The Bechdel Test and Disney Films
There is a strong gender imbalance in Hollywood these days (and throughout the history of film) that has resulted in most studio films being very male-centric and featuring few (if any) female characters of substance. The Bechdel Test, originated by Alison Bechdel in her 1985 comic “The Rule” from “Dykes to Watch Out For”, is a litmus test for gauging the active presence of female characters in films and how well-rounded and complex those characters are.
Screenshot from Disney's Tangled, image copyright Disney
The Bechdel Test Rules:
1. There are at least two (named/significant) female characters who…
2. Talk to each other about…
3. Something other than a man
Despite the simplicity of the rules, the Bechdel test can inspire a lot of disagreement when discussing particular films, with frequent debates about whether two females count as “named” characters and whether their conversation(s) are significantly non male-centric. I just saw Bridesmaids this past week, and with a cast of six female characters who do nothing BUT talk to each other, I think that the film passes the test with flying colors, but other people might argue that all of the conversations in Bridesmaids were about the wedding and relationships – and by extension, men.
Disney animated films seem to be a mixed bag of movies that pass or fail the Bechdel test. On one hand, female characters feature prominently in Disney’s “Princess” movies (but they don’t always talk to other women), and on the other hand, Pixar’s films are full of complex and interesting characters, but none of Pixar’s films have female characters as the central protagonists.
Below is a chart of how Disney films rank on the Bechdel test, according to submitters from the Bechdel Test Movie List.
|
Alice in Wonderland The AristoCats Beauty and the Beast The Black Cauldron Bolt Brave (NEW!) A Bug’s Life Cars Cinderella The Emperor’s New Groove Hercules Home on the Range The Incredibles Lilo and Stitch Mulan One Hundred and One Dalmatians Peter Pan Pocahontas The Princess and the Frog The Rescuers Robin Hood Sleeping Beauty Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Tangled Toy Story 3 |
Aladdin |
Do you disagree with the “Pass/Fail” status of any of these films? Share your opinions here or post your comments directly to the Bechdel Test Movie List website.
It is really interesting how so few movies pass what should be a realitivly simple test. I mean some of them have fairly good reasons, like the Fox and the Hound because changing the main character genders would have badly changed the dynamics of their relationship which is the best feature of the film but some of them like a couple of extra minutes of dialogue and they would have passed.
I also love how some people try to argue their favorite movies through on a technicality. Although they do raise valid points.
Late to the party, but…
@James: “That movie was, from a feminist standpoint, utter garbage.”
How, exactly? (massive Brave spoilers ahead)
The “wilderness” scenes show that Merida can do anything she sets her mind to, even climbing a ridiculously tall mountain. She rightly questions the fairy-tale trope of the princess as some sort of prize for the prince to win. She points out that if she has to marry a prince, he damn well better get to know her as a person and show how they’re compatible in a relationship (arguably something young children aren’t reminded of nearly enough). She coordinates her brothers to help her sneak her mother out of the castle, then back in again. She breaks the curse she accidentally placed on her mother through a combination of masculine and feminine skills (riding, survival training, sewing), thus showing that neither is really bad. Even her annoyance with Elenor’s incessant “A princess must” rules at the beginning of the film seems to imply that it’s not being feminine that bothers her, only that “feminine, pretty princess” is the only thing her mother allows her to be. This is best shown through the dress Merida has to wear during the archery challenge–sure, it’s pretty, but like the role Elenor has for Merida, it’s so constricting that she doesn’t feel free to be herself.
Also, I fail to see how the main message of the movie–that parents and children should listen to each other more–is in any way counter to feminism. Sure it’s not a specifically feminist message, but it’s not anti-feminist.
What was wrong with Brave? I thought it was one of the most woman-empowering films Disney’s made.
[...] So Disney princesses are bad! Instead we should let girls watch all the other coming-of-age stories that feature female protagonists with a wide variety of personalities, about a third of whom are women of color, and which thanks to their variety of female villains and side characters almost always pass the Bechdel test.** [...]
My argument is with WallE. Granted, Eve or whatever the female robot’s name wasn’t developed very well, but neither was WallE.
The Bechdel test isn’t about a film or form of media being “good” or “bad” it’s about women being represented. Women are roughly 50% percent of the population and yet so little time is given to them in film in comparison to their male counterparts. This is covered by the first rule of the test. While the second rule of the test gauges the idea that women are shown capable of being autonomous of men. It’s a very simple way of making people aware of a problem in media.
