Friday, June 25, 2010

10 of my favorite movies that don't pass the Bechdel test

The Bechdel Test: The movie must have
1. Two women characters...
2. Who talk to each other...
3. About something other than a man.

Here we go:
1. Rushmore directed by Wes Anderson
Possibly my favorite movie. There are exactly 2 (named) women characters who never talk. The Royal Tennenbaums passes, Fantastic Mr. Fox & Darjeeling Limited fail.

2. Almost Famous written & directed by Cameron Crowe
A semi-autobiographical tale of the writer's adolescence following rock stars and writing for Rolling Stone. The "band-aids" talk to each other, about men.

3. Toy Story directed by John Lasseter
Andy's mom and Little Bo Peep are female, but they don't talk. Toy Story 3 passes!

4. The Shawshank Redemption written & directed by Frank Darabont
As it's mainly set in a men's prison, failing the test is understandable.

5. Superbad written by Seth Rogan & Evan Goldberg
The two named female characters don't really interact, until the end and we don't know what they are talking about.

6. Real Genius starring Val Kilmer & a bunch of people who never made another movie
This one pains me! There is a girl genius integral to the plot, but she never talks to any of the other 2 women, who only exist to bang the male geniuses.

8. The 40 Year Old Virgin written & directed by Judd Apatow, the king of sensitive feminist movie scripts
Women (other than the always brilliant Jane Lynch (playing a part originally written for a man!)) are flat, secondary characters, good for banging.

9. Ace Ventura starring Jim Carey in his oscar nominated role
You think that there are two women who talk to each other about something other than men in this movie, but nope! SPOILER ALERT: Lt. Einhorn is a man!

10. Indiana Jones Trilogy directed by Steven Spielberg
In the Indiana Jones trilogy (what fourth movie?!), there are 3 major female characters. One is a prissy prissy princess who screams, just beause she is covered by giant insects. One is a doctor, but, on the downside, a Nazi. One is kind of a bad ass, but she still ends up needing rescued. Poor showing, Steven Spielberg. I'll have to think twice about naming my first son Indiana.

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