CSUN Film The Bechdel Test for Films Discussion

There are a number of movies with interesting roles for women. But how many movies out there feature multiple major female characters who interact with each other? That’s the question the Bechdel Test  tries to answer. 

The Bechdel Test is a fairly simple test for the presence of women in movies.  It asks three simple questions:

Are there two or more women in the movie who have names?

Do they talk to each other?

• Do they talk to each other about something other than a man?
• Once you start thinking about it, you’ll be surprised by how many films don’t pass this test. In fact, there are entire genres (e.g., action-adventure) that seem to fail the Bechdel Test, by and large. Not surprisingly, male-centric movies such as Fight Club, or Lawrence of Arabia, or Das Boot don’t pass the test. But there are other notable non-passing movies include:
• Shrek

Clerks

Big Lebowski

Home Alone

Slumdog Millionaire

The Truman Show

Lord of the Rings

Tomb Raider

and even The Princess Bride

This test doesn’t judge the quality of the movie or whether it is misogynistic, only that it doesn’t portray the interaction of two women with names dealing with something other than a man. But there have also been some interesting things written about the weaknesses of the Bechdel Test.

• View a film with the Bechdel questions in hand. Then in a two page paper give the name of the movie and when (specifically) you watched it. Finally give detailed answers to the questions. (Who are the women characters? What do they talk about? How is the presence of women in the film different from that of men?) Make sure you are clear on whether the movie passed the test. Finally, what is your opinion of the Bechdel Test. Do you believe that it is a valid method in evaluating gender equality or is it too two-dimensional to accurately measure the message of female empowerment.