Comments on: Women Talking To Women About Men

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 22:38:39 +0000

Agreed, kudos for the Bechdel reference. What about romantic comedies in which women squabble over designer shoes and call each other bitches? I suppose those pass the test, although the thought surely makes Bechdel sick.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:47:20 +0000

Another weird thing is what about movies with all manner of transvestite. Kudos for talking about Bechdel reference.

By: Tom Francis

Tom Francis — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 22:26:47 +0000

In reply to Christopher. Oh man, I think female Tyler would count, but the main character wouldn't because she doesn't have a name of her own.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:30:49 +0000

In reply to Tom Francis. Yeah, I'm not sure if imaginary characters count or not! I mean, Female Tyler would technically be a female character even if she was imaginary. I guess? And even if she's imaginary, she's at least being thought up by Female Narrator. I guess that might have to be chalked up as a "dubious".

By: Tom Francis

Tom Francis — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:46:36 +0000

The ones that depress me when I apply this test are the 2/3 films. If your film just doesn’t happen to have any women in it, that’s fine. If they don’t happen to talk to each other, fair enough. But when they do talk, and it’s exclusively about the male characters, your plot actually called for women and you wrote them as male accessories.

I’ve been thinking lately: my game has characters in it. Am I going to pass the Bechdel test? I won’t mind if I don’t, so long as I don’t get 2/3.

If both the lead roles in Fight Club had been women, would it have got a weird 2/3 where two female characters talk to each other about something other than women, without actually having two female characters?