The Bechdel Test

(WGST 304 Post #3)

Dykes to Watch Out For, 1985

"The Bechdel Test" is a criteria for movies based on three rules, as the comic states: 1) must have at least two women, 2) who talk to each other, 3) about something OTHER than a man. So far in 2012, there are only 84 movies that meet these standards, compared to 2011 with 115 movies. It's crazy to think that our movies are so narrowly focused. We read about "The Gaze" as defined by Laura Mulvey and how media is phallocentric. This test furthers that assumption, when hundreds of movies come out in a year and in only 84 of them are women talking about something other than men. It raises concerns about the placement of value in movies; being so heavily man-centric. There are many other things women think about and are concerned with, yet so many movies over simplify that though process into "all women think about are men and how to get them". This isn't a feminist issue. When you limit discussion topics to just men, you're missing out on the other 50% of the topics and experiences in the world. This just generates crappy films, crappy art; just crappy visual representation in general.