Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

    So there.

    http://www.scriptmag.com/features/sc...eek-bitch-pack
    "People who work in Hollywood are the ones who didn't quit." -- Lawrence Kasdan

    Please visit my website and blog: www.lauridonahue.com.

  • #2
    Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

    I've got a sci-fi adventure script with an all-female cast. Can't even get the logline read...
    Just because it's true don't mean the execs are listening (or even reading the article)...

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

      And so, "Identity Thief" failed the Bechdel Test, which means... it failed the Bechdel Test.

      Whereas, "The Other Woman" has at least one scene in which two named female characters talk about something other than a man... They talk about Kate Upton's boobs. And so, that film passes the Bechdel Test.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

        great! go write one and your path to success is assured!!

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

          I've said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again:

          The Bechtel test is a great way to talk about movies and the ecosystem of Hollywood; it's a terrible way to talk about any one specific movie.

          "Gravity," after all, fails the Bechtel test. As an exercise, I'd be curious to see what people came up with as the most offensively sexist movie that passes it.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

            The Bechdel test bothers me because of its constraints. To pass the test it mandates:

            1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it.
            2. Who talk to each other.
            3. About something besides a man.

            All my scripts have female leads yet would fail because my characters live in a world dominated by men so at some point they're talking about men. For example:

            Future set thriller -- my female lead has to talk to the mother of her missing CI (teenage boy) only to find the kid has fallen under the influence of a renegade former male cop trained by my lead's father. Two women talking about two males -- one, a teen, the other, adult. Fail the test!

            Period piece western -- my female lead talks to the young woman who stepped in to stop the near-rape of my lead and later tells her 'heroine' about the things her aspiring rapist said to her which caused her shame. Two women talking about a male rapist. Fail the test!

            YA thriller -- a teen girl feeling guilty her blunder during a driving lesson her father was giving her led to his death in a hit and run. She's projecting a lot of her guilt as anger onto her mother. Mother and daughter sit down to hash this out and, of course their mutual feelings about the father are discussed. Two women talking about a dead man. Fail the test!

            Not to mention the earlier rom-coms I wrote all fail the test. If we look at where the Bechdel test originally came from -- a joke in a 1985 comic strip about lesbian life (Dykes To Watch Out For) -- you'll find it was poking fun at rom coms at the time.

            Yet somehow this has become a legitimate test any writer, male or female, must strive to meet or else be doomed as sexist.

            The Bechdel test sucks.
            Last edited by sc111; 04-28-2014, 10:47 AM.
            Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

              Originally posted by Ronaldinho View Post
              I've said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again:

              The Bechtel test is a great way to talk about movies and the ecosystem of Hollywood; it's a terrible way to talk about any one specific movie.

              "Gravity," after all, fails the Bechtel test. As an exercise, I'd be curious to see what people came up with as the most offensively sexist movie that passes it.
              Agree.

              Wolf of Wall Street passes the test....

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

                The Bechdel test comes from a comic strip. That's all the credibility it deserves. It means absolutely nothing in terms of female presence or gender representation in movies, as some of you have already pointed out with examples. I can't understand how some people don't see it.

                Although, in fact, I do. People always want easy answers to all complex questions. Bechdel test, Save the Cat beat sheets, Scriptshadow Secrets, etc.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

                  Originally posted by Dunelm View Post

                  Wolf of Wall Street passes the test....
                  Does it? I thought it did, but glanced at the script for it and missed it if it did.

                  I thought there was some incidental conversation between the two wives on the boat, but now I'm not sure if we actually hear them.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

                    Originally posted by Manchester View Post
                    And so, "Identity Thief" failed the Bechdel Test, which means... it failed the Bechdel Test.

                    Whereas, "The Other Woman" has at least one scene in which two named female characters talk about something other than a man... They talk about Kate Upton's boobs. And so, that film passes the Bechdel Test.
                    I don't know why they say it fails the test. Not that I was thinking about it in any way when writing, but Diana has a conversation with Franny and Jessie that has nothing to do with a man.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

                      Originally posted by Ronaldinho View Post
                      Does it? I thought it did, but glanced at the script for it and missed it if it did.

                      I thought there was some incidental conversation between the two wives on the boat, but now I'm not sure if we actually hear them.
                      Very technically. They're talking about Aunt Emma, and there's another incidental exchange after he crashes the car. I suppose you could make the argument that the conversation has to be substantive.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

                        Originally posted by Ronaldinho View Post
                        Does it? I thought it did, but glanced at the script for it and missed it if it did.

                        I thought there was some incidental conversation between the two wives on the boat, but now I'm not sure if we actually hear them.
                        So it's gotta be two name female characters who talk about something other than a man, and we have to hear them? So MOS doesn't count?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

                          Originally posted by Craig Mazin View Post
                          I don't know why they say it fails the test. Not that I was thinking about it in any way when writing, but Diana has a conversation with Franny and Jessie that has nothing to do with a man.
                          Well, well. While the test has its three fundamental elements, I think the scoring also has a "yeh, but" element. Like the way gymnastics used to be scored, in the days of the the infamous, "But the Russian judge..." And so, the Bechdel Test has its "rules", but the judges may also apply some personal aesthetic, and clearly, Craig, you failed.

                          And so it seems that, while it may well be "The Kids Are All Right", when it comes to the Bechdel Test, kids don't count. Those judges are a bunch of anti-small-fry bastards!

                          I wonder if Lethal Weapon would pass an African-American-character Bechdel Test - if you eliminate the conversations between Murtaugh/Danny Glover and his family? ('Cause, they're just family; and family clearly wasn't a part of the story.) IOW, does Murtaugh talk to any other adult African-American character (i.e., family excluded), and about anything other than a white guy?

                          Of course, one might think that Murtaugh and Diana being great characters - and novel when the films were released - is what should be important.

                          IMO, the Bechdel Test ain't bad as a concept - as a way to "regard" a film - but I don't know how it can be reasonably defended as an up/down proxy, or even simply a touchstone, for judging whether a film is a good film from a female-character standpoint.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

                            "Showgirls" must've gotten like a gold medal from the Bechdel Committee.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money

                              Originally posted by Ronaldinho View Post
                              As an exercise, I'd be curious to see what people came up with as the most offensively sexist movie that passes it.
                              It's definitely not the most offensively sexist movie (it's not even sexist, if we're thinking in terms of "offensive" though I'm sure it was offensive to some), but I don't think BOUND passes the Bechdel test.

                              Which makes the Bechdel test, as Mike Tyson would say, ludacrisp.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X