The Bechdel Test
When Wall-E came out, I asked silmarian why the robot was gendered at all, and even if it had to be, why it couldn't be a girl. And he explained that they get taught in school that making a female character an object of laughter is dangerous, and way less funny than making the man bumbling. And I thought about it, and he's right. I am frequently offended by the way we choose to show women as funny/helpless/losers. So instead we end up with the Simpsons and Family Guy, and a hundred sitcoms where the woman is smarter and more competent than the man. And I want to apologize to my son.
BetaCandy wrote this excellent/sad piece on why so few movies, even now, pass the Bechdel test. (Two named female characters, talking to each other, about something other than a man.)
I think about it. I don't follow it. That is, I go to a lot of movies that fail the test, because I still want to see them. But -- Hancock? Fail. Hellboy 2? Epic fail. Wall-E? I haven't seen it yet.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith passed (why hadn't I seen that before? It's awesome!). House frequently passes. CSI, sometimes, CSI: Miami more often, because more of the team is female. Numbers, sometimes.
As for what I may yet see this summer, I am almost certain the Mummy 3 will fail (why should it be an exception?). Mamma Mia, I don't know if it will pass or not. It's a lot of women, but it looks like they may spend all their time talking about men. Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace... I'm not even sure there are female characters. I want to apologize to my daughter, who is stuck with useless princesses and the empty space where women should be.
Transformers passed, and for a big-explodey movie, was surprisingly feminist.
I feel like apologizing to my kids. "We thought it would get better."
BetaCandy wrote this excellent/sad piece on why so few movies, even now, pass the Bechdel test. (Two named female characters, talking to each other, about something other than a man.)
I think about it. I don't follow it. That is, I go to a lot of movies that fail the test, because I still want to see them. But -- Hancock? Fail. Hellboy 2? Epic fail. Wall-E? I haven't seen it yet.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith passed (why hadn't I seen that before? It's awesome!). House frequently passes. CSI, sometimes, CSI: Miami more often, because more of the team is female. Numbers, sometimes.
As for what I may yet see this summer, I am almost certain the Mummy 3 will fail (why should it be an exception?). Mamma Mia, I don't know if it will pass or not. It's a lot of women, but it looks like they may spend all their time talking about men. Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace... I'm not even sure there are female characters. I want to apologize to my daughter, who is stuck with useless princesses and the empty space where women should be.
Transformers passed, and for a big-explodey movie, was surprisingly feminist.
I feel like apologizing to my kids. "We thought it would get better."