A guide to the Bechdel Test
By Ananyaa Mehta
In the past 3 years, the film industry has seen an increase in the number of female centric films like Wonder Women, Captain Marvel, Charlie's Angels etc. Even though the production of such films have increased, female representation in such industries is still low.
In order to make sure that female representation is equal to male representation, in 1985, a Cartoonist named Alison Bechdel, came up with the idea of the Bechdel Test.
The Bechdel Test is a way of evaluating whether a work of fiction portrays women in a way that is sexist or characterized by gender stereotyping women. The test has three parameters:
1) The work must feature two women ,
2) The women must talk to each other
3) Their conversation must concern something other than a man.
Alison Bechdel conveyed this message through a comic strip called ‘The Rule’.
Even though, the Bechdel Test helps us make sure that there is equal female and male representation, it is not a way of measuring feminism in a work of fiction. It is, infact, the most basic way to make sure that there is some female representation in male dominated industries such as bollywood, hollywood, tv series, books etc.
The Bechdel Test may sound simple, but over 51 % of english novels fail to pass this test and in 2014, out of the 9 movies nominated for an Oscar in Best Picture, only 4 passed this test. Films such as: The Lord of the Rings trilogy, A star is born and even some movies from the Harry Potter franchise do not pass this test. Bollywood films such as Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara, Yeh Jawani Hai Dewani, PK and Ramleela fail to pass this test.This often happens when the directors/ authors or crew do not have female representation.
Even though the Bechdel Test does help us make sure there is equal male and female representation, some works of fiction, while having a female lead, fail the test. However, it may not always be the fault of the autor/director.
On one hand, a movie would pass the Bechdel Test if it has two female characters talking about the weather. On the other hand, if the movie includes two females talking about being bullied by a man, it would fail the test as it fails to satisfy the third criteria. Even though in the conversation, the female characters are not being subjected to gender sterotypes or sexisim.
This leads us to believe that the Bechdel Test is not enough.
In 2013, when the Pacific Rim was released, it failed the Bechdel Test, so an alternate test called the Mako Mori test was devised. The test was inspired by a character from the movie and has 3 criteria
a) at least one female character;
b) who gets her own narrative arc;
c) that is not about supporting a man’s story.
This test is more comprehensive than the Bechdel Test. The Mako Mori test gives us a stronger and more accurate criteria. Unlike the Bechdel Test, the Mako Mori test can accurately test the female representation. The Bechdel Test could be passed when any two female characters have a conversation about something other than a man. To pass this test, a simple dialogue is needed and this dialogue can have no relation whatsoever to the storyline. The Mako Mori test, however, required the character to have her own narrative in the story. The Bechdel Test may not have much importance in this day and age but the Mako Mori test sure does.
The Bechdel test was developed in the 1980’s, when the gender inequality in works of fiction and the film industry was very high and is still used today, even if it has been modified ( Mako Mori Test).
The question arises, why do we need a test to make sure there are female characters who play a role in the work of fiction? If it weren't for these tests, would there be less works of fiction and films where a female character has an important role?
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