Bechdel Test

Allison Bechdel

(b. 1960)

bechdeltest.com states that: "The Bechdel Test, or Bechdel-Wallace Test is a simple test which names the following three criteria: (1) it has to include at least two women, who (2) must talk to each other abut (3) something besides a man."

Background: 

The test was first seen in the 1985 comic, D*kes To Watch Out For, in the strip, The Rule, made by Allison Bechdel. 

Bechdel credits her inspiration to be her friend Liz Wallace, who in turn was inspired by Virginia Woolf, specifically an excerpt from her 1929 essay "A Room Of Ones Own"; "And I tried to remember any case in the course of my reading where two women are represented as friends."

The test however, should not be used as a representation of feminist media, rather the inclusion and frequency of women within narratives.  

the original comic, "The Rule"

In modern media: 

The Bechdel Test is now used in mainstream media, in film as well as TV, books, and video games. 

Although more and more films pass the test every year, many only do when women talk about marriage or babies. 

There is a higher tendency to pass the test in genres such as fantasy and science fiction, credited to be due to an avoidance of traditional gender stereotypes. 

Industry and finance: 

Studies have been linked to the passing of the test, and a film's financial success. 

In 2013, Vocativ found that the films of that year passing the test earned $4.22 billion and the failed earned $2.66 billion in the US. 

A FiveThirtyEight study with films released from 1990 to 2013 found that the films that passed the test had a 37 percent higher return on investment in the US.

The Creative Artists Agency and Shift7 analysed data from the top-grossing films of 2014 to 2017 in the US. Female-led films and those passing the test financially outperformed others. Since 2012, films which grossed over $1bn, all passed the test.

Inspiration for my film: As the film is targeted towards teenage girls, and has a mostly female cast, I think it is important to make sure it passes the test in the opening. In the locker scene, there are (1) two female characters that are named (Mandy and Laurie), that (2) talk to each other about (3) something other than a man (Marion's disappearance and their weekends).