The Bechdel test: take that, Black Hawk Down!

[Garbarsardar]

Now cinemas in Sweden are introducing a new rating to highlight gender bias, or rather the absence of it.

To get an A rating, a movie must pass the so-called Bechdel test, which means it must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man.

"The entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, all Star Wars movies, The Social Network, Pulp Fiction and all but one of the Harry Potter movies fail this test," said Ellen Tejle, the director of Bio Rio, an art-house cinema in Stockholm's trendy Södermalm district.

Bio Rio is one of four Swedish cinemas that launched the new rating last month to draw attention to how few movies pass the Bechdel test. Most filmgoers have reacted positively to the initiative. "For some people it has been an eye-opener," said Tejle.

Source.

While I applaud the initiative, I think it is very limited. What about deaf people? The blind?

My personal test: "Movies where Gary Oldman is alive at the closing credits suck big time" is much more concise and effective.

[the_mango55]

It's a fine idea. People shouldn't take it like "movies that fail this test are sexist garbage" but rather to highlight the fact that many genres could use more female roles.

However this would also catch movies like Gravity, where even though the main character is a female there are only 2 real characters in the whole move and one is male.

[hellheaven1987]

Next time it would require to include two colors talk about something other than whites.

[Påsan]

And I thought Sweden could not get any more screwed up down the hyper-liberal road they are on.


Gender Equality is a good thing. This is just more pointless PK bs. Just a matter of time before they introduce gender quotas in the special forces or something.

[Captain Jin]

Seems pointless.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Sweden cinema sucks then, this is like some sort of enforced non-gender bias, like Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution.

[athanaric]

I think there is some justification to the "Bechdel test", as female conversations in movies are often lacking indeed, but then we'd need a similar test for men. Generally speaking though, it is stupid and counter-productive to make such a test "mandatory" and indicative of quality regardless of the films' content, like it was made in this case.
Doesn't suprise me though that this occurred in Sweden, the country that best exemplifies the current libtard zeitgeist of ignoring all real problems and inventing some imaginary ones to fight against instead.

[abbews]

This is just talk among the hipsters on Södermalm and no actual cinema has adopted it. It's made by hipsters for hipsters.

[Inkie]

Having it right next to the age restrictions and all in-my-face like? Meh.

As something separate which I can look at if I'm interested? Yes please. Still, that's not such a huge distinction. People seem to be overreacting big-time.

What isn't so great is that one of the basic results of this would be that people who want to see a film might suddenly find it tarred by this latent kind of "misogyny stamp". I think the approach is annoying, but the information itself I find valuable, interesting and constructive. In my opinion, it's kind of embarrassing that:

Of the top 100 US films in 2011, women accounted for 33% of all characters and only 11% of the protagonists, according to a study by the San Diego-based Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

[Ciciro]

If movies had writers who actually understood women we wouldn't have this problem.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Athanaric, Inkie and Ciciro all brought up good points. Maybe we are overreacting because we do not understand the implications of such a test. Will anyone care? Will this affect the choices of the majority? Probably not. Will this mean that cinemas will refuse to show certain films just based on that? Seriously doubt it. Will this be enforced like some sort of Soviet Union or Gestapo Police state decision? Not unless you live in a third world country.

[hellheaven1987]

Will anyone care?

Ya, that is true; regardless what happens it would not change the fact that Sweden is a nation full of slu... I mean women who are loyal to their own physical needs.

Great I nearly throw out a possible gender bias statement that would earn a lynch from feminists.

[Mangalore]

Having it right next to the age restrictions and all in-my-face like? Meh.

As something separate which I can look at if I'm interested? Yes please. Still, that's not such a huge distinction. People seem to be overreacting big-time.

What isn't so great is that one of the basic results of this would be that people who want to see a film might suddenly find it tarred by this latent kind of "misogyny stamp". I think the approach is annoying, but the information itself I find valuable, interesting and constructive. In my opinion, it's kind of embarrassing that:

Added to your finding you can get even more picky and check how many female protagonists are actually acting on their volition vs. whole genres of male power fantasies. Aka a heroine finds she has superpowers she usually struggles with her gender role and ostrachization by society, if heroes find they have a destiny and have the superpowers they usually ing love it.

