By: Gigi Shannon, Undergraduate Intern
The Bechdel Test has been used as a measurement of women’s representation in media for almost forty years after its inception as a bit in Allison Bechdel’s comic strip, “The Rule”. The requirements to pass the test are simple (after all, it did begin as a joke). To pass the test, a film must:
(1) have at least two named women in it
(2) who talk to each other
(3) about something besides a man
This seems basic, but shockingly out of sixty-two films that were released in 2021, only forty-one films passed the test.
One of the films to miss the mark was director David Lowry’s The Green Knight, a film adaptation of the Arthurian Legend Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The film doesn’t even pass the first requirement as there are only three named characters in the film and only one of them is a woman. This may have been an artistic choice; possibly to maintain the mythical tone of the film to remind the viewer it’s based on a legend. However, this decision to go without naming most of the characters caused the film to fail the very first requirement to have at least two named women. The Bechdel Test is one that is so simple that it seems that filmmakers generally overlook it, in addition to viewers. It’s not necessarily something one thinks about when watching a film because it seems so elementary. Even I, someone very aware of the Bechdel Test, appreciate a lot of films that don’t pass it, including The Green Knight. I would argue that the Bechdel Test isn’t necessarily useful for critiquing a specific film, but rather a good measure of representation in Hollywood in general. Over time, looking at how many films pass the test in a year can give a general snapshot of how well women are being represented in the media. The test also prompts one to wonder why these films aren’t passing in the first place.
If you’re interested in checking to see if your favorite movie passes the test, you can use this website database to look it up: https://bechdeltest.com.
Interested in sharing your own "Thought Of The Day" or TOTD? Email us at wss@msu.edu.
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