The Bechdel Test

Bechdel test, a name foreign to many not in film enthusiast or feminist circles. The test was actually developed in 1985, in a comic strip called ‘Dykes To Watch Out For’ by Alison Bechdel. In that strip titled ‘The Rule’, there were two women who decided that they will watch a movie where there will be at least two females who will talk about something other than men. No movie met their requirements so they came back home.

Atleast in my opinion as a woman it gets boring seeing all the men walking around, while the women are unseen, unheard. Nobody discusses them, nor do they ever occur in scene that doesn’t discusses the motive or the motivation of the hero. This test sniffs out all the one-dimensional women characters that exist as the feminine voice to the general male dialogue.

But again it is not the most effective or the most feminist of takes. As this excludes many crowd pleasers. Even when films like frozen do pass the bechadel test it ignores many values of the existing stereotypes regarding females.

This demonstrates the test does not gauge the aestheticness or the message of gender equality inside a film, but instead speaks to a shallow proportion of the estimation of a film. The measures used to check sex balance with the Bechdel Test are too two-dimensional to precisely quantify the message of female strengthening in films.

Women's liberation, similar to motion pictures, is nuanced, and that is the thing that the Bechdel Test needs.

But to tip the scale lets see what films do pass the test.

1. Hunger games

Like the name suggest love was not the most discussed topics in the books or the films. Katniss always gives way to women existing without depending on the males of the fim.

2. Bend it like bekham

If you haven’t watched the movie, you are in for a ride. The movie does surround around love, but it is passion for football and not a guy.

There are many other brilliant films but many film pass it just by sheer chance. So the test is the most reliable in terms of sniffing for cinematic brilliance. But it does give us gems like wonder women, film carrying DC universe on its shoulder.

An interesting development comes in the form of Pride and Prejudice, when we realise it fails reverse Bechadel test. There is not a single conversation set by Jane Austen surrounding men, discussing women. The women are at the centre and we see the narration through their eyes. The universe is set by them, the men are always following their leads.

But we must not forget the real reasoning behind the comic strip. It was the lack of lesbian representation in the films.The real motive behind the theory failed to grasp to general populous even when the idea became really popular.