Beyond Bechdel-Wallace
Jul. 22nd, 2013 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gryphonseggIt has come to my attention that some people on this very internet are misusing the Bechdel-Wallace test to an egregious degree. Specifically, they have been asserting that anything that clears this very low bar is a net good for "female representation in media," even if the thing in question is Oz: The Great and Powerful or A Game of Thrones. Also, they've been arguing that anything that fails this one test-- such as Pacific Rim--is therefore more sexist than anything that passes-- such as the Star Trek reboot movie, which passed on a technicality because of a single conversation during which both women were in their underwear and a guy whom one of them didn't know was there was watching them from under a bed.
So first of all, I'd like remind anyone who happens to read this that the Bechdel-Wallace test was not intended to be used by all feminists everywhere as a test of the definitive test of the goodness of any one movie. The comic in which it first appeared was pointing out how skewed the movie industry as whole is, when it's hard to think of many movies that pass this test. Part of the point is that passing it should be really, really easy and not a big deal and not necessarily an indication that the movie is pro-feminist or portrays women well. After all, you could have a really sexist story in which the women spend all their time together complimenting each others outfits and swapping recipes and hair styling tips. It's messed up that, in a society where women are slightly more than half the population, most movies can't even manage that. On the other side of same coin, an individual movie can fail the Bechdel-Wallace test without being anti-feminist or a bad movie in general. There are some settings in which an all-male or heavily male-skewed cast would be the only logical or historically accurate way to go. The problems are that 1) so very many casts are more male-skewed than they logically should be, 2) we don't see an equally large number of movies that have female-skewed casts getting made, and 3) movies that do have multiple female characters very often portray them as revolving entirely around the male characters instead of being interesting and important in themselves.
Next, I'd like to propose a multilayered system for discussing how female characters are portrayed in movies and other narrative media. This system would have multiple "tests." Passing or failing any one of them doesn't tell you much about the quality of an individual story (although it's perfectly reasonable for any individual person to decide that she's sick and tired of one kind of "fail" and won't consume any more movies/books/etc. that fail that test). But when the scores start adding up, things get interesting. Here are the tests I find useful, with suggested names:
Bechdel-Wallace test, aka, Mo's Movie Measure: I don't believe in fixing what's not broken, so we'll start with the original. The story passes if it has two or more named female characters who talk to each other about something other than man.
Gail Simone test, aka the refrigerator test: Another well-established test, this one comes from the world of superhero comics. A storyline fails the simple version if it shows a female character getting murdered, raped, or de-powered. A more sophisticated version that makes allowances for more grim'n'gritty storylines declares a complete fail only if the main narrative impact of the bad thing happening to a female character is that it makes a male character distraught and vengeful. My preference is to declare a simple fail for de-powering, sexual assault, or murder (not counting battles) of a female character and double or compound fail for the event being framed in terms of its emotional impact on a male character.
Takeuchi test: A newly formulated standard named in honor of the creator of Sailor Moon, the Takeuchi test is more about how a female character's importance to the "A plot" of a story. A manga, movie, novel, etc. pass if a female character actively contributes to the resolution of the problem around which the story revolves. In an action movie, this might mean striking a crucial blow in battle. In other contexts, it could mean solving a crime or a scientific problem or doing any number of other things. The point is that a female character decides to take action and uses her skills; being mind-controlled into fighting, saying something silly that causes a smarter character to think of the right answer, and inspiring a man to take action don't count. It's also important that female character's action actually does resolve or help resolve the main plot crisis; this test is about taking female characters out of the "nice but not that important subplot in a male-centric story" cage. For each female character who actively contributes to the resolution, the Takeuchi score increases.
Heinlein test: You've come a long way, baby. In the so-called golden age of science fiction, writers often portrayed women as flighty, frivolous, illogical, and unimaginative if they bothered to portray women at all. Robert Heinlein didn't see the appeal of that. He liked his women intelligent, athletic, and ultra-competent, as well as drop-dead gorgeous and up for any sexual experience he cared to imagine. Unfortunately, a lot of SF dudes haven't moved on from Heinlein-inspired views of women, and a lot of women in fandom accept this as the best we're going to get. A book, TV series, or movie might have several named female characters who all have military rank and hard science degrees, but it can still be annoying to women and harmful to girls if it sends the message that a woman's looks and sexual availability are more important than her skills. To pass the Heinlein test, it must have at least one major female character who is not gratuitously shown undressing or otherwise used for fan service, whose looks are irrelevant to her role in the story (so "she uses her sex appeal to manipulate the good/bad guys" doesn't rate a pass), whose character development is not defined by sex, and who is not disparaged for being unsexy by the narrative.
