WP2: The Bechdel Test and The Role of Women in Film
As a woman, more specifically, as an Asian-American woman, I never found myself feeling empowered or looking up to many female characters within film. The only female character I ever really idolized was the Disney princess Mulan, and a large part of my adoration for this character was solely based on the fact that she was the only Asian female character I knew. Because of this, I wanted to further investigate the disparities between male and female representation in movies, and understand WHY there is a lack of realistic female representation. I used my WP2 as a way to dive further into the Bechdel test, and to talk about how we can use this test to understand the role women play in film. Are they a romantic interest, are they providing context to a situation, or are they progressing the plot for a male character? I chose to discuss these topics through a three episode podcast series to investigate different aspects of the Bechdel test and to ultimately understand what the test means for female representation.
The first episode of the podcast was my introduction to the Bechdel test, and allowed me to explore the reasons why a film fails the test. I identify three different films from three different genres to look for the similarities that lead these films to fail the test. The Bechdel test is a useful way to see what movies meet the baseline for female representation, but I also discuss the limitations of the test and why it’s important to keep those limitations in mind.
In episodes two and three, I invited my long time friend, Billy Tsai, onto the podcast to offer some male perspective on my ideas, and to give me some insight on how he feels about female representation as a male. We talked about action movies and how movies within the genre are heavily catered towards men, what elements about the action genre tell us that a film is catered towards a male audience, and why this ultimately leads a film to fail the Bechdel test.
In episode three specifically, we talked about what action films pass the Bechdel test, and why they are ultimately an outlier to my previous theory that action movies are more likely to fail the test. On top of that, we also discussed what these films mean for female representation, and why this representation is so important. Ultimately, we concluded that action films, and films in general, are more likely to pass the Bechdel test when there is a female lead and at least one female screenwriter. We both agreed that we don’t NEED to have these elements in order to pass the Bechdel test, but they do influence the outcome of a film’s performance in the Bechdel test.
Works Cited
Dow, Isabella. “The Appeal of the Action Genre.” The Heights, 1 June 2020, www.bcheights.com/2017/04/26/the-appeal-of-the-action-genre/.
Moore, Emy. “Marvel Movies That Fail The Bechdel Test — Female Representation In The MCU.” Emy’s Space, 20 Oct. 2019, emys2017.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/marvel-movies-that-fail-the-bechdel-test-female-representation-in-the-mcu/.
Wühr, Peter, et al. “Tears or Fears? Comparing Gender Stereotypes about Movie Preferences to Actual Preferences.” Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers Media S.A., 24 Mar. 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5364821/.
