3s | In the 1980s, cartoonist Alison Bechdel |
7s | observed a frustrating trend in pop |
9s | culture. Most films only had a single |
11s | female character, and when there were |
13s | multiple women in a film, their |
15s | storylines almost always revolved around |
17s | men. |
17s | Just call him. Say, "Hello!" He's in my book |
20s | club. Why is there a woman in this |
22s | picture? It's his wife. This realisation |
24s | inspired her to create a comic called |
26s | The Rule. I only go to a movie if it |
29s | satisfies three basic requirements. One: |
32s | It has to have at least two women in it |
34s | who Two: talk to each other about Three: |
37s | something besides a man. These |
39s | requirements form the foundation of the |
41s | Bechdel test, which has become a tool |
43s | used to call attention to gender |
45s | inequality and pop culture. For example, |
47s | this scene fails the Bechdel test. |
49s | Who's Allen's friend? |
51s | [Music] |
53s | Hugh? He's a bit of a cad, actually. So my type, then? |
57s | While this scene passes it. |
59s | You have no style or sense of fashion. |
62s | Well I think that depends on what your- |
67s | No, no, that wasn't a question. Bechdel credits |
71s | the idea for the test to her friend Liz |
73s | Wallace, who was inspired by Virginia |
75s | Woolf's essay, A Room of One's Own. Wolff |
78s | writes, "All these relationships between |
80s | women... are too simple... and I tried to |
83s | remember any case in the course of my |
84s | reading where two women are represented |
86s | as friends. They are now and then mothers |
88s | and daughters. But almost without |
90s | exception they are shown in their |
92s | relation to men." |
93s | Whatever we do, we always want to look |
95s | our very best! |
97s | I mean, why, imagine if our husbands |
99s | saw us in worn dark |
102s | urban sweat clothes with stringy hair |
104s | and almost no makeup. |
106s | Even though Woolf's essay is over 90 |
109s | years old, limited female representation |
111s | and pop culture persists today. A survey |
114s | of a hundred and twenty films by the |
116s | Geena Davis Institute on Gender in |
118s | Media revealed that only 31% of the named |
121s | characters were female and 23% of the |
124s | films had a female protagonist or |
125s | co-protagonist. Okay. I'm a lady, she's a |
129s | lady, |
129s | you're a lady, we're the ladies. The |
132s | website bechdeltest.com is a |
134s | user-generated list of over 6500 films, |
137s | that catalogs which films pass the test, |
140s | with the added requirement that the |
142s | female characters must be named. And |
144s | while the requirements to pass |
146s | might seem simple, there are an enormous amount of |
149s | very successful films that fail. We're |
151s | ranking girls. You mean other students? Yeah. |
154s | As the Bechdel test gained popularity, it |
157s | also became the subject of intense |
158s | scrutiny because some people assume that |
161s | films that fail the test were |
162s | automatically considered bad. Bechdel |
165s | never intended for the test to be a way |
167s | to comment on the quality of a film, and |
169s | she admits that her favorite film |
171s | doesn't pass the test. I don't really |
173s | follow this scheme in my real life. |
176s | [Laughter] - What's your favorite movie? |
178s | - Groundhog Day. - Goundhog Day does not pass the Bechdel test? - It majorly, majorly fails. - It majorly fails. |
185s | Another important distinction to make is that the Bechdel |
187s | test is not a way to evaluate whether a |
189s | film is feminist. For example, the film |
192s | Gravity fails the Bechdel test, while |
194s | Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" music video |
196s | does pass the test. "Oh my God, Becky, look |
200s | at her butt."" |
202s | Andi Zeisler, co-founder of Bitch Media, |
204s | wrote of the test, "Bechdel and Wallace |
207s | expressed it as simply a way to point |
209s | out the rote, unthinkingly normative |
211s | plotlines of mainstream film... it was |
214s | never meant to be a measure of feminism, |
216s | but rather a cultural barometer." What |
219s | Zeisler means is that the Bechdel test |
221s | is most effective when applied on a |
223s | universal level. When hundreds of |
225s | successful films struggle to pass the |
227s | requirements, it's important to reflect |
229s | on how this impacts the way audiences |
231s | are conditioned to think about women. |
233s | Says NPR's Neda Ulaby about the |
236s | test, "It articulates something often |
238s | missing in popular culture, not the |
240s | number of women we see on screen, but the |
242s | depth of their stories, and the range of |
244s | their concerns." You're good at hiding |
246s | stuff, huh? My mom calls it compartmentalizing. |
250s | Apparently I do that a lot. |
252s | Bechdel's test has inspired others to |
254s | create their own tests based on race, |
257s | ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Other |
260s | tests being developed through |
261s | fivethirtyeight.com |
263s | look at the diversity of the crews |
264s | making up these projects. And hopefully |
267s | by continuing to give creative power to |
269s | women, audiences will be exposed to even |
271s | more complex, compelling, and relatable |
274s | stories of female friendship and |
275s | accomplishments. - Thank you for getting me |
277s | into the league, Dottie. - You got yourself in |
280s | the league. I got you on the train. In 2017, |
284s | the top three grossing films all passed |
286s | the Bechdel test with flying colors. So |
288s | even though gender inequality is still |
290s | prevalent, progress is being made and the |
293s | characters from Bechdel's original comic |
295s | would have more options at the box |
296s | office today than they did in 1985. |