Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
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Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
"People who work in Hollywood are the ones who didn't quit." -- Lawrence Kasdan
Please visit my website and blog: www.lauridonahue.com.Tags: None
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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.
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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.
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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.-
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Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
Originally posted by Ronaldinho View PostI'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.
Wolf of Wall Street passes the test....
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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.
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Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
Originally posted by Dunelm View Post
Wolf of Wall Street passes the test....
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.
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Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
Originally posted by Manchester View PostAnd 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.
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Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
Originally posted by Ronaldinho View PostDoes 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.
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Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
Originally posted by Ronaldinho View PostDoes 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.
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Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
Originally posted by Craig Mazin View PostI 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.
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.
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Re: Movies that passed the Bechdel test made more money
Originally posted by Ronaldinho View PostAs an exercise, I'd be curious to see what people came up with as the most offensively sexist movie that passes it.
Which makes the Bechdel test, as Mike Tyson would say, ludacrisp.
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