-dl) [1] is a measure of the representation of women in film (and, by extension, in fiction in general). The best part about Girls is that the characters arent that likable. Wikipedia says that Ms. Bechdel prefers the name "Bechdel-Wallace test". And, sure, maybe its not realistic to have female characters in historically accurate movies set on ships in the 18th century, such as 2003sMaster and Commander with Russell Crowe, which features zero females. Killing EveVillanelle and Eve are the two stars of this thriller series and have a relationship like weve never seen before. None of the women in the movie ever talk to each other. Here are ten television shows today that pass the Bechdel Test. Oh and hey, Meryl Streep is going to be in Season 2. But alas, many Marvel movies do not actually pass the Bechdel Test. This usually occurs when Elaine overlaps briefly with a minor female character in a scene. Omit "The" from search term for best results. Seinfeld has only one female character in its main cast, so was bound to do badly in this test; however, it does pass step 1 in almost 90% of episodes. Well, surprisingly hard to manage it seems, with up to 50% of films failing the test. RELATED: 10 Best 2019 Movies That Passed The Bechdel Test, Ranked After witnessing a series of inappropriate events at school - none of which are taken seriously by the staff - Vivian . If so, then the very first episode aired passes. More than that, all the women are fiercely strong and morally questionable, presenting a version of women not often seen in the cinema. It is important to note that many fans refer to the queen as Queen Grimhilde, so she may in fact have a name. Despite Lola being considered one of the most well-rounded female characters ever put to film, Run Lola Run still fails The Bechdel Test for one simple reason Lola never has a conversation with another female at any point in the movie. But the show is very, very real. In a world where superhero movies reign supreme, it's hard to imagine any of them not passing the Bechdel Test. We love this list and think many of them go farther than just passing the Bechdel test. Seriously, in the entire 10-hour trilogy, no two female characters ever actually speak to each other. Get the best gaming deals, reviews, product advice, competitions, unmissable gaming news and more! Friends, Will and Grace, and Married With Children had more conversations between different gender characters than same gender. Toy Story is such a beloved film to so many, but it unfortunately doesn't pass the test. You were so very close, JamesCameron. Fail. The movie: The 2016 Ghostbusters (opens in new tab) film is technically the third film in the franchise, but actually serves as a reboot, replacing the four main male characters with female alternatives - played by Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. There's a third named female character, Agent Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders), but she only directs orders to her staff and there's no dialogue. The best movies that pass the Bechdel Test are the ones that really, truly, pass with all the flying colors. Employment is overrated. An extra big kick in the nuts to Star Wars fans: The prequel trilogy actually passes the test (partially). The information needed to compute the BT for every scene and episode can be obtained from these transcripts with only a little further work. Zoe Delahunty-Light. Its much more about familial love and, you know, surviving. Entertainment News. Thank you for subscribing to ENTITY. Lauren OCallaghan. Why are youhere? A lot of episodes do pass, but not as many as youd think, and only barely.