This doesn’t mean that these movies are sexist or don’t like women, as many of these films do have strong and interesting female characters. Conversely, It’s also not a way to gauge whether a movie is feminist or not. It’s simply asking the question “are women being represented in media” It sets a very low bar and the fact that a lot of films, even films made by Disney and Pixar which are watched by a variety of children both of boys and girls, DO NOT PASS, reveals how needed the Bechdel test is.
Lastly, if you have to argue whether a movie passes or not based on a 2 second conversation in a 90 minute film, Give it a fail. Instead, try looking for a conversation that is 60 seconds or longer and see how many pass.
There seems to be a lot of dissent that can be summed up as “But I liked the movie. I don’t want it to fail.” The problem is, this test won’t tell you if a movie is good or bad. It won’t tell you if a movie is enlightened or misogynistic. All it will tell you is “look at the number of movies where women only care about men next to the number of movies where they care about something else.” Or, “look at the number of movies that are told through the point of view of men next to the number of movies that are told through the point of view of a woman.”
It’s only good for the statistics. The tallying up the numbers and realizing, “Hmmm, Hollywood thinks that because I have a penis, I won’t be willing to watch a story about a woman!” or “Hollywood thinks that because I don’t have a penis, the only thing that matters to me is finding/keeping someone that does!”
You can’t use this test to judge an individual movie, guys, you just can’t. That’s why the original comic, where the woman says “I won’t watch a movie that doesn’t pass this test” is so stupid. There are plenty of awesome movies that fail all counts of the Bechdel Test. And in a perfect world, WE WOULD STILL HAVE THOSE MOVIES. They just wouldn’t be ALL we had.
Certain movies show exactly why the Bechdel test is really just a litmus test. Wall-E, for example, contains so little dialogue it’s unsurprising there aren’t any that fulfill the requirements. UP! as well provides an example: there are really only 4 characters in UP that are capable of having significant conversations (I exclude the dogs). A maximum of three of them are on screen at any time and capable of having conversations with each other, meaning that this movie either fails Bechdel or Reverse-Bechdel.
It’s an interesting way to look at movies, for sure, but it’s really nothing more than a quick statement.
@Disney-blogger, “I haven’t seen Brave yet, but I was thrilled when Pixar announced its first feature with a lead female protagonist – and it only took them 14 films! Although I have nothing against “princess” movies (I love Tangled), I would like to see Pixar and Disney produce more female-driven films without defaulting to a feisty princess formula.”
I can tell you haven’t seen Brave yet. That movie was, from a feminist standpoint, utter garbage.
(Also the Pixar lead design team is all-male so I don’t really fault them for writing what they know. That’s like complaining that every novel in the Daughter of the Forest series has female-centric characters. It’s not even a sign of sexism in Pixar’s case, in this case it was a bunch of dudes who got together with some sweet ideas and made them movies.)
I can’t recall Mulan passing, actually- Mulan’s conversations with girls, at least before the sequel, amounts to “Marry a guy already” and “Your dad has to do something” which to me proves the test is rather stupid, if stories with a heroine can’t pass.
There is no reason that WALL-E should not be included, it’s a Disney/Pixar movie, and it contains dialogue. While it can be argued that robots have no gender, WALL-E and EVE fit into heteronormative romance tropes, and have masculine and feminine names. Also, “very little dialogue” doesn’t mean no dialogue. There are human women on the ship, and we only hear one speaking to a man.
Toy Story 3 passes (it’s a simple pass/fail test, and hardly any movies even squeak under the incredibly low pass bar); there is a conversation between Mrs. Potato Head (technically not a named character), Jessie and Barbie about Barbie being abandoned. There are also conversations between Molly/Andy’s Mom and Molly, Bonnie and her Mom, although the moms are unnamed characters.
As for Bridesmaids, I recall conversations about puppies and food, and I’m sure that there are other conversations not about men or weddings. In fact, it even DOESN’T pass the reverse-Bechdel test; none of the men have conversations with each other, and this is extremely rare.
Hard to say about The Little Mermaid. When Ariel talks to Ursula, it isn’t just about Prince Eric, it’s about becoming human, regardless of reason. It feels a little weird to put WALL-E on the list in the first place, considering there’s very little dialogue. The only character with a significant amount of dialogue was the ship captain, and most of the time he was either speaking to the ship’s autopilot or the passengers of the ship. All the other characters were robots who communicated with beeps, clicks, pre-programmed phrases, or one-word lines. And furthermore, most of the robots didn’t really have anything to indicate a gender. Wall-E and EVE had masculine and feminine voices, respectively, but most of the other robots didn’t have that. So, should WALL-E even qualify for consideration?
Hi everyone,
I’m excited to see what a great discussion this post has inspired!
