During my freshman year, I took a badminton course. Being non-athletic, I managed a flat 70 for my overall grade. Fortunately, I took the course Pass/Fail. Meaning: Despite my resounding lack of skill and comprehension about the sport, I still passed as much as the other guy who took the course Pass/Fail and managed a 93.
Even though the Pass/Fail system worked for me—and surely for countless others—doesn’t mean it isn’t silly to consider me just as successful, on paper, at learning badminton as my more talented classmate.
In said fashion, it would be ridiculous to consider two movies equally pro-woman simply because they both pass the Bechdel test.
For those unfamiliar with this: In 1985, Alison Bechdel published a character in her comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For, asserting three basic requirements movies must meet for her to attend.
First, the movie must feature at least two named female characters. Second, those characters must talk to each other. Third, the conversation must be about something other than a man.
Adapted and commonly known as “the Bechdel test,” it is used as an evaluation of gender bias in works of fiction.
It seems easy enough for media to meet these standards, but nearly half of the Hollywood movies released in 2013 failed, according to an infographic published by Vocativ. On the flip side, the other half passed.
The list of movies that passed includes the likes of Frozen and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which feature female leads. Movies such as Oz The Great and Powerful and Man of Steel, which do not feature female leads, also made the list. Meaning: A work of fiction doesn’t necessarily have to include a female lead to avoid the label of anti-woman.
However, it would be pretty easy for producers and writers—especially misogynistic ones—to take advantage of this test and its fairly simple requirements to earn a passing label.
Take, for instance, this summer’s blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy. Karen Gillan, who had a fairly major role in the film, pointed out in one interview that the movie passes the Bechdel test. Yet, the movie still reeks of anti-woman attitudes and male supremacy.
Early on, the film delivers a gag about last night’s forgotten one-night stand still lurking around. It’s meant to lead the audience into viewing the (male) protagonist as a “totally rad hetero dude who bangs alien chicks and then forgets about them because he’s busy with space business,” as Gavia Baker-Whitelaw writes in The Daily Dot.
Other than the supporting lead female and her enemy sister, the movie’s presentation of women is pretty much that of dumb, quiet bimbos meant to supplement the male characters.
Family Guy kicked off its 13th season Sept. 28, airing “The Simpsons Guy,” its crossover episode with The Simpsons. The episode found its premise as Peter Griffin, the archetypical family patriarch, was run out of town to Springfield after publishing a series of misogynistic cartoons in his comic strip.
Throughout, the episode featured “women belong in the kitchen” humor and a rape joke. It also mocked those who take offense to these sorts of jokes, effectively shaming people against vocalizing their irritation.
Still, “The Simpsons Guy” passed the Bechdel test with flying colors, implying the absence of blatant gender bias. This seems to contradict the rest of the script’s strong anti-woman tendencies.
As it is, the Bechdel test does not go far enough to promote gender equality in media. It has, however, spawned a few derivatives: The Russo test, which asserts three requirements for LGBT representation; the Racial Bechdel test, which measures whether two named characters of color talk about something other than a white person; and the Mako Mori test, which measures whether at least one female character has her own narrative that is not about supporting a man’s.
It’s time we use the Bechdel test more widely, after adding more to its three simple criteria, so work is tested to not be anti- any group of people. If media can achieve this, the rest should fall into place.