A question... And some more banners
A couple of posts by people on my f-list, (whose names I won't mention because this is in no way a comment on what they said), have again got me pondering something I've been wondering for a while
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Good! That was my intention.
...a tool to aid analysis rather than any real analysis in and of itself...
What I've been pondering is that, like a lot of these things, it's used as so much more than that -- as some sort of 'standard'. I noticed the other day that even AO3 has a 'Passes the Bechdel test' tag!
And I have so many objections to that, I can't even begin to pin them all down. Setting aside the fact that there's a large percentage of the female population who would consider failing the Bechdel test a recommendation (chick lit, chick flicks) and, though I wouldn't want to be one, it's their choice...
My main ... gripe, I suppose the word is, is that restricting a female character's behaviour to behaviours that 'they' deem 'non-sexist' is still restricting a (female) character's behaviour (as well as the writer's creativity, and downgrading the importance of 'the story').
What actually sparked the post (which was meant to be a sort of 'Does the barber shave himself' question) was another post about Steven Moffat's being a dirty sexist (I think because River Song, having just regenerated, said, with all her normal exuberance, that she needed a mirror to see her new body).
The scene reminded me strongly of David Tennant's gleeful discovery that he had 'big hair' (which was funny because Christopher Ecclestone had had a shaven head), and I would bet the farm that that was Moffat's intention. It was very much in keeping with River Song's character, and with her status as 'a bit of a Time Lord'.
...making your villain a woman so that your detectives could pass the Bechdel test would be sexist or not depending on, you know, whether your story was sexist or not.
You know that, and I know that, but the people who allocate points for these things...
Though, actually, I was thinking more about the explosions of wank that can occur when a woman is shown in a 'non-positive' role.
If I really wanted my women to pass the Bechdel test I would make them lesbians and have them discuss getting the female hero into bed, purely to validate her status as hero :-)
ETA Thanks, btw :-)
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If I really wanted my women to pass the Bechdel test I would make them lesbians and have them discuss getting the female hero into bed, purely to validate her status as hero :-)
I tend to find it incredibly easy to pass the Bechdel test - you just need two women/female characters and let them talk about themselves. Everyone likes talking about themselves!
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