Alison Bechdel is probably the most famous woman in America that you’ve never heard of.
The musical Fun Home, based on her childhood memoir of the same name, has won five Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical, enjoys an ongoing residency on Broadway, and is absolutely raved about by critics and show goers alike. In addition, her other memoir Are You My Mother? has won the award for Best American Comics in 2013.
Beyond her success as a cartoonist and author, Bechdel has also lent a powerful tool to the world of feminist critique. In her comic strip called Dikes to Watch Out For, Bechdel chronicles an exchange between two women who are walking in front of a movie theater. One woman tells the other that she only goes to see a movie if it coincides with “The Rule.” This three pronged rule is what would later become the Bechdel-Wallace Test.
In order for piece of media to pass the test, it must answer yes to all three of the following questions:
Does the movie have at least two women in it?
Do these women talk to each other?
Is their conversation about something other than a man?
It sounds relatively simple. How difficult could it be to have two women speak about something other than a guy? Apparently, for Hollywood, comic books, and television shows, very difficult. Shockingly roughly 50% of Hollywood blockbusters fail this test. Even some of my favorite movies don’t seem to be spared. Harry Potter and the Dealthly Hallows Pt II, the entire Star Wars Saga, and all of the Lord of the Ring movies all flunk.
However, even as pieces of media continue to fail, more and more women are holding what they consume to higher standards. Alison Bechdel’s idea sparked a firestorm, especially after it was “re-discovered” in early 2010.
Comic book author (and all around cool person) Kelly Sue DeConnick invented her own media litmus test when she was asked about the representation of women in comic books. She replied, “Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.” The test was nicknamed The Sexy Lamp Test, and its goal is to target the creators of media for making flat, dimensionless characters whose only purpose in the narrative is to look pretty and be a love interest. (Ring true to another phenomena? If you think it might, head back to my first post.)
Also interestingly enough to come out of the 2010s was the Mako Mori Test. The movie Pacific Rim, which the character Mako Mori was one of the protagonists, is seemingly a paradox. It fails the Bechdel Test by leaps and bounds, with only three women in the film in comparison to fifty six men. However, it is considered by many to be a feminist masterpiece. Which is where the test itself comes in. It’s three pronged just like the Bechdel Test, and a piece of media must answer yes to these three questions:
Is there at least one female character?
Does she have her own narrative arc?
Is that arc separate from that of any man’s, meaning is she out pursuing her own goals?
To sum up, we still have a lot of work to do when our media is failing us. But it’s important for us to at least be aware of said failures.
bvb5364 says
I cannot believe that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt II, the entire Star Wars Saga, and all of the Lord of the Ring movies failed the Bechdel-Wallace test. I have never noticed that every conversation between female characters in those movies is about a man.