Most people go to see a film to be entertained. They grab their ticket, get their soft drinks and popcorn, and file into the cinema just to escape. That’s not a bad thing. It’s true that people criticize film without even being consciously aware of it, but some of individuals actively do so. They pick apart every scene and notice the tropes, motifs, camera angles, dialogue and so on. For me, watching a film is a completely different experience. It could be as simple as pointing out attire worn in a particular film to be flawed or misplaced or as complex as noticing that colour on a certain character represents some type of character archetype. However, that’s just scratching the surface. For the past few years, I have been obsessed with a simple test known as the Bechdel Test.
Alison Bechdel, a famous feminist writer and critic, came up with a system in 1985 in her “Dykes To Watch Out For” comic strips to criticize the Hollywood film system. What’s particularity interesting about this concept is that it originated as a joke in her strips that quite a few feminist critics now take to heart. Including myself. Her framework is simple:
- There have to be two or more female characters
- They need to communicate with one another
- Their communication needs to be about anything other than a man
Upon first glance you may be thinking that there are quite a few movies that could easily pass this test, but the contrary is actually much more accurate. Initially, what this test does is illustrate the lack of significant and meaningful female characters in the Hollywood system. In fact, even in contemporary cinema, less than 50% of films pass this test unequivocally. Take the 2012 Oscars as an easy example of this. Of the nine films nominated, only two pass this test. The Descendants and The Help were the two that passed without any dispute with the latter breezing through the test all throughout it’s running time.
There is a major criticism to be made about the framework of criticism. It’s an interesting paradox. In fact, in terms of feminist criticism, the Bechdel test is actually the lowest form that is currently being employed. However, it’s virtually the only one that is catching on in mainstream media. Popular culture media critic, Anita Sarkeesian, argues for an addendum to be made to it in that the communication between women must last for longer than 60 seconds.
The addendum that I think is actually more important than that is that failing this test does not make a film bad, or indeed sexist. I do think it’s important to use the Bechdel test as a guideline- in fact the lowest one to actually strive to complete. There will always be films that fail it because of specific subject matter, whether they are about war, or a male-dominated sport, or the like. I argue that when one places too much emphasis on having every movie pass we will end up with contrived stories muddled with scenes that will feel completely artificial. Having two females interact for more than 60 seconds just to pass the test and not add to the story can potentially have a detrimental impact on filmmaking as an art-from.
The perfect example is the 2008 blockbuster, The Dark Knight, which is widely considered to fail the Bechdel test. But did it really fail in terms of not representing strong female characters (or character)? I’d argue that it did not. While it does fail Bechdel’s framework, the film does not fail to deliver a strong female character. First, as the title suggests, it’s a Batman film. The story is about Batman. People paying money, including feminist critics, are seeing it to see Batman. While the story takes place over a running time almost hitting the 3 hour mark, its story is dependent primarily on Batman and not the interaction of Rachel Dawes and the only female to female interaction she has with Bruce Wayne’s ballerina girlfriend. I am sure, as the characterization of Rachel would suggest, that an intelligent woman like Rachel could have many interesting interactions with a professional ballerina or some other female character, but I would argue that we don’t want to waste the finite minutes of a movie about Batman on something that’s not related to Batman. Sometimes even in an ensemble cast the Bechdel test is used as an unfair basis of feminist critique. But maybe that’s the missing ingredient to a huge mega blockbuster film series. I wonder how well The Dark Knight Rises did?
But I still encourage my friends and acquaintances to be aware of this simple test. It’s easy to do and could really open your eyes to seeing how Hollywood cinema lacks progression. Even in 2013, female characters are still abiding by archaic archetypes. Again, we’re just scratching the surface here. But this is a perfect opportunity for some dialogue regarding feminism (or the façade) and film. So, next time you go out to see a film try to notice whether or not it passes this test.
