Everything's coming up Bechdel

I've written about The Bechdel Test before, but suddenly it seems to be everywhere, so it's a good time for a revisit.

( A refresher on The Bechdel Test )

The purpose of The Bechdel Test isn't to determine whether any one movie is good or bad (plenty of amazing films fail, and I'm sure we can all think of terrible films that pass), or even whether any one movie is particularly feminist. In fact, in its current formation, it usually isn't about any one movie at all; it's about looking at larger patterns in Hollywood. The sheer number of movies that fail such a simple test is telling. For example, in a recent column, John Scalzi subjected the top science fiction movies of 2005 through 2009 to the test, with depressingly predictable results: out of 14 movies, 10 failed and 4 passed, and three of the latter were only "technical passes" because the qualifying conversation was not particularly substantial. (His follow-up column is also worth reading, although beware Inception spoilers.) This analysis, and its result, was not surprising. What was surprising was the next place I saw The Bechdel Test referenced in the media: Entertainment Weekly.

( This got very long, so the rest is behind a cut. )

I could go on, but this post is already long, and I've been working on it all night, so I will leave it here, and throw it out to the floor with one last thought. The strip that introduced The Bechdel Test to the world was published in 1985. It's kind of amazing that such a simple test, created 25 years ago, can still be so relevant and useful today. And kind of depressing. Still, I'm glad for this recent flurry of attention around it; maybe people will take some notice.