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Bechdel Test
Oct. 27th, 2012 10:21 pmBechdel: Not Actually A Test
And this post makes me happy too.
I don't really care about whether fic passes the Bechdel test. I don't consider a Bechdel pass to be the gold standard of feminist fiction, and it is not the standard by which I judge fiction. I would much, much rather have an introspective character piece about a female character, her agency, her power and her relationships with the men in her life than a fic with a random scene thrown in where two women discuss whatever simply to get the Bechdel pass. Yes, our culture is bad at writing women relating to women. But two women discussing what they had for dinner is not a triumph of feminism. I'd much rather read about a single complex, interesting, layered female character than something that is a technical pass but that fails to fully characterize and dig into the psychology of its women. What I'm saying is, it's more complex than simply having two women talk about anything that is not a man. A Bechdel pass for its own sake does not feminist fiction make.
Agreed so much! While I think that the Bechdel test is useful for promoting important roles for female characters in the media, it isn't the end-all-be-all of feminism. For example, in "The Dark Knight Rises", the scene where Catwoman and her friend talk for a few minutes felt more like "Whew, passed the Bechdel test! That should keep people off my back. BACK TO THE BAT ANGST" than genuine interaction and character development. "WALL-E" fails the Bechdel test, but EVE would leave Halle Berry's "Catwoman" a smoldering ash pit. True Bechdel passes, imo, are things like "Brave" and "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", emphasizing female relationships without misogyny, female-shaming or tokenism. Compared with "Metroid: Other M," which passes technically, but it's still a failure no matter how many boxes it checks off due its disgusting portrayal of Samus and poor writing.
And this post makes me happy too.
I don't really care about whether fic passes the Bechdel test. I don't consider a Bechdel pass to be the gold standard of feminist fiction, and it is not the standard by which I judge fiction. I would much, much rather have an introspective character piece about a female character, her agency, her power and her relationships with the men in her life than a fic with a random scene thrown in where two women discuss whatever simply to get the Bechdel pass. Yes, our culture is bad at writing women relating to women. But two women discussing what they had for dinner is not a triumph of feminism. I'd much rather read about a single complex, interesting, layered female character than something that is a technical pass but that fails to fully characterize and dig into the psychology of its women. What I'm saying is, it's more complex than simply having two women talk about anything that is not a man. A Bechdel pass for its own sake does not feminist fiction make.
Agreed so much! While I think that the Bechdel test is useful for promoting important roles for female characters in the media, it isn't the end-all-be-all of feminism. For example, in "The Dark Knight Rises", the scene where Catwoman and her friend talk for a few minutes felt more like "Whew, passed the Bechdel test! That should keep people off my back. BACK TO THE BAT ANGST" than genuine interaction and character development. "WALL-E" fails the Bechdel test, but EVE would leave Halle Berry's "Catwoman" a smoldering ash pit. True Bechdel passes, imo, are things like "Brave" and "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", emphasizing female relationships without misogyny, female-shaming or tokenism. Compared with "Metroid: Other M," which passes technically, but it's still a failure no matter how many boxes it checks off due its disgusting portrayal of Samus and poor writing.