I haven’t seen Brave yet, but I was thrilled when Pixar announced its first feature with a lead female protagonist – and it only took them 14 films! Although I have nothing against “princess” movies (I love Tangled), I would like to see Pixar and Disney produce more female-driven films without defaulting to a feisty princess formula.
The ratings of the above Disney/Pixar films are based on the consensus of commentors at the Bechdel Test Movie List (http://bechdeltest.com/). I haven’t personally analyzed some of the films, especially the older Disney films which are locked away in the Vault, but when a film’s pass/fail status is questionable (“Tarzan”/”The Lion King”, as pointed out by Mutestar and Fayers), I prefer to tip the scale to a FAIL rating.
99% of Hollywood films pass the Reverse Bechdel test without question (guys talk to guys about something other than women), and the few that are borderline Bechdel-approved and maybe have a couple of named females talking to each other, don’t deserve a free pass.
I’m not sure, but I think The Lion King passes. Nala’s mother is named, she’s called Sarafina, but I think she only is in the credits. Anyway, a brief conversation happens between Nala, Sarafina and Sarabi (Simba’s mother) during the bath scene, the conversation focuses on Nala wanting to go and play with Simba, and the two mothers deciding if the should let them. Nala also says one word to Sarabi, ‘please’, at the same time as Simba. Does that count as a conversation? Just google ‘bath scene lion king’ and decide for yourself.
I think Brave passes with flying colors. While it involves marriage, it’s basically like Toto in the Wizard of Oz: the marriage gets the plot moving, but otherwise has very bearing on the plot. In the very beginning Merida and her mother are playing together, fast forwarding to a talk about magic, how to behave Like A Lady and then plenty of conversations about “no mom that’s not how you catch fish/eat poison berries/walk like a bear” (though that may not count since the mom didn’t technically speak during them? ) And anyway, none of the conversations with the witch were about men.
Personally, I think it’s super optimistic.
I would really like it if the list could give at least one of the reasons why a movie passed. I’m wracking my brains but I just can’t remember where some girls talked to each other in Hercules. Or was it the Muses that are being counted? Because in the main plot, I just can’t remember a time at all…. not to say I don’t love the film, I just can’t remember. Same with the Emperor’s New Groove.
I know it’s new and this list might not be updated yet, but Brave should pass the test. While the Queen and Princess Merida argue over the issue that Merida needs to get married soon, they also talk about fate and how the other never listens to her.
I think if we have to debate weather the interaction was long enough to count such as in lady and the Tramp than it just shows how big of a problem Hollywood has with making female characters that have a serious importance to the story. When a film fails the test it means that it has less than two important female characters, when all the women can talk about is the men of the story instead of anything other than the men in the story, films that make it on technicalities have the same problem, because even films that unarguably pass still don’t usually have two females characters that have any importance to the plot or that it could be considered “pro feminist”.
Toy Story 3 passes? How so?
I pick on Pixar because I LOVE those films. And more importantly, my daughter loves them. It makes me really sad that she is given so few girls and women to identify with. The female characters tend to be well-rounded and feisty (none of that “be a pretty princess and a man will come love you” crap), but the stories are typically buddy stories about men. Buzz and Woody in the Toy Story movies; Mike and Sully in Monsters, Inc.; the cook and the rat in Ratatouille; the old man and the boy in Up . . .
For all their imagination, it never seems to occur to them that they could tell the story of a lonely old woman and a lonely young girl and how they bond.
Incredibles squeaks by–if it’s a Pass, it’s a D at best. Helen and Violet have a brief but significant mother-daughter talk, and Helen and Edna talk about supersuits for a few minutes before returning to the topic of . . . Helen’s husband. It’s typical Pixar: the female characters are feisty and interesting, but they are vastly outnumbered by the male characters, who are the meatiest parts.
Oh! Also, you’ve forgotten 101 Dalmatians. Cruella and Anita discuss the puppies iirc and I think Nanny and Anita talk about the dogs, or, barring that, the cows talk to each other about the puppies.
Possibly disagree with Lady and the Tramp. Peg talks to lady about her license (with Boris), before discussing Tramp. While part of the same scene, there’s a distinct change in conversation. It also has several “conversations” between Darling and Lady, just Lady can’t “converse” being, well, a dog. Debatably a discussion between Aunt Sarah and Darling too, though they usually talk about the baby. The baby, while male, certainly isn’t a man. Also discussions between women at the baby shower.
Atlantis – at the very beginning of the movie, Kida’s mother talks to her.
Tarzan – Terk talks to her mother. Also, while Turk and Kala talk about Tarzan, but he’s an infant.
It’s interesting though. In The Little Mermaid, I think that’s part of Ursula’s strategy – keeping the conversation on the man, despite all attempts to redirect it.