For the last two decades, the Bechdel Test has caused a great deal of discussion amongst feminists and film critics alike. Originating from Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For comics in 1985, the test is easy to use and has been applied to nearly all mainstream films and, somewhat surprisingly, a number of Dr. Who episodes.
To pass the test, the film or episode has to have:
1. At least two (named) women
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something other than a man
It’s a pretty low bar to set, yet most films released today will not pass it.
“The test has been an effective consciousness-raising tool, alerting movie-goers and the general public to the under-representation and misrepresentation of female characters.” Says Dr Martha Lauzen, Executive Director of the Centre for Study of Women in Television and Film. “It is very simple to use and that, I think, is why it has gained such popularity.”
To an extent the results of the test does reflect an ever prevalent gender inequality in the production, writing and casting of films. A the latest Celluloid Ceiling study completed by Dr Lauzen showed that, in the top 250 hundred grossing films in 2014, only 7% of the directors and 11% of the writers were women.
“My research has found again and again that films with at least one woman writer or director feature higher percentages of female characters on screen” Dr Lauzen adds.
Numerous studies have demonstrated gender inequality in the film industry, both in the making of the film and how the public treat male and female cast members. More recently, Amy Poehler’s ‘Ask Her More’ campaign has highlighted an uncomfortable amount of sexism in the questions women are asked on the red carpet.
We’ve got the facts, and we’ve got over one hundred years of anecdotal evidence of female actors, writers and directors being marginalised. So is the Bechdel test now irrelevant?
“It was never intended to be an actual measure of the quality of a film's portrayals of women.” Says Dr Lauzen. “There are films that provide relatively good portrayals of female characters that do not pass the test, and films that provide relatively poor portrayals of females that do pass the test. Thus, any actual application of the test is flawed. The test is remarkably imprecise as a measure.”
As an alternative to the three original Bechdel questions, I asked her if there was perhaps a more effective way of analysing film for genuine gender equality. Here is what she came up with:
1. Are the female characters central to the story?
2. Do the female characters have agency?
3. Are the female characters multi-dimensional?
“While these questions lack the simplicity of the Bechdel test, they would yield more accurate and complete assessments of the quality of film portrayals.” She told me. “The first question asks about the centrality of females to the story. Are they major characters who are integral to the action of the story?”
“The second question is about agency. Do they have the ability to act and influence not only their own outcome but the outcomes of others? The third question asks whether female characters are portrayed in multidimensional ways. Are they defined by a single role or do they inhabit multiple roles interacting with other characters in a variety of settings? Generally speaking, characters who interact with a number of individuals in many settings tend to be more fully drawn.”
Dr Lauzen is not the only person to speak up about the failings of the Bechdel Test. Media critic and founder of Feminist Frequency Anita Sarkeesian used the test back in 2012 on Oscar nominated films. Unsurprisingly, most of the films failed the test. But Sarkeesian finds another flaw in the current test model.
“Women aren’t the only ones marginalised in Hollywood movies” Anita says in her video, The Oscars and the Bechdel Test.
This is where the figures get really depressing. At the 2015 Oscars, only 6% of the nominees were non-white, and, for the first time since 1998, all twenty of the acting nominees (both male and female) were white. In the whole history of the Oscars, no ethnic minorities have ever won the trophy for Best Director.
The Bechdel test is important in identifying patterns of inequality within the film industry, but as a way of tackling it, it does little more than raise awareness in a fairly two-dimensional way.
“The grassroots dialogue about this issue has grown significantly in recent years.” Says Dr Lauzen. “The discussion is much more prevalent now, appearing in the trades, the popular press, on-line, and in social media. Diversity is now a part of our cultural zeitgeist. However, solving the problem will require the leaders in the mainstream film industry to acknowledge the depth and breadth of the problem, and to work together on large-scale solutions to solve the problem.”
The discussion on inequalities, from all marginalised groups, begins with the questions raised by techniques like the Bechdel Test. But the conversation has to move on, it has to change and become something much more challenging.
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