So first of all, I'd like remind anyone who happens to read this that the Bechdel-Wallace test was not intended to be used by all feminists everywhere as a test of the definitive test of the goodness of any one movie. The comic in which it first appeared was pointing out how skewed the movie industry as whole is, when it's hard to think of many movies that pass this test. Part of the point is that passing it should be really, really easy and not a big deal and not necessarily an indication that the movie is pro-feminist or portrays women well. After all, you could have a really sexist story in which the women spend all their time together complimenting each others outfits and swapping recipes and hair styling tips. It's messed up that, in a society where women are slightly more than half the population, most movies can't even manage that. On the other side of same coin, an individual movie can fail the Bechdel-Wallace test without being anti-feminist or a bad movie in general. There are some settings in which an all-male or heavily male-skewed cast would be the only logical or historically accurate way to go. The problems are that 1) so very many casts are more male-skewed than they logically should be, 2) we don't see an equally large number of movies that have female-skewed casts getting made, and 3) movies that do have multiple female characters very often portray them as revolving entirely around the male characters instead of being interesting and important in themselves.
Next, I'd like to propose a multilayered system for discussing how female characters are portrayed in movies and other narrative media. This system would have multiple "tests." Passing or failing any one of them doesn't tell you much about the quality of an individual story (although it's perfectly reasonable for any individual person to decide that she's sick and tired of one kind of "fail" and won't consume any more movies/books/etc. that fail that test). But when the scores start adding up, things get interesting. Here are the tests I find useful, with suggested names:
Bechdel-Wallace test, aka, Mo's Movie Measure: I don't believe in fixing what's not broken, so we'll start with the original. The story passes if it has two or more named female characters who talk to each other about something other than man.
Gail Simone test, aka the refrigerator test: Another well-established test, this one comes from the world of superhero comics. A storyline fails the simple version if it shows a female character getting murdered, raped, or de-powered. A more sophisticated version that makes allowances for more grim'n'gritty storylines declares a complete fail only if the main narrative impact of the bad thing happening to a female character is that it makes a male character distraught and vengeful. My preference is to declare a simple fail for de-powering, sexual assault, or murder (not counting battles) of a female character and double or compound fail for the event being framed in terms of its emotional impact on a male character.
Takeuchi test: A newly formulated standard named in honor of the creator of Sailor Moon, the Takeuchi test is more about how a female character's importance to the "A plot" of a story. A manga, movie, novel, etc. pass if a female character actively contributes to the resolution of the problem around which the story revolves. In an action movie, this might mean striking a crucial blow in battle. In other contexts, it could mean solving a crime or a scientific problem or doing any number of other things. The point is that a female character decides to take action and uses her skills; being mind-controlled into fighting, saying something silly that causes a smarter character to think of the right answer, and inspiring a man to take action don't count. It's also important that female character's action actually does resolve or help resolve the main plot crisis; this test is about taking female characters out of the "nice but not that important subplot in a male-centric story" cage. For each female character who actively contributes to the resolution, the Takeuchi score increases.
Heinlein test: You've come a long way, baby. In the so-called golden age of science fiction, writers often portrayed women as flighty, frivolous, illogical, and unimaginative if they bothered to portray women at all. Robert Heinlein didn't see the appeal of that. He liked his women intelligent, athletic, and ultra-competent, as well as drop-dead gorgeous and up for any sexual experience he cared to imagine. Unfortunately, a lot of SF dudes haven't moved on from Heinlein-inspired views of women, and a lot of women in fandom accept this as the best we're going to get. A book, TV series, or movie might have several named female characters who all have military rank and hard science degrees, but it can still be annoying to women and harmful to girls if it sends the message that a woman's looks and sexual availability are more important than her skills. To pass the Heinlein test, it must have at least one major female character who is not gratuitously shown undressing or otherwise used for fan service, whose looks are irrelevant to her role in the story (so "she uses her sex appeal to manipulate the good/bad guys" doesn't rate a pass), whose character development is not defined by sex, and who is not disparaged for being unsexy by the narrative.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 03:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 02:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 02:17 pm (UTC)(Though to be fair, since Twelve Angry Men first debuted, it's since been produced as Twelve Angry Jurors with women included in the panel.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 02:33 pm (UTC)I have a feeling that any Michael Bay movie would fail the Heinlein test, and a lot of them would even fail the sexy lamp test.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 04:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 05:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 05:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 08:55 pm (UTC)I actually felt a really strong wave of How-To-Make-ATLOK-Better last night while trying to sleep and had glorious visions of a teaser trailer that involves Korra helping the Metal Bending Police Force and Gay Law Student!Mako who is friends with his fellow Law Student Asami who finds it weird that a bender would want a job like being a Defense Attorney. Also Earth Bender Sports fighter Bolin who uses money he wins in his matches to help Mako pay for his studies. Also Twins get sent to check on Korra who doesn't want them around cuz they cramp her style.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 09:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 09:56 pm (UTC)Also I still need to draw you Bolin/Twins shenanigans.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-07-22 09:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-10 11:41 pm (UTC)A few days ago, I read this breakdown of how much the story revolves around male characters: http://seeking-avalon.blogspot.com/2013/06/originally-published-on-pop-culture.html
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-11 01:48 am (UTC)Have you seen the interview yet in which Mike talks about the comic he's working on about Zuko's search for Ursa? He just blatantly, explicitly says that what happened to Ursa doesn't matter to him, because the only truly important thing about the story is the development Zuko goes through as a result of looking for her. It's the most fridge-tastic commentary I've ever seen. Other refrigeration-happy comic creators at least try to dress it up a bit.
(no subject)
Date: 2013-08-12 01:50 am (UTC)