Nate Silver’s ESPN blog FiveThirtyEight used the Bechdel test, a barometer of gender equity invented by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, to scrutinize 1,615 films released between 1990 and 2013. It compared the number and significance of female roles in a film to the movie’s budget and box office haul.
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This article shows a promising statistic for Hollywood's otherwise male-dominated culture. If