Bechdel Test: 8 Movies That Pass the Bechdel Test

The Bechdel–Wallace Test (sometimes called the Bechdel Test or ​​Mo Movie Measure) measures representation of women in film, television, books, video games, and other forms of storytelling to draw attention to tropes that reinforce gender inequality in media representation. A story must feature two women characters who have a conversation about something other than a man to pass the Bechdel–Wallace Test. User-edited databases suggest that about half of all Hollywood movies pass this test.

The Bechdel–Wallace Test is not necessarily an indicator of the quality of representation of women in a single piece of media. Rather, it is a broad indicator of the active presence of women in film, books, TV shows, and other media as a whole, serving as one quantifiable metric for gender equality in media representation.

The Bechdel–Wallace Test has inspired many new tests for other forms of representation. Other tests include the DuVernay Test (used to measure representation for people of color) and the Vito Russo Test (used to measure representation for people who are LGBTQ+). Critics use the Mako Mori Test (inspired by Pacific Rim) or “sexy lamp test” to measure women character storylines in fiction.

The original Bechdel–Wallace Test has three major metrics:

1. 1. Number of characters: The work of fiction must have at least two women characters.
2. 2. Action: The two women characters must have a conversation with each other.
3. 3. Conversation topic: The conversation must be about something other than a man.

Sometimes the test calls for additional criteria, such as requiring that the two women characters have names, that their conversation lasts for at least sixty seconds, or that they are the story’s main characters.

US cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the namesake of the Bechdel–Wallace Test, cites two inspirations for the idea: her karate partner and friend Liz Wallace and the writer Virginia Woolf. Bechdel crystallized the idea in the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. In a strip titled “The Rule,” two women walk past the movies discussing the criteria of the test.

Born in Pennsylvania and based in Vermont, Alison Bechdel is also known for her other graphic novels and comic books, including the bestsellers The Secret to Superhuman Strength, Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama, and her graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, which Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori adapted into a Broadway musical that won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Musical. She has had cartoons published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Guardian. In 2014, the MacArthur Foundation awarded Bechdel a MacArthur Grant.

Here are eight Hollywood movies that pass the Bechdel–Wallace Test:

1. 1. Aliens (1986): In Bechdel’s original comic strip, the characters mention the movie Alien passing the test. While viewers sometimes disagree about whether the original Alien features enough conversation between the women characters to pass the test, the 1986 sequel, Aliens, features a deep bond between the main character and a young girl, who discuss many topics.
2. 2. Spirited Away (2000): An animated film from Studio Ghibli, Spirited Away tells the story of a young girl who loses her parents to a spirit-world curse and must make her way through a series of obstacles to save them. She encounters a range of women and men characters on her journey and develops rich bonds with nearly all of them.
3. 3. Frozen (2013): Disney’s Frozen has two women leads, Elsa and Anna, who are sisters in a faraway kingdom. Though they spend most of the film’s run time separated, they have many rich conversations on various topics, covering their relationship, their kingdom, the gravity of the incoming winter, and their family.
4. 4. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): The latest installment in the Mad Max franchise, this box office blockbuster features an impressively large cast of strong women leads who regularly talk about freedom, home, hope, and strength.
5. 5. Hidden Figures (2016): Hidden Figures tells the true story of three women who share a strong commitment to making NASA’s Project Mercury a success. They discuss everything from aerospace engineering to complex math, fighting their way through sexism and racism to make their dreams a reality.
6. 6. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017): While the original Star Wars films generally don’t pass the Bechdel–Wallace Test, the new additions to the series have a wealth of strong woman characters who discuss everything from battle tactics to the Force.
7. 7. Black Panther (2018): Several of the Avengers films don’t pass the Bechdel–Wallace Test, but Black Panther, one of the highest-grossing domestic hits of all time, features several strong women characters with rich and varied relationships to one another, teasing each other and expressing care and concern.
8. 8. Parasite (2019): Oscar-winner Parasite centers on a family who slowly tries to take over the lives of their wealthy employers. The film features several women characters who argue and disagree with one another as they grapple with the deceptions they weave.
   

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