Gravity was a feminist movie, but failed the Bechdel Test. Is the test really relevant in measuring if a movie or story has well written female characters who are empowered?
All of us who participate in the ‘Muse of the Month’ contest here at Women’s Web, know what the Bechdel Test is all about. Just in case someone doesn’t, here’s the definition:
The Bechdel Test is a measure of gender inequality, particularly in films but it is also being used as a tool for Feminism in plays and short stories as well. It was created by American cartoonist, Alison Bechdel in her 1985 comic, “Dykes to Watch Out For”. It is also known as the Bechdel-Wallace test. The measure is used widely across the globe.
To pass the test, the story has to have
The Bechdel Test was obviously created during a time when women did not have too much of representation in films nor did they have a variety too topics to talk about in the movies. Many people across the world including the creator of the test Alison Bechdel acknowledge that the test isn’t perfect, and may not always work. It definitely highlights the problem of under-representation of women in our story-telling, but even as a guideline, its simplicity becomes its undoing. I would like to break the test down to highlight, what according to me are its failings.
Two women must speak to one another
In a recently released short film produced by Anurag Kashyap and Shlok Sharma, the viewer takes the same emotional journey as the characters in the film take after a very traumatic event. There were no dialogues, and yet the film makes you empathize with the women’s anguish.
The two women must talk to each other about something other than a man
There are various scenarios where two women could talk about a man and yet have a feminist flavour. One important scenario could be conversations about abuse. A woman pushing her friend/ colleague/ daughter to stand up for her rights cannot take place without mentioning the man! Such empowering conversations will fail the Bechdel test!
The film Gravity does not pass the Bechdel Test even though it revolves around a woman astronaut who survives in space owing to her intelligence and grit.
Even though most of the highest grossing films in Hollywood passed the Bechdel Test, there is no real reason to celebrate. The issue of gender bias remains largely unsolved. It also must be noted that there are no repercussions at all if a movie does not pass the test – not on its box office collections nor on the awards it could receive. It is less of a test and more of a guideline.
The Bechdel Test may still be the most popular measure but there are other tests that could be used to supplement it to get a clearer picture of gender biasedness in films.
Script-reader Ross Putman highlighted the sexism that prevails in Hollywood by sharing the character descriptions for the female lead from actual scripts in a feed on Twitter using the handle @femscriptintros. It was found that most of the descriptions only focussed on how the character looked. He replaced all the names with ‘Jane’ which is why it is called the Jane Test. According to Ross 3 questions must be asked by writers before crafting the female lead:
If your answer is Yes to all the questions above, then the script fails the Jane Test.
Samantha Ellis, a feminist playwright in Hollywood, devised the ‘Sphinx Test’ that also involved asking a series of questions for playwrights to consider while creating a female character:
The answer has to be No to all the questions above for the script to pass the Sphinx Test.
Read here to know 12 tests that checks gender bias across 4 main aspects of movie-making:
These tests emerged when FiveThirtyEight (a website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging) asked 13 people in the entertainment industry to come up with personal standards for representation in cinema.
Maybe none of the above tests is perfect in its own right. Maybe we need to come up with a more comprehensive test. Maybe there should also be a test to check the representation of the ‘hidden’ sections of society: LGBTQ+ members, tribal people, etc.
At the end of the day, no matter how many tests, questions and studies we subject our narratives to, the fact is that writers want to share stories about the world around them. And unfortunately, as long as sexism and other biases prevail, you can’t blame cinema or any form of fiction for mirroring reality.
Let’s try and make our world more accommodating. Then our stories will automatically be more inclusive.
This article is a part of a post that was earlier published on the author’s blog.
Header image is a still form the movie Gravity
Like any other writer, I am always on the lookout for those golden words that can touch people's hearts. But more often than not, I just write so that my soul can speak. Either read more...
Women's Web is an open platform that publishes a diversity of views, indivisual posts do not necessarily represent the platofrom's views and opinions at all times.
Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!
I could hear grandmother mumbling in the background, “I’ve served my family throughout my life. Never turned away from responsibility like this. She isn’t even going to work like Kala or Malathi. Why can’t she cook then?”
The breeze bullied the reeds forcing them to swish and sway to its vagaries, forwards and backwards, this way and that. Everything was as it had been yesterday and the day before. The cuckoo bird continued its ‘coo-coo-once-is-not-enough-here’s-another’, coo-coo call, pleased with its own poetics, its rhythm unfaltering. So much had transpired, yet nothing had changed.
The driver obliged and immediately stopped the bus for them. Many men got down. They shamelessly lined up just by the side of the bus and peed on the other side of the road.
I work in Pune. My family lives far away from me in a small town along the coast of Konkan. I get to meet them once every fortnight for which I have to take a nine-hour long overnight bus journey.
From The Handmaid's Tale to Riverdale to Stranger Things, let's see how many TV Series from 2017 passed the Bechdel Test! Read here.
From The Handmaid’s Tale to Riverdale to Stranger Things, let’s see how many TV Series from 2017 passed the Bechdel Test! Read here.
We are all quite aware of the heavy lack of appropriate representation of women on-screen. Women have been struggling with almost always playing the romantic interest of the male hero. But as the times have progressed, there is some improvement in this area, although a very slow one – with women coming to the forefront with improved character strength. However, we still cannot say with confidence that all works of fiction will pass the Bechdel Test, even today.
What does feminism have to do with loving yourself? Learn more about the path to self love
Feminist self love is a rather simple idea. I have tried to incorporate whatever I have learnt from various feminist theories and apply them to the self love concept. I shall be enlisting some of the things that I deduced from feminism over the years. Most of these tips can be used by a person of any gender, but some of these are meant exclusively for women. This is due to the fact that the constant bombardment of unrealistic media and societal images mostly affects women’s self esteem to a large extent. This needs to be understood and rectified.
It is a well known fact that unless one is full of unconditional love for oneself, he/she cannot be a useful component to the society at large. Let us take an analogy of a jug of water and some small glasses. Only when the jug is full and overflowing with water, can it be used to fill up the glasses. And moreover , if the number of glasses increases, the jug needs to be refilled so that it can continue to be useful in the whole process.Similarly, the love that we have inside us needs to be constantly refilled before we can give or (even receive) love from others. In actual terms,the refilling is the tricky part. (more…)