Testing the Bechdel Test: Is it still a relevant tool for feminism?

The Bechdel Test- a source of ripe debate between film lovers and feminists alike. Does it help provide a guide for the bare minimum of female representation in film, or is it simply too reductive? I am going to unpack some of the key arguments for and against the Bechdel test in hope to ultimately decide if it should still be considered as useful for analysing film with a feminist perspective.

Created in 1985 by Alison Bechdel in her comic strip The Rule, the Bechdel Test has three simple requirements for a film in order for it to pass:

• There must be two named female characters
• Who talk to each other 
• About something other than a man 

The test became popularised during the 2000s and 2010s, and by the time it landed on my lap at the ripe age of 15, with just a quick google I could find out if my favourite movies passed or failed the test. I think what makes the Bechdel test significant within the discourse is the sheer simplicity of it. Upon first impression you would think that no movie script would have the audacity to fail this test.

But oh boy they do. There’s the obvious culprits; The Avengers (2013), the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) and The Flash (2023) all fail at least one of the objectives of the test. These do not surprise me, as the superhero and fantasy genres are notoriously male-centred. However, the failures of films such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Blonde (2022) do seem a bit more unexpected considering their respective genres and feminine leads. 

Potentially, this is where some of the critique for the Bechdel test comes into play- the ‘pass or fail’ approach doesn’t allow for nuance as to why some films do fail. The test does disproportionately fail films that are more relationship (albeit, heterosexual ones) focused. These films tend to have a smaller main cast and instead predominantly show dialogue between the two leads. As well as this, failing the Bechdel test may be intrinsic to the purpose of the film- the focus of Blonde, for example, was to portray damaging and harmful relationships that Marilyn Monroe had with men in her life, therefore, failing the Bechdel test cannot really be seen as a pitfall. As pointed out by Samantha Ellis in her assessment of the Bechdel test, just because a piece of art is concerning relationships between genders, does not necessarily make it un-feminist. Consider one of my favourites, Sex and the City as an example, while it is a TV series and therefore not the medium used in the Bechdel test, it is a great example of how a show can seem to be solely about relationships, but in fact is about something more. The majority of the plot and dialogue in Sex and the City is in relation to the men in their lives, and many of the infamous ‘brunch scenes’ in the show would definitely not pass the Bechdel test, simply because the whole conversation consists of them talking about (mainly Carrie’s) issues with men. However, their relationships are often a lens in which they discuss the contemporary issues and debates of gender, sexuality and power. Reducing art like this to un-feminist as it fails the Bechdel test is actually a failure to recognise the true purpose of the art itself. 

However, the role in which the Bechdel test played in challenging representation in Hollywood cannot be underplayed. The mass awareness of this test goes hand-in-hand with Hollywood’s favouring of male-led narratives. In fact, research done by FiveThirtyEight shows that on average films that failed the Bechdel test between the years 1990 and 2013 had a higher median budget than those that passed the test. Of course, female representation is far from Hollywood’s only issue of representation. In recent years, particularly after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, there have been calls to push for more recognition of tests that highlight racial inequalities in representation, such as the DuVernay test. Created by Emmy winner Ava DuVernay, in order to pass the test a film must have:

• At least two people of colour in the film that are named and have speaking parts
• These characters must not be in a relationship with each other and have their own lives and not just exist in relation to white characters

Following a similar pattern to the Bechdel test, the DuVernay test shows how simple it should be for people of colour to be represented on film- but they are not. The Bechdel test provided this simple roadmap for recognising the power of casting and scriptwriting in the overall diversity within film, which therefore provided us with more examples of how certain minorities and communities are continuously underwritten within film.

Overall, I think the Bechdel test is still relevant for us when considering female representation in film. No, the test does not capture all aspects of what a feminist movie should be, but it doesn’t claim to! For filmmakers and viewers alike, it is important to keep representation in mind, and the Bechdel Test has allowed us to do just that. By shining a light on Hollywood’s antiquated ways, the Bechdel test has allowed us to question depictions of life on screen, and for that I thank it.

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