Journal: Bechdel Test

Journal: The Bechdel Test

By

Paul Adams

Whoa!

Whoa!

Calm down. This isn’t what you think. Either of you. No, I’m not going to shove some half-thought-out feminist rage down your throat, and no, I’m not going to go on a “mansplaining” rant about everything I’ve decided is wrong with feminism either. This is a simple and honest discussion of a commonly used trope that just so happens to often be used by proponents of feminism and what it really tells us about writing.

For those who don’t know, the Bechdel test was created in 1985 by Alison Bechdel and has since become a common test for gender bias in fiction. The test, in a nutshell, says that a work must feature at least two female characters, those characters must have names, and they must have a conversation not centered around men. Now, as a general rule, this test should never be seen as a definitive test for what is sexist, what is feminist, or otherwise. Hundreds of films and books don’t pass the test that are far more positive and progressive in their depiction of women than hundreds of films and books that do. The test is far too general and loose in its criteria to ever be considered a definitive test. What it does do, however, is shine a light on easy and common mistakes to make for a writer or creator.

To really understand this test, I looked at as many works as I could through the lens of both a Bechdel test and a reverse Bechdel test (basically the same thing but with guys), and I noticed a few specific trends. First and foremost, the sex of the protagonist is almost always a factor in whether or not the work passes either; specifically, if the protagonist is male, the work is less likely to pass the regular Bechdel test, but if the protagonist is female, the work is less likely to pass the reverse. However, if the work has multiple protagonists (of equal importance), maybe a duo or an ensemble cast, the work is almost always going to pass both. Secondly, no matter the gender of the protagonist, the longer the work runs, for several books, movies, episodes, etc. the more likely it will pass both tests.

These say a bit more than you think. Most importantly, they speak to the real power of a protagonist on a story. Our protagonist is our main anchor in the narrative. Everything we see and hear is filtered through them. Every supporting character and their interactions will be structured around their direct relationship to the protagonist. The more time we spend in this world, the more those supporting characters will be fleshed-out and their interactions won’t have to be directly linked to the protagonist, but if the work is only a single installment, those supporting characters will have a much smaller window of time to reach that level.

The Harry Potter series is an excellent example of this. If one applies the Bechdel test to the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone, it is negligible at best if it passes or not. At this point, we are just being introduced to the wizarding world and Hogwarts, and everything is being filtered through Harry’s eyes. The entire cast, including the female cast, exist primarily through their relationship to Harry. Petunia is Harry’s abusive aunt, Hermione is one of the friends Harry makes at school, and Professor McGonagall is one of his teachers. Other female characters inhabit this world, but these three are the most prominent. The most conversation had between any of the three is maybe a few passing comments during class between Hermione and McGonagall.

However, by the end of the series, a full six books later, the series has passed the Bechdel test maybe a thousand times over. Among our strong female cast are Hermione, McGonagall, and Petunia, alongside Molly and Ginny Weasley, Professors Sprout, Trelawney, and Madam Pomfrey, Luna Lovegood, Bellatrix Lestrange, Dolores Umbridge, Nymphadora Tonks, Fleur Delacour, Cho Chang, and so many others, all with a thousand different interests and drives, varying levels of morality and depth, and most of whom have had numerous conversations with each other on a number of different subjects. Conversations about men have occurred, obviously, the test says nothing about such conversations not happening at all (if it did, nothing would pass the regular or reverse tests). Considering half the cast is made up of hormonal teenagers, this is unavoidable. But we have also had conversations between Hermione and McGonagall on grades, McGonagall and Trelawney on their differing opinions of the Divination subject, McGonagall standing up to Umbridge on more than a few occasions, Molly and Tonks discussing Order of the Phoenix matters, Hermione and Luna arguing the merits of Luna’s crazy theories, and Ginny and Molly having regular mother-daughter conversations here and there. What made the difference was the time these seven books gave the readers to flesh out all the characters around Harry, something the first book never could have done.

The contrast I noticed between male and female protagonists and the results of their respective Bechdel tests is most noticeable in the action and romantic comedy genres, two genres I consider to be spear and distaff counterparts to each other. Both market themselves to one specific gender, both tend to feature a predominantly male or female protagonist respectively, and both pander to the basest stereotypical drives of their target gender. Both genres can be shallow, lazy, and cliché in both story and character at their worst and even most average moments, both tend to paint unflattering portraits of the opposite gender to their target audience, and both tend to be the worst offenders regarding the Bechdel or reverse Bechdel tests.

In an action movie, your protagonist is generally your Vin Deisel, Jason Statham, or Bruce Willis type: tough, witty, and occasionally versatile enough to use his brain as well as his brawn. All characters will be structured around him, be they his crew, the bad guys, his family, or the authorities presenting an obstacle in his path. The common female archetypes will be the sexy love interest, who will mainly talk to him. He may have a wife, daughter, mother, or sister who will drive his motivation in some way. There may be a Michelle Rodriguez type within the crew, or a sexy femme fatale among the bad guys. There can often be a tough female cop who has worked her way up through the ranks and won’t take crap from anyone and is the main authority getting in his way. Most of these characters are structured around the protagonist and his adrenaline-fueled adventure and most of their interactions will be with him. If he has more than one female family member, they will probably have a familial conversation, thus passing the test, and if there is more than one woman on his crew, chances are they will talk business at some point, but in general most of these archetypes are rarely in a position to interact much at all.

On the flipside, we have the Rom Com. Our female protagonist will often be a smart, driven businesswoman who has built a very successful life for herself and has everything she could ever want, now if only she could find her true love. You know, a Katherine Heigl, Lacey Chabert, or Michelle Monaghan type. The male cast will be predominantly made up of the dashing, generically handsome love interest with a square jaw and zero personality. He will probably have a friend, with whom he will discuss nothing but women. Our female lead may have a gay coworker, or a male boss who will probably sexually harass her at some point in the movie, and just like the action genre, she may have a family: a brother or a father and so on. If she has multiple men in her family, they will likely have a familial conversation and pass the reverse test. If her father and brother interact with the love interest at all, it will only be about the protagonist. There may also be a smarmy jerk of a rival love interest, whose interactions with his opponent will likewise only consist of discussion of our leading lady.

Now, both of these genres are no stranger to the opposite gender in the lead role, and I tend to find these archetypes still remain, only in gender-flipped form depending on the role, and the reverse rules still apply. However, when these genres both have dual protagonists of equal prominence in the plot, they will tend to pass both the regular and reverse tests, as both protagonists will have multiple conversations with the people of both genders in their lives.

An interesting case in this regard are the classic Disney princess films. In the case of Cinderella, the male cast can be summed up to primarily Jaq, Gus, the King, the Prince, and the Grand Duke. The latter three arguably already fail the reverse test, as they do not technically have names that the viewer knows of without having to resort to supplementary material, while Jaq and Gus just barely manage to eke out a passing grade. Even though about ninety percent of their conversations center around their beloved “Cinderelly,” they do manage to get in a few lines to each other about Lucifer the cat and how to be a mouse. Then, if you wanted to overlook the King and Grand Duke’s lack of names, they do have several conversations . . . about the prince . . . specifically finding a wife for the prince.

On the other hand, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, while having a female protagonist, does pass the reverse test with flying colors, given the titular seven dwarves, each with a name, all have conversations with each other about mining and stuff. However, if one were to condense the dwarves down into a single character, make it Snow White and the One Dwarf, suddenly the movie does not pass anymore, as the dwarf, the Huntsman, and the Prince would barely even interact with one another (also the Huntsman and Prince don’t have names given in the movie either). I find another common trend seems to be that despite the gender of your protagonist, if you have more than one of the opposite gender in a group that share a single attachment to said protagonist, like the dwarves in Snow White or the family members in the action and rom com genres, then the test, regular or reversed, will generally be passed.

Finally, we come to TV series, which almost unilaterally pass both versions of the test due to A) the longer amount of time allotted, giving them the advantage spoken of earlier, and B) more often than not having ensemble casts who will mix and match with each other episode by episode. Friends, for example, featured a six-person cast of three girls and three guys, none of whom had any particular prevalence over the others, so every episode, we watched our six protagonists interact with each other, guys and girls alike, and with other characters around them, and no one even needed to consider a test. Ensemble casts pose other problems, especially in formats outside of television, so don’t go away from this thinking that that’s going to just be a cure-all to every Bechdel-related problem.

On the whole, if you’re really concerned about passing the Bechdel test, consider the medium with which you are working. An ensemble cast works well for television, and has worked on other mediums in the past, though it comes with a lot of problems you are going to have to work around. Dual protagonists work best in film, but generally work fine in book form as well. A single protagonist generally proves to give your story the strongest focus of all these options, though it does carry with it the limitations covered above. If you want to write or create a long-running series, use that time wisely to flesh out all of your characters and the problem will work itself out. If you want to write a single, stand-alone story, realize that time is not on your side, and your safest bet is to write multiple characters of opposite gender to the protagonist making up a group with a shared relationship to the protagonist.

If you aren’t worried about passing the Bechdel test, or the reverse for that matter, that’s fine too. It is not, and never will be, an accurate reflection of what is or is not sexist, or what is or is not feminist. It primarily functions to highlight inconsistencies that result as a natural part of the limitations of writing or the imperfectness of the human condition. If nothing else, through the course of this essay, the Bechdel test has demonstrated just how powerful an effect your protagonists can have on everything else in your story. Use them wisely.

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