Great I nearly throw out a possible gender bias statement that would earn a lynch from feminists.

Why do people think that this kind of stuff is solely about feminists? It's about the question: Are we as a society behaving like s and can we try better? The statistics concerning games and movies aren't that great concerning gender equality.


While I'm not sure about the methodology of that gender grade having it beside the age rating like the box with "contains alcohol, nudity, foul language,..." does provide information but doesn't do anything.

[The Despondent Mind]

And I thought Sweden could not get any more screwed up down the hyper-liberal road they are on.

[Gatsby]

If movies had writers who actually understood women we wouldn't have this problem.

If women were actually writing we wouldn't have this problem. They are vastly underrepresented despite women like Emma Thompson proving that the opportunities are there for talented female writers, female directors like Catherine Bigalow gaining success, and female authors being far more successful in the world of literature.

Let a woman write a marketable script and then she can have two women philosophising over what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France.

[Captain Jin]

And Harry Potter was written by a woman but fails the test. Sooo superfluous. I think people already understand women aren't realistically portrayed in Hollywood. A test is just utterly unnecessary. I already feel like Hollywood forces female characters as is just to get them in there, for a love interest or whatever. One reason why Blackhawk Down is great. Didn't force that. "Oh hey let's add a hot female journalist in there cause we need more vagina in this film".

[Gatsby]

I agree that war films are somewhat hampered in their ability to meet this test. I mean how many women could Clint Eastwood hope to shoehorn onto Iwo Jima?

[Markas]

Well they could have put the Daughter of Sergeant John Stebbins for some female perspective... oh... wait... they airbrushed him out and created a phoney-boloney character so as not to alienate the audience when he was sent down for sexually assaulting her. The only good thing about Black Hawk Down is Orlando Bloom failing from the helicopter. The rest I just find inane Hollywood trash.

[Inkie]

If women were actually writing we wouldn't have this problem. They are vastly underrepresented despite women like Emma Thompson proving that the opportunities are there for talented female writers, female directors like Catherine Bigalow gaining success, and female authors being far more successful in the world of literature.

Let a woman write a marketable script and then she can have two women philosophising over what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France.

Nicely stated, but part of me feels like saying that it's a bit like saying "Sydney Poitier, Bill Cosby! Blacks are very well represented in the entertainment industry, by now in the 1970's. All of this talk is superfluous, they probably just aren't interested enough in the field..."

I know some female film students who have told me that they felt quite strongly sidelined in internships and opportunities of working on a set - that male students tended to be given more directorial roles even if they were less adept, while girls were pointed towards supportive roles. Just a small example, but worth leaving there.

And Harry Potter was written by a woman but fails the test. Sooo superfluous. I think people already understand women aren't realistically portrayed in Hollywood. A test is just utterly unnecessary. I already feel like Hollywood forces female characters as is just to get them in there, for a love interest or whatever. One reason why Blackhawk Down is great. Didn't force that. "Oh hey let's add a hot female journalist in there cause we need more vagina in this film".

BHD is on my top ten, but I think you're hijacking the subject for the sake of using an "anti-quota" rant like we see so many of nowadays. Think about the rest of those films outside of genres like war, that as you say have female characters in artifical, token roles. The more the industry advances, the more natural having female characters will become, and the less bothersome too. I don't like the typical cynically-inserted female character any more than you do. I just think that people being a bit peeved at these characters isn't something particularly constructive. At the end of the day, a guy who is annoyed with the situation will likely complain - like you did - more about women being destructively thrown into films because more-vagina-satisfies-the-libtards, than about them being simply brandished in a mis-represented way that doesn't really satisfy any movie-goer, which is the real issue.

I agree that war films are somewhat hampered in their ability to meet this test. I mean how many women could Clint Eastwood hope to shoehorn onto Iwo Jima?

Yep, and that's why I think the approach is a bit of a bummer, because when you're taking about war movies or historical ones, it's not going to be your aim to pass that test, and so you end up with a blot on your otherwise appealing front cover.

The rest I just find inane Hollywood trash.

Blasphemy. Do you not know a good war movie when you see it, old man.

[Col. Tartleton]

Back in my day we had men playing women.

Most movies are . Letting women speak won't help.