What is the Bechdel
test?
The Bechdel test has been around for some time, but I wasn't
aware of it until I saw this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLF6sAAMb4s.
When I did some additional research I came across a few sites that discuss the
test.
- http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheBechdelTest
- http://bechdeltest.com/
- http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-dollar-and-cents-case-against-hollywoods-exclusion-of-women/
- http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-bechdel-test-checking-our-work/
The test is limited to the question of if women are in the
movie, and does not address how well women are portrayed. There are three
questions to answer.
1. Does the movie
have at least two named women in it?
"The
Barrier" has a total of 18 characters in. Of these 8 are women. Five
of the women characters are named and speak during the movie. "The
Barrier" therefore does have a positive answer to the first question.
There are six named male characters, so the gender balance
is not too far off reality. There is one women character in the movie who is
mentioned by name, but she does not appear.
2. Do Women in the
movie talk to each other?
There are three times when a women character in "The Barrier" talks to another
women character. The longest conversation is between Ling Pang and Meera
Sharma. There are no other characters in that scene.
A short exchange occurs between Mayor Taylor and Councillor
Stewart. This happens in a larger scene where other characters, all male,
participate in the discussion.
The third conversation might be excluded because we don't
hear what the characters say. In the open house scene, Ling Pang talks to Zelda
Zimmerman, but that happens in the background while Arthur Macdonald talks to
George.
3. Do Women in the
movie talk about something besides a man?
The conversation between Ling Pang and Meera Sharma covers a
range of topics. The main topic is the technical issues with the barrier. They
also talk about Ling's career prospects and issues related to Arthur Macdonald
and Brandon Baker. The discussion of the barrier does not involve men at all.
Men are mentioned in the discussion of Ling's career prospects, but they are not
the main focus. The talk about Arthur and Brandon is of course about men,
albeit Ling and Meera focus on office work issues.
The exchange between Mayor Taylor and Councillor Stewart is
about the Glencoe development and if they should listen to what Arthur has to
say. Although they do talk about Arthur, the issue they talk about is the
development and Arthur's analysis. They do not really talk about Arthur.
Since we can't hear what Ling Pang and Zelda Zimmerman talk
about, we can't know for sure if they talk about men. However, given the
context, it seems most likely that they would talk about Ling's project, a
traffic interchange. They do look at Arthur and George when they argue, so they
might talk about that.
So, does "The
Barrier" pass the Bechdel test?
This is not an easy question to answer. The answer to the
first two questions is clearly yes. There are more than two named women and
women do talk to each other.
The third question is less clear. It depends on how strictly
you interpret what is meant by not talking about a man. In all of the
conversations the women do talk about men, but they also talk about other
things. I'm inclined to be generous and say that "The Barrier" does pass the Bechdel test.
Since there is a element of subjectivity to this question,
and I am a little biased in favour of my movies, I can understand why someone
else might conclude that "The
Barrier" does not pass the test. I would like to hear if anyone
disagrees with my assessment.
Does this make "The
Barrier" a feminist friendly movie? I doubt that the results of this
test would allow me to say so. The women characters do play a significant role
in the story and some of them do come across as strong and independent. Again,
I don't think that allows me to claim it is a feminist friendly movie.
This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog
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