The Bechdel Test: Women's Roles in Film

This morning I was doing my usual Facebook browsing while drinking my coffee, and came across an interesting status from one of my friends:

I'm lucky to have my friend Kelley. A month or so ago (to make a point) she asked me about naming movies which contain a scene where two or more women carry on a conversation W/O a man present and on a topic OTHER than men/ the male protagonist. A month later I've come up with "Fried Green Tomatoes" and not much else...can you help me out Face-bookers?

It got me thinking. And thinking. And then I became intrigued! I went through my DVD collection and out of 103 movies, the only two I have in which women are having a conversation without a man present and on a topic other than a man or men in general are "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Little Women."

The official test name for a piece of media in which there is a scene with a) at least two women present, b) the women talking to each other, and c) them talking about something other than a man is the Bechdel Test (not having a man present during the conversation is another criterium added to my friend's challenge). This test was first suggested by Virginia Woolf in regards to literature back in 1929, but became introduced by Alison Bechdel in 1985 in a comic strip. Kay Steiger refers to the Bechdel test as "the standard by which feminist critics judge television, books, movies and other media."

But why should it be used by only "feminist" critics? If we are truly interested as a society in achieving equality between men and women, shouldn't all critics be interested in this criteria? Shouldn't we want to see movies in which women are talking together about things other than relationships with men? This is not just about the feminist agenda; it's a cultural slap in the face to 150 million women. And what's worse is that we are all conditioned to it.

And we don't even realize it:

I previously mentioned that I have two movies that pass the Bechdel test. After going through my DVDs, I had a thought: what about movies in which men have a conversation on a topic other than a woman or women in general? The opposite of the Bechdel test, if you will. Out of 103 movies I own, 57 of them fit this criteria. Every superhero movie, every comedy, and every political or spy thriller fits this criteria but not the other.

I am what I would like to consider a rather forward thinker. Yet, over half of my movies have scenes in which men talk about things other than women and only two of my movies have scenes in which women talk about things other than men! I, an incredibly tuned-in fan of equality, have been watching and purchasing movies that are massively male-dominated!

But what does it mean?

We are still developing into the society a lot of people like to think we already have. A lot of people like to think that women have the same opportunities men have and that if we didn't have kids, we could be equally successful. That's not true yet. Many people like to think that racism is a thing of the past in our country. That's not true yet. A huge number of people in our country like to think that if you "want it badly enough and work hard enough," you can "get out" of wherever you come from and be whatever you want. That's not true yet. These are all ideals that we desperately crave and I feel like we assume they're already fact because we want so badly for them to be true.

But we have to realize where we come from; we, the American culture. It's been male dominated from the start, if you don't count the Native Americans as having started our culture (and let's be honest here, how many of us remember that they were American before our ancestors were?). It's been white dominated from the start. And it's been capitalist driven from the start. Can we expect our culture to change? Absolutely. Can we demand that there must be a change? Yes! But change is slow; it took us 150 years from the declaration of us being American to get to the white, male, capitalist part of who we are as a culture. We've only been burning bras and allowing our daughters and sisters to have opinions and jobs away from the home for 65 years. Yes, we've made some changes and yes, we're getting closer to the ideal society that we so deeply desire, but we're not there.

Yet.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

Be the Change You Wish to See

I've noticed something about our society: we LOVE a good cause and we get all fired up about it. And then we move on to the next cause without following through on the previous one.

Yesterday, 9% (100/1130--yes, I went through and counted) of my Facebook friends changed their profile photos to the red Human Rights Campaign logo. On Twitter, you can see real-time trends on a map here: http://trendsmap.com. It's very cool. Right now #MarriageEquality is trending in California, Minnesota, and New York.


But if you check out this infographic from HootSuite.com, you see the Top 10 Twitter Trends of 2012. The Olympics was the top trend of 2012--do you remember who won your "favorite" events? Maybe. We don't pay attention to Olympic sports for three years and eleven months out of the year and then we live and breathe Olympics. The election we can all still remember. Justin Bieber? Well, I don't pay attention to him! But look #4: Hurricane Sandy. We ALL came together for that. We could donate to the Red Cross, there was the 12/12/12 concert, there were all the hashtags sending the victims love and support...but do you still think about those victims? They're still recovering and we're not even paying attention anymore. Do you remember anyone who won an MTV Music Award? I don't. James Holmes was eighth in the World News category. Do you know who that is without "Aurora" being in the same sentence? In July were you incensed about his actions and were talking about the Aurora tragedy non-stop? After the Sandy Hook tragedy did you start talking about gun control again? Are you still talking about gun control, or is gay marriage (or anti gay marriage) now your "cause"?











And check out these other graphics from 2011 and 2010. Look at numbers 6, 8, and 10 in the 2011 Trending News category. Do you remember the Egyptian, Brazilian, or English riots? I don't. I went back and looked up the Egyptian riots and it jogged my memory--I was really upset about them. Do you remember the Libyan conflict? I do--I cried and wrote a letter to Obama when we shot missiles at Libya. But I never followed up with him. The earthquake in Japan was in 2011. Remember that? I made so many cookies and cupcakes for bake sales for them! They are still recovering from that disaster. How often do you think about it? I guess I did for the first time in almost 2 years on their 2 year anniversary earlier this month. But back then, I wanted to help and I made it my top priority.

In 2010, the Gulf Oil Spill was the top trend on Twitter (It's already been three years?!). Remember how fired up we all got about oil companies making sure they were keeping the environment clean? When's the last time that hit the news? Do you even think about it anymore? I barely ever do. The World Cup was also in 2010. Who won? I remember watching it and being incredibly into it--I even refashioned a Brasil jersey for myself to wear! And the earthquake in Haiti--how many bake sales did we all have? How much did we all donate? Do we know now how Haitians are doing? Nope.

My point with these graphics and pulling out "big" stories is that what means so much to us right now ends up becoming just another statistic on a graph somewhere. Unless we choose one thing and make it our mission, how effective are we being? I write every day about current events, but is anything changing? After Sandy Hook I wrote about gun control. The entire country felt like it was moving toward stricter gun control. One hundred days after Sandy Hook, nothing's happened and the window of opportunity for change is closing fast. After the BP oil spill in 2010, we had a window to regulate oil companies more. That window is definitely shut. After the earthquake in Japan we had a window to talk about nuclear energy--it's shut.

We must take the opportunities we have to make change. Yesterday the Supreme Court talked about how they're concerned that this gay marriage case is even in the federal court, because it's "younger than cell phones or the Internet." But this is our window. Look at these big issue windows in just the last three years that we have allowed to close without seizing the opportunity that's at hand. 

I love watching the news. I love making noise about the news and what we need to do to change it. But what will it take to really make change and not just make noise? This is a time for us--we are on the cusp of change: gay marriage rights, gun control, education policies, and so much more. If we become silent because an event falls too far back in our memories, change and progress will never happen. It is up to us to keep the conversation going. It is up to us to bring about the change we all so crave.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi

15 Ways to Be More Like This Canadian Bus Driver

Kris Doubledee, Bus Driver
Photo: Winnipeg Free Press

This is a cool story that caught my eye! A bus driver in Winnipeg, Canada pulled over while he was on his route and gave his shoes to a homeless man. This is making headlines all over North America! 

Why? 

I mean, yes, it's great that he did this, but at the same time, why aren't actions like this one commonplace? Why don't more people help out other people who are obviously in need? I'm not trying to make it sound like I do, and all of you reading this are scum of the earth or something for not helping people. I'm just saying, let's take a look at what we currently do for other people and then let's take a look at what we are capable of doing for other people. Then let's see how close we can come to our potential. We can make the world a better place together!

15 Ways to Help People You Don't Know (From Least Amount of Work to Most)

• Smile at someone in the store or on the sidewalk.
• Say "good morning" to someone you pass.
• Donate quality clothes to a charity. Just because people are poor doesn't mean they enjoy wearing crappy clothes that are stained or torn.
• Give a stranger you see a compliment.
• Pick a person at random out of the phone book and write them a card that tells them you hope they have a great day. Send them the card and don't expect anything back.
• When you go grocery shopping, buy extra healthy food and donate it to the food bank.
• Ask someone on the bus who looks sad or frustrated how their day is going. Then listen to their answer and care about it.
• Volunteer to help serve one meal at a soup kitchen.
• Next time you bake, make an extra (cake, loaf of bread, cookies, etc), and take it to your neighbor even if you don't know them.
• Volunteer in the urban schools to read to kids once a week.
• Find Habitat for Humanity in your community. Build a house in a weekend for a family in need.
• Work with the Boys and Girls Club. Learn about the kids you meet and how you can help them.
• Find the nearest international community center to you and see if they need an after school English teacher. Do not expect to get paid.
• Work for a nonprofit organization.
• Start your own nonprofit organization!

I know these aren't all the ways you can help people, but it's a start. You can make a world of difference to someone, and if you make positive change in one person's life, you've made the world a better place. 

Let's make change in the world; let's make headlines like the one about the bus driver in Winnipeg more common! 

Have a great weekend!

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." --Gandhi