So, what is the Bechdel Test? The Bechdel Test asks three key questions about a movie's female characters. The Bechdel Test (BT), which checks for a rudimentary level of female-centricity in media, has elsewhere been covered thoroughly for movies, with a crowd-sourced manual approach, but not, to my knowledge, for television, except at a high level or in very selected cases. It originated in a comic strip by Bechdel in 1985. for the content of external websites. Anything, even if its something stereotypically feminine, like shopping or shoes. While there are two female characters, Snow White and the Evil Queen, the latter is not given a name in the film. Black Widow, the two characters never interact to have a conversation. Books? We can look at the results for each show, broken down by test step. Zoe Delahunty-Light. So if you want to watch a TV show that passes the Bechdel test and shows the full picture of what it means to be a woman, try turning on one of these TV shows about female friendship below. Employment is overrated. Wrong. 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. People tend to have strong feelings about the Lena Dunham-created comedy. The Bechdel Test -- created by Alison Bechdel in her 1985 comic, "Dykes to Watch Out For" -- is a well-known measurement of gender bias in movies. 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. New York? The next plot explores further how male and female characters interacted in each shows episodes. 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. Sex and drugs are a large part of the show, but so are friendships, as Rue, Jules, Lexi, Kat, Cassie, and Maddy dominate the series. We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices, New games for 2023 and beyond to add to your wishlist, The world's number one sci-fi, fantasy and horror magazine, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty review: "Builds on the core quality of the Nioh games", Destiny 2 Lightfall review-in-progress: "There is no redeeming this campaign", Dungeons & Dragons: Onslaught review - "Novel enough to tempt even jaded skirmish gamers", Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen review - "Evocative and well-realized", Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn review - "Kernel of a great idea", Luther: The Fallen Sun review: "Will appeal to die-hards and newbies alike", Creed 3 review: "Michael B. 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(Lets ignore the fact that the alien was a walking penis-monster, as this was before the Xenomorphs had established sexes the Queens werent introduced until 1986sAliens.). Younger is a marathon-worthy series about a fortysomething who pretends to be in her twenties in order to break back into publishing. But it easily passed the Bechdel test, focusing on their badass careers saving an entire CITY and their friendships. We encourage you to, Nine Recent TV Shows and Movies That Pass the Bechdel Test, have a look at this article to see who sits behind the camera, Ghostbusters (The one with all the women), How to measure the impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training, Understanding Social Identities in the Workplace. 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 . According to . The best movies that pass the Bechdel Test are the ones that really, truly, pass with all the flying colors. As well as showing that they kicked ass at the lab at the same time. Im not completely certain, but possibly the original Star Trek? She quips that the last film she was able to go see was Alien in 1979. 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. We all play a part in creating a more equitable and just workplace and world. And by god, is she an unforgettable one. We encourage you to, Ten Recent TV Shows That Pass the Bechdel Test, TV shows and movies that pass the Bechdel test, research conducted on film and gender in 2021, How to measure the impact of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training, Understanding Social Identities in the Workplace. The Social Network stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin . To pass, a movie must have two named women converse about something other than a man. In a film about violence and mafiosos, Karen ( Lorraine Bracco) and Rosie ( Illeana Douglas) manage to squeeze in a Bechdel Test pass with a conversation about Florida. 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. Registered office: 3rd floor, Latin Hall, Golden Lane, Dublin 8. Enter the Bechdel Test, which was created in 1985 by cartoonist Alison Bechdel in a now-famous comic strip.Essentially, the Bechdel Test is a metric which determines whether a movie or TV series pays ample attention to its women characters. And so are five other '90s tattoo styles. 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. The rise in the overall number is due to increases in the percentages of women working as executive producers and producers. That doesnt mean its not funny, though! You can obtain a copy of the Movies with female directors have higher Bechdel scores. Euphoria doesnt shy away from topics that would never have been included in a teen show ten years ago. On June 30th, 2008, Jennifer Kesler . A hobbit gets caught up in a huge war when he has to take a magic ring right to the bad guys front door. advertising. All the Charlize Theron. 95 percent of the characters are female, and they communicate with each other constantly throughout the series about non-male-centric topics. Having acquired hundreds of sitcom episode transcripts, I can apply the test programmatically to each episode of these sitcoms, to compare the shows and track changes over the course of their runs. There are also a handful of episodes that do not pass either test (grey). Please note that uses cookies to improve your experience and to provide To pass the Bechdel test, a movie must follow three rules that are supposed to show if the story has a good representation of women. I remember Skyler and Marie in early seasons arguing about Maries shop lifting. Considering the fact that the entire population of New Zealand is in these movies, it kinda seems statistically impossible. 483623. SuperJail, unless JailBot is female. Issa Rae embodies all of these qualities in her character, Issa. Toy Story is such a beloved film to so many, but it unfortunately doesn't pass the test. The percentage of women working as directors on the top 100 films retreated from 16% in 2020 to 12% in 2021. EEEP! The Bechdel Test, if youre not familiar with it, is a benchmark for movies developed by Alison Bechdel in 1985. The Bechdel test, Also known as the Bechdel-Wallace test, is a test used for works of fiction (usually movies), named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel. Why are youhere? 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. The film follows three different possible outcomes for her actions and explores her relationships and interactions with the people and the world aroundher. TL;DR: Some episodes do, some d. 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. Women are not always these well-dressed, confident, and successful creatures; sometimes were just uncomfortable in our own skin. In non-pandemic years, an average 600 or 700 films have been added to the archive annually since 2006. Star Wars: The Last JediWhile Carrie Fisher has always been a strong female presence in the Star Wars series, The Last Jedi takes female interaction to a whole new level. Of course, people watch movies for the simple pleasure that the story brings. The Bechdel test is too incomplete to be effective. While Enid occupies herself with finding him a girlfriend, she and Becky grow further apart. Shes got a bit of a grudge. The female characters must talk to each other. Starring the super brilliant Sonequa Martin-Green as First Officer Michael Burnam, she was raised by Vulcans, though is human, so shes a fascinating character to watch. And its been surprisingly challenging for movies and TV shows to pass this basic test, even in our current golden age of media consumption. The test is named for Alison Bechdel, creator of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, who made it known to the world with this strip. although I'm pretty sure Megillat Esther does not pass the Bechdel Test), the . Holdo a total, er, force (RIP). While theres been some improvement, much work is left to do. 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. Although nearly the entire show involves interactions strictly between men. Padme speaks to Shmi Skywalker in Episode I and to her handmaidens at various points in Episode II, and in both cases, they discuss things other than men. For a movie to pass The Bechdel Test, it must contain just one thing - a. The measure sometimes is enhanced by adding that the two female characters be named in the film. For fun, how about shows that not only regularly pass the normal test but fail the reverse Bechdel Test? Easily passing the Bechdel test, Dead to Me brings together two women with completely different ways of being in the world together to deal with some wild bananas weird stuff. 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.