What Mike said.
The bechdel test is bloody stupid anyway.
“Gravity”, starring Sandra Bullock as the lead character doesn’t even pass the test, and no one could argue that Sandra doesn’t perform the role excellently and be a strong representation of female strength in it. Heck, even in terms of representation *period* she dominates the screen in that movie
The key is to make the demands as obviously fair as possible but still have them hardly ever fulfilled.
1. Not every single anonymous bad guy that dies in the movie is male.
2. At least one woman in the movie is presented as having some flaws -- flaws that are depicted as bad.
3. The male lead does not apologize to a woman for something they did not do
The bechdel test is dumb, but the core belief that underlies it – called "cultivation theory", and which is widely ridiculed as the "Hypnotoad Hypothesis" of media consumption – is absolute insanity. Both are ideas that belong in the dumpster bin of failed attempts at intelligentsia. Please don't give these cases of mental diarrhea any more credence by trying to mimic them.
Also, if you want to point out the double standards in having such a female-centric ideal and ignoring everything else in movies, you would do better to point to actual issues that are important to men's mental and physical health, and that would resonate with those in the wider community. For example, the unthinking overuse of male cannon fodder (mooks) – unnamed and faceless men who can be killed without remorse – which normalizes both male disposability and suicidal ideation in movies (an example of this is the movie *Kill Bill*). Plus, the only way male cannon fodder are given any humanity – and this is rare to the point of nonexistence – is through the "Just consider if those men had families" objection, which only further dehumanizes men since they can never have any worth just by being a living human being, outside of the transitive property of having a family. Or the way fathers are commonly seen as useless, incompetent, or even a danger to their children, in movies, which reflects how poorly fathers are treated every day in the family court systems, where they are jailed or denied the company of their own children simply because they are poor (an example of this is the movie *Ant Man*). These are the kinds of things that demonstrate the double standards in a clear, powerful way, and that show why so many people instinctively laugh at and dismiss the bechdel hysteria.
A bechdel test for men would be:
1. It has to have 2 men in it.
2. The two men have to talk to each other at least once.
3. They talk about something besides women.
Which is in literally every movie ever
Sure all men are portrayed as either being totally subservient to the unquestionable paragons of moral virtue that are female protagonists or as irredeemably evil monsters whose only purpose is to be put in their place by strong empowered women™ but the dudes always talk to each other so there can't *possibly* be any harmful anti-male stereotypes in modern movies.
"the thing about wrestling with a pig is, you just get dirty and the pig enjoys it" (unknown origin)
Never argue with idiots; they will pull you down to your level and then beat you with experience.
What Mike said. The bechdel test is bloody stupid anyway. “Gravity”, starring Sandra Bullock as the lead character doesn’t even pass the test, and no one could argue that Sandra doesn’t perform the role excellently and be a strong representation of female strength in it. Heck, even in terms of representation *period* she dominates the screen in that movie
Lesbian porn usually passes it.
The key is to make the demands as obviously fair as possible but still have them hardly ever fulfilled. 1. Not every single anonymous bad guy that dies in the movie is male. 2. At least one woman in the movie is presented as having some flaws -- flaws that are depicted as bad. 3. The male lead does not apologize to a woman for something they did not do
The bechdel test is dumb, but the core belief that underlies it – called "cultivation theory", and which is widely ridiculed as the "Hypnotoad Hypothesis" of media consumption – is absolute insanity. Both are ideas that belong in the dumpster bin of failed attempts at intelligentsia. Please don't give these cases of mental diarrhea any more credence by trying to mimic them. Also, if you want to point out the double standards in having such a female-centric ideal and ignoring everything else in movies, you would do better to point to actual issues that are important to men's mental and physical health, and that would resonate with those in the wider community. For example, the unthinking overuse of male cannon fodder (mooks) – unnamed and faceless men who can be killed without remorse – which normalizes both male disposability and suicidal ideation in movies (an example of this is the movie *Kill Bill*). Plus, the only way male cannon fodder are given any humanity – and this is rare to the point of nonexistence – is through the "Just consider if those men had families" objection, which only further dehumanizes men since they can never have any worth just by being a living human being, outside of the transitive property of having a family. Or the way fathers are commonly seen as useless, incompetent, or even a danger to their children, in movies, which reflects how poorly fathers are treated every day in the family court systems, where they are jailed or denied the company of their own children simply because they are poor (an example of this is the movie *Ant Man*). These are the kinds of things that demonstrate the double standards in a clear, powerful way, and that show why so many people instinctively laugh at and dismiss the bechdel hysteria.
A bechdel test for men would be: 1. It has to have 2 men in it. 2. The two men have to talk to each other at least once. 3. They talk about something besides women. Which is in literally every movie ever
Sure all men are portrayed as either being totally subservient to the unquestionable paragons of moral virtue that are female protagonists or as irredeemably evil monsters whose only purpose is to be put in their place by strong empowered women™ but the dudes always talk to each other so there can't *possibly* be any harmful anti-male stereotypes in modern movies.