How Many of Your Favourite Films Pass "the Bechdel Test"?

[Casual Shinji]

Bible Black; Yes

These "women in gaming/movies" threads are seriously making dislike anything that has to do with the fairer sex.

 

[Reiper]

Aliens: Did Ripley and Vasquez even say hi to each other.

"Look man, I just need to know one thing. Where they are..."
(Vasquez to Ripley on the subject of xenomorphs. may not be exact quote)

Yeah it passes (unless aliens actually count as men becasue of the phallic imagery).


Though this is a stupid test

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

Well LOTR certainly doesn't, since there are only like, three female characters in the whole trilogy and as far as I know none of them ever exchange dialogue.

Doesn't make the films sexist though.

 

[Dags90]

Suspected it was something like that (obviously), but I don't understand what it's trying to prove. Like "if you don't pass the Bechdel test you're a sexist!" or something like that. Honestly, if it's trying to do that, then it's doing a pretty bad job.

Edit: To everyone: I would really like to NOT have a feminist/sexist debate right now, so please, I implore you for everyones sanity, do not start one.

It's a broader tool. It's not really important that every movie pass it, but the proportion of movies that do pass it to those which do not (very few) is a good reflection of womens' prominence in movies. People think about it too narrowly. Sort of like people who cry that BMI is inaccurate, because it'll list bodybuilders as "obese" and are confident their BMI of 42 is totally healthy. As if bodybuilding is responsible for a country-wide shift in obesity statistics.

It's also from a comic strip, so it's not like this was a meticulously planned criteria. It was a joke about women in movies that happened to make a lot of people think critically.

American Beauty probably passes, Heathers, too.

 

[darkfox85]

snip

Watchmen, most X-Men films, and a few Harry Potter films: fail the test.

Just because it isn't Bechdel-approved doesn't mean it's not a good or even great movie.

Of course not sir. I love those ten films so much, just looking at the list gives me joy. What?re your favourite films?

All it takes to pass the test is for one female character to say something like "nice weather today, isn't it?" to another.

Yeah it doesn?t take much does it? What?re your favourite films?

 

[LordFish]

Watchmen, most X-Men films, and a few Harry Potter films: fail the test.

Am I misunderstanding the test?

Watchmen: that kick ass girl and her mum talk about the past
X-Men - can I not remember dialogue between storm and Jean? that might have been about guys, but there's like a whole school. I'd have to watch to be sure.
Harry Potter: Hermione would definitely pass comments with Ginny or another Griffendor girl, depends how long the conversation has to be I guess?

 

[SckizoBoy]

Well, loads of my favourite films don't pass this:

1. Stalingrad... no women whatsoever, but it's a damned sight better a film than Enemy at the Gates (whether that film passes the test, I don't know, nor do I care).
2. A Bridge Too Far... one named female character and she spends most of the film trying to take care of her children or talking to dying soldiers, so nope.
3. Copenhagen... yeah, a three member cast talking physics, two of which are men, try shoehorning another woman (Liese Meitne, anyone?!) into that... *grrr*
4. Ben Hur... *inhales* ... actually, I'm not too sure about that one. Fairly sure Miriam and Tierza exchange dialogue...
5. Battle of Britain... yeah, fat chance... oh wait, no, SO Harvey & her number one have a couple lines.
6. Tora! Tora! Tora!... yeah, fat chance... yep, only two 'named' female characters and only one male character even remotely connects them
7. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... well, this one passes for sure... woohoo!

etc. etc.

 

[darkfox85]

Watchmen: that kick ass girl and her mum talk about the past

Oh yeah! Doi. Sorry. I was just thinking about that bloke. Good catch sir.

EDIT: forgot to say, Watchmen is awesome. I clearly need to go back and revisit.

 

[Jonluw]

I watch really few films, and I don't have a lot of favourites.
Uuh, Monty Python and the holy grail?

More than one female character? Well, there's Zoot and Dingo, I guess. They're not talking to eachother as such, but they do talk to other girls in the castle. Mostly about seducing Galahad though...

Terkel i knibe.
The only named female character commits suicide when she's rejected by the main character...

I can't really think of any other movies I know well enough to perform this test on.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I think people are missing the point of the Bechdel test.

Firstly, it came about in a comic strip making a (admittedly pointed) joke about how few women are in movies. It wasn't really intended as a serious examination.

Secondly, among the people who find it useful, it's not a way to determine if a movie is sexist or not. It's a rough way of looking at a trend. A movie that fails is no big deal. An overwhelming majoirty of movies failing points to something going on people might want to look at further.

It's like stereotyping, it only becomes a stereotype when there's a trend of that sort of thing, any individual instances can be dismissed as one offs.

 

[LordFish]

Watchmen: that kick ass girl and her mum talk about the past

Oh yeah! Doi. Sorry. I was just thinking about that bloke. Good catch sir.

EDIT: forgot to say, Watchmen is awesome. I clearly need to go back and revisit.

Well I was wondering if it was discounted because she's holding a picture of The Comedian and crying at the end of the conversation, but they must have exchanged 3 lines about the state of the world and what not before that.

Also I just read somewhere that the new Star Trek film only passes because of 4 lines between ohora and her room mate about the romulan transmission.. 4 lines of dialogue in which she undresses too! haha

 

[SoranMBane]

-Aliens: Yes, there's plenty of dialog between Ripley and Newt, and one very short exchange between between Ripley and Vasquez.

-The Secret of NIMH: Yes, between Mrs. Brisby and Aunty Shrew, as well as between Aunty Shrew and Mrs. Brisby's daughter.

-Tremors: Maybe. It's been a while since I've seen it so I don't know for certain, but there are a few female characters who might have some dialog with each other about the monsters. As for the other films in the series, Tremors 2 only has one female character, so that doesn't pass, while Tremors 3 has some dialog between Mindy and her mom, so that one does pass.

-Iron Man 2: Probably not. Pepper and Black Widow might have some dialog between each other that I'm not quite remembering, but it's probably about Tony anyway. Pretty sure the first movie doesn't pass either.

-The Matrix: Pretty sure it doesn't.

-The Dark Knight: No.

-A Scanner Darkly: No.

-Spirited Away: Almost certainly, given that the main character is female and many of the side characters are female.

-District 9: No.

I didn't think of it as a Litmus test, just thought it was a fun game to play. Does that make me super sexist?

No, I'm a girl and I was just thinking of it as a forum game too. A somewhat intellectually interesting forum game, but just a forum game nonetheless. People shouldn't take it so seriously.

 

[Swyftstar]

-Aliens: Yes, there's plenty of dialog between Ripley and Newt, and one very short exchange between between Ripley and Vasquez.

Good catch. I completely forgot Newt. Well, that's one movie on my list that passes.
God, how could I forget Newt. One of the best lines in the movie.
"They're all dead alright! Can I go now!"

 

[peruvianskys]

What a stupid test.

Yes, films aimed at men are going to be about a man, probably, unless we're talking porno. But hey, I guess we should start shoehorning women into movies like Das Boot, American Phsycho or Amadeus, even though it would make all 3 worse.

But if only maybe 10% of films pass this test, then that implies that only about 10% of films are made with any kind of realistic female character. You don't see that as a problem?

 

[Gabanuka]

Star Wars: No
Princess Bride: No
Batman and Robin: No
Lord Of the Rings: No

Well damn.

EDIT: Die Hard! Die Hard passes!

 

[saintdane05]

Chicago: Yup.

Dark Knight: Nope.

Watchmen: Yup

My Little Pony: Escape from Midnight Castle: Yup.

 

[octafish]

It is a little funny which films pass and which don't. Big Trouble in Little China for example gets a pass. Elizabeth doesn't.