Bechdel Test: TV Shows

Movies are usually a one shot deal so sexism is easy to spot. TV shows are on-going and you can spot patterns. IF you have no idea what I’m talking about, go back and read the first entry about the Bechdel test.

I did a lot more than I was originally planning on but there are several off-air shows that are crazy popular on Netflix and/or in the nerd community. Some just merit a mention

Supernatural: Fails. Caveat, I’ve only seen the first 3 seasons however, most of the female characters don’t interact save a mother & daughter in season 2.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Passes. There’s a good mix between relationship stuff and saving the world.

Firefly: Passes. They talk about work, the ship, the planet they’re on, and a variety of things including relationship stuff.

Star Trek (TNG, DS9, Voyager): All pass. All named characters, regulars and one episode wonders, have something else to discuss. I skipped TOS because 1) it’s a different era and 2) I haven’t seen it.

Warehouse 13: Passes. With an excellent balance of male and female good guys and bad guys, this show gives its characters plenty to do and care about.

BSG: Passes. Relationships add to the post apocalyptic, save-the-human-race drama.

Dr Who: Passes, mostly. The number of named female characters who interact varies from episode to episode. It’s not consistent enough to pass with flying colors although River Song helps.

Torchwood: Passes, mostly. The female characters primarily talk about the job they’re doing however Gwen is it for season 3.

Game of Thrones: Passes. Women have little power outside their wiles but still find other things to discuss.

Bachelor(ette): Epic Fail. A woman left her 25% chance of winning to save her dream job and was shamed for it. Add that to all the cat fighting and you can see why this show should be a feminist drinking game.

Sex and the City: Epic Fail. The show admits it epically fails at this in one of the episodes.

NCIS: Pass. The current episodes could use a few more female characters but it has a good balance and the women on the show have stuff to do

Big Bang Theory: Passes. Most of the women on the show are attached to the men so relationships come up a lot but the girls have really come into their own in the last few seasons.

30 Rock: Passes. I like how work defines Lemon more than her relationships. She’s more interesting to watch for it.

How I Met Your Mother: Passes. Given the premise, relationships are the main gag but other stuff does come up.

The Walking Dead: Passes. I’ve only seen season one and while it’s light on the women, every character has better things to worry about.

Criminal Minds: Passes. I haven’t seen recent seasons and the show is male dominated but they did have enough female characters that they pass.

Gilmore Girls: Passes. While it’s on much anymore, women dominated the show and did manage to find other things to talk about.

CSI (all): Passes. I’ve seen enough of each incarnation to know that the show passes.

The Office: Passes especially since the premise of the show is about work.

The IT Crowd: Fails. There are no named female characters for Jen to talk to but that is also partly the point. IT is pretty male nerd dominated.

Downton Abbey: Passes. Despite the time period, the women do find other topics to discuss.

True Blood: Passes. Despite all the sex, the supernatural always gives characters something new to discuss.

Shows I have not seen: Mad Men, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, Friends, Seinfeld, Alias, Grey’s Anatomy, Person of Interest, Big Brother, Modern Family, New Girl, 2 Broke Girls, Nashville (probably passes), Eureka, Dexter, and Homeland (probably passes).

The easiest path to give characters something to talk about is found in either genre shows (like sci-fi or fantasy) or shows where the woman’s job is part of the premise. Sci-fi usually makes female characters stronger and more empowered. They have more agency and responsibility than you see on a show with a more ordinary premise. Gilmore Girls is a rare example of a show that is every day but the female characters are layered. They are as kick-ass as sci-fi chicks but it was a good start until the final season when they canned the good writers.

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Bechdel Test: Movies

I recently heard about a test done on movies and other media that can reveal a gender bias. From a comic in 1985, one of the characters says that she won’t watch a film unless it has ‘two women who talk to each other about something besides a man.’ More recent applications also require the women be named characters. For the purpose of this blog, I’m focusing on movies.

A work can pass and still contain sexist content such as the Twilight Saga. All of the movies pass because Bella talks to other named female characters about something other than Edward such as the Volturi, how vampires survive, a character’s backstory, etc. Despite that, there is nothing positive going on for women in this series.

Another example is that the female characters will talk about babies, weddings, or marriage rather than just men. They don’t talk about the world or what makes them tick outside of their husbands/families.

Other films may fail because of the setting and time for the characters. Most war movies or certain historical themes will be light on women in order to accurately portray setting. If it’s going to be something other than an alternate history or comedy, I’d rather it be realistic than politically correct. It just shows the world needs to pass the Bechdel test as well.

Let’s look at some popular movies on HBO and Netflix, Wikipedia’s list of the highest grossing movies, and a few personal favorites. I’m limiting it to movies I’ve seen. I’ll hit up TV shows another time.

Avengers: Fail. Black Widow and Agent Hill (Robyn from HIMYM) are good characters but they never speak to any other women for the whole movie. Also, most of you didn’t know Agent Hill’s name.

Hunger Games: Passes. Katniss speaks to Effie, Rue, and her sister. All of them are young but love is not the concern here.

Pitch Perfect: Passes. The biggest topic of conversation is a capella and most of the major characters are women.

Dark Knight Rises: Fails. Going off of memory, I recall no significant dialogue between Catwoman and any named female characters.

Dark Shadows: Passes. There are four women plus a daughter in the movie and they rarely, if ever, speak about men.

Avatar: Meh. I vaguely recall brief conversations between Neytiri and her mother and Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver’s characters. All are named characters but any interaction would be so nominal that it only technically counts.

Skyfall: Meh. There was some interaction with M and Moneypenny about work and 007. Nothing memorable other than [SPOILER ALERT] M being replaced by a man.

Lord of the Rings: Fails. I genuinely cannot recall any major interaction between any of the major female characters. This goes for the whole trilogy.

Pirates of the Caribbean (1-3): Fails. Who else does Keira Knightly talk to besides the male characters?

Inception: Fails. Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard almost never interact that there’s no other woman for Page to talk to.

Leap Year: Fails. I love Amy Adams but the only named female characters talked about love, relationships, and engagements. I don’t expect better from most rom-coms

What to Expect When You’re Expecting: Passes. There are plenty of named female characters but they mostly talk about having babies. They don’t talk about work, domestic expectations, money, etc. Again, it’s a rom-com, they usually don’t go too deep.

The Jane Austen Book Club: Pass. When I thought of a movie that passed, I immediately thought of this. The women talk about their relationships but they also talk about books and several other things. It’s one of my favorites.

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland: Pass. While Alice mostly discusses relationships with people at the start, the Wonderland queen have better things to discuss.

Push: Passes. The sci-fi flick has a good ratio of named female characters who spend almost no time talking about relationships.

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