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Why film schools teach screenwriters not to pass the Bechdel test (2008)
- tick_tock_tick 6y agoI don't think I can agree with the premise when tons of movies that explicitly target a female audience still fail the "Bechdel Test". Often these movies don't even have a male lead as in the male in question is a plot device rather than a real character.
- rayiner 6y agoI see that as evidence for the article’s theory, not a refutation. If film makers believe that audiences are socialized to tune out women talking to each other—and that doesn’t just mean male audiences—then having a male “lead” as a plot device diffuses that situation.
- elliekelly 6y agoA predominately female or predominately male audience is irrelevant to the Bechdel test because sexism isn’t a man or woman problem, it’s a society problem. Though I do appreciate the irony of having to remind people that sexism, like everything else, isn’t reserved exclusively for men.
- mreome 6y agoThe fact that most movies (regardless of who they’re targeting) fail the Bechdel Test is the entire point. The point is that mainstream Hollywood only backs movies where men (be that a multi-dimensional characters or human plot devices) are so central to the female characters raison d'être, that there is literally never a scene with two women talking about something that doesn’t involve a man.
- fmajid 6y agoIt’s amazing this persists when media audiences have fragmented and there are niche networks for seemingly every audience, let alone one that makes up over 50% of the population.
- oceanghost 6y agoThis article starts from a bad premise and leads to a bad conclusion.