So I've had something stuck in my head the past few weeks . . .
It's this apparently little known rule by the name of Bechdel's Law or the Bechdel Test. While the law originally applies to movies, it can easily be made to apply to just about any form of popular entertainment. Basically, in order to pass the Bechdel Test, your [fill in the blank with a form of entertainment, i.e., movie, tv show, book, play, comic, etc.] must be able to claim that it does all three of the following:
1.) Have at least two women in it
2.) The women actually talk to each other
3.) Their discussion is on a topic other than a man
Now this may seem like a fairly simple and easy to fulfill list of requirements, but the problem is that apparently it isn't.
I can't think of a single recently popular movie or book that manages to fulfill all three requirements. I can think of some "classics" and not-all-that-popular (or at least not best selling, even if they might be popular in their subgenre) books that succeed in this, but none of them are what would be called best sellers. (TV shows need a category of their own, if they aren't to be judged one episode at a time, so I haven't really focused on them. I don't read enough comics to be able to judge if any of the popular ones manage to pass the test, though my instincts tell me that it's not all that bloody likely. And what's playing in the local theatres around here isn't likely to be all that representative of whatever plays happen to be recently penned and popular either nationwide or worldwide, so I don't feel as if it's safe to use them as a basis for an argument.)
Maybe I'm just missing something that's really obvious, but to be quite frank I'm starting to suspect that it isn't just items like the most recent SW EU novels that show a frightfully huge jump in sexist/misogynistic stereotypes, which in turn leads me to wonder just what the hell is going on in our culture and why things seem to be backsliding at an alarming rate instead of pushing forward. So. I'm inviting anybody who might care to comment to do so. Tell me I'm missing something or tell me I'm naive not to have seen this before, just tell me I'm not the only person who wonders about this kind of thing, okay?
1.) Have at least two women in it
2.) The women actually talk to each other
3.) Their discussion is on a topic other than a man
Now this may seem like a fairly simple and easy to fulfill list of requirements, but the problem is that apparently it isn't.
I can't think of a single recently popular movie or book that manages to fulfill all three requirements. I can think of some "classics" and not-all-that-popular (or at least not best selling, even if they might be popular in their subgenre) books that succeed in this, but none of them are what would be called best sellers. (TV shows need a category of their own, if they aren't to be judged one episode at a time, so I haven't really focused on them. I don't read enough comics to be able to judge if any of the popular ones manage to pass the test, though my instincts tell me that it's not all that bloody likely. And what's playing in the local theatres around here isn't likely to be all that representative of whatever plays happen to be recently penned and popular either nationwide or worldwide, so I don't feel as if it's safe to use them as a basis for an argument.)
Maybe I'm just missing something that's really obvious, but to be quite frank I'm starting to suspect that it isn't just items like the most recent SW EU novels that show a frightfully huge jump in sexist/misogynistic stereotypes, which in turn leads me to wonder just what the hell is going on in our culture and why things seem to be backsliding at an alarming rate instead of pushing forward. So. I'm inviting anybody who might care to comment to do so. Tell me I'm missing something or tell me I'm naive not to have seen this before, just tell me I'm not the only person who wonders about this kind of thing, okay?