Via Peteryxx, on the stereotype thread – an article on why so few movies pass the Bechdel test.
The “Dykes to Watch Out For” test, formerly coined as the “Mo Movie Measure” test and Bechdel Test, was named for the comic strip it came from, penned by Alison Bechdel…
To pass it your movie must have the following:
1) there are at least two named female characters, who
2) talk to each other about
3) something other than a man
I’m not sure I need to read any more to know why that’s not going to fly. It’s because movies are about men.
That was easy.
When I started taking film classes at UCLA, I was quickly informed I had what it took to go all the way in film…
I had to understand that the audience only wanted white, straight, male leads. I was assured that as long as I made the white, straight men in my scripts prominent, I could still offer groundbreaking characters of other descriptions (fascinating, significant women, men of color, etc.) – as long as they didn’t distract the audience from the white men they really paid their money to see.
Toldja. I knew that’s what they think, because it’s what movies and tv are like.
According to Hollywood, if two women came on screen and started talking, the target male audience’s brain would glaze over and assume the women were talking about nail polish or shoes or something that didn’t pertain to the story. Only if they heard the name of a man in the story would they tune back in. By having women talk to each other about something other than men, I was “losing the audience.”
Nothing much to say, is there.