The Bechdel Test and "Y:The Last Man"

[TheIronRuler]

Hey there, escapists, the internet, what's up? I've been reading "Y:The Last Man" and remembered a feminist thing I heard about before called "The Bechdel Test". Quoting Wikipedia, "The Bechdel test asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.". Reading the graphic novel (which is excellent), it struck me odd that it doesn't pass the test as well as I had expected from a piece of fiction in a world full of women, where every man in the world (except one bloke) dies mysteriously and the Y male chromosome is extinct. He's literally the only guy on the planet, yet the plot which revolves around him has much of the conversations involve him or be about him, or about men.

How is this possible? It really boggles the mind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y:_The_Last_Man

What do you escapists think about it?

 

[Queen Michael]

...it doesn't pass the test as well as I had expected...

Look, either it passes or it doesn't, and Y: The Last Man passes.

More than anything else, the bechdel test was really just meant for "Look how many movies don't meet this mark!" than anything else.

Exactly. The test isn't meant to judge individual movies. The point of it is how improbable it is that Hollywood never makes stories that focus on women.

 

[Elfgore]

I mean it kinda makes sense they talk about him a lot. He's the only thing alive that can sustain the human race. I mean they could include talk of politics and survival. But only one man left alive is something pretty important to be talking about.

 

[Elfgore]

I mean it kinda makes sense they talk about him a lot. He's the only thing alive that can sustain the human race. I mean they could include talk of politics and survival. But only one man left alive is something pretty important to be talking about him a lot.

There are a lot of problems in our world but that doesn't stop us from having personal problems or things to talk about in our own lives.0

I agree we have a lot of problems, but the possibility of the extinction of the human race isn't high on the list. I understand personal problems will still exist, but only one man is alive. One human left alive to breed. Like side stories about women coping with the loss of their loved ones, wouldn't be a problem for me. But the main story should be centered around the last man alive.

 

[Elfgore]

I mean it kinda makes sense they talk about him a lot. He's the only thing alive that can sustain the human race. I mean they could include talk of politics and survival. But only one man left alive is something pretty important to be talking about him a lot.

So, in a way, Y:The Last Man is a neck-beard's wet dream?.

Close, but I always thought the neck-beard wet dream was filled with only beautiful women with big bust, long hair, and a servant like personality. This guy would be having sex with women of all sizes and looks.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

If there was a single woman left in the world wouldn't every man be talking about her?

 

[geeky_demon]

I think it's probably that way because that's what the writer intended, my friend.

(@KingWhurdler What's a neck-beard?)

 

[Thaluikhain]

I think that would be a good example of the sort of reasons why the Bechdel test was invented in the first place.

 

[TheIronRuler]

If there was a single woman left in the world wouldn't every man be talking about her?

.
I think they made a reverse "Y:The Last Man" in the comic itself, like a comic inside a comic (Comiception), where every woman on earth is dead except for one chick and her horse. It was a funny side-story.

 

[Autumnflame]

Some people just need to fight something to complain about in everything.

be it gender, race, sexuality. or what ever else you could imagine.

If we ever get to a point where any work of fiction "MUST" have to be PC.

one of each race, gender, sexuality so everyone has something to identify with.
But the character is know for nothing more than " thats the gay one"

I will fell sad for humanity.

Race, gender, sexuality, political or social ideals should be be "the " defining trait for any character rather a part of a larger whole identity.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Some people just need to fight something to complain about in everything.

be it gender, race, sexuality. or what ever else you could imagine.

If we ever get to a point where any work of fiction "MUST" have to be PC.

one of each race, gender, sexuality so everyone has something to identify with.
But the character is know for nothing more than " thats the gay one"

I will fell sad for humanity.

Race, gender, sexuality, political or social ideals should be be "the " defining trait for any character rather a part of a larger whole identity.

Fortunately, neither the Bechdel Test nor (presumably) Y:The Last Man has anything to do with that.

EDIT: If this is a major plot point in "Y:The Last Man", that everything needs to represent every group due to legislation passed following the death of all men except one, fair enough. I might think the death of all men except one would be sadder, though.

 

[theNater]

If there was a single woman left in the world wouldn't every man be talking about her?

Not exclusively. There'd still be discussions about what's for dinner, whose turn it is to walk the dog, where that thing we need is, what we're going to do for entertainment, and so on.

 

[Areloch]

I mean it kinda makes sense they talk about him a lot. He's the only thing alive that can sustain the human race. I mean they could include talk of politics and survival. But only one man left alive is something pretty important to be talking about him a lot.

So, in a way, Y:The Last Man is a neck-beard's wet dream?.

Close, but I always thought the neck-beard wet dream was filled with only beautiful women with big bust, long hair, and a servant like personality. This guy would be having sex with women of all sizes and looks.

I never understood how people thought being the last man on earth in a world of women would be awesome sex adventure. It wouldn't.

No sane rational person would risk the human race's continuation to something as inconsistent as intercourse when it comes to reproduction. It'd be much more likely that the last male would pretty much just be a semen farm and they would artificially impregnate the women, as many as possible.

I guess in the context of the book, where the Y chromosome inexplicably stops existing, it doesn't really matter anymore, but in pretty much any other 'last man' scenario, it would actually really likely suck to be the man.

 

[Saltyk]

I don't think the Bechel test should even be applied to that sort of story. The entire concept of the story is that there is only one man left alive in the entire world. That's a pretty major thing. So having lots of women in the story talk about him is a logical thing because he's very important in the story and not in a "My boyfriend is such a stupid-head" sort of way.

It's one thing to have women in a story about saving the world and the only thing they talk about to each other is the male main character. It's another when the story is about relationships or only one male being alive in the entire world.

 

[Lieju]

Yeah, the test isn't really meant to judge individual movies.

It might be applicable if we are talking about movies with huge casts and a lot of talking (like LOTR, which certainly has issues with female representation).

Or something like that.
I haven't read it, so I don't know how the point of view and such is presented (how much human interaction there is for example), but if your minor characters never talk about anything else than the protagonist, you don't really have well-developed minor characters.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I don't think the Bechel test should even be applied to that sort of story. The entire concept of the story is that there is only one man left alive in the entire world. That's a pretty major thing. So having lots of women in the story talk about him is a logical thing because he's very important in the story and not in a "My boyfriend is such a stupid-head" sort of way.

It's one thing to have women in a story about saving the world and the only thing they talk about to each other is the male main character. It's another when the story is about relationships or only one male being alive in the entire world.

Er...why should that make the movie exempt from the test? Yes, it's a good reason why the individual movie failed, but that's not what the test is about, it's about trends amongst movies in general.

Many movies that fail fail because of reasons that make sense for that movie, the point is that people are choosing to make a lot of those films.

 

[NihilSinLulz]

The comic's characters talk about a lot of other stuff other than Yorrick.

That said, the Test is only good for getting discussions going, not for anything evaluative. I mean if you think about it, the movie Her would fail the test yet a piece of dirty ass such as Man of Steel would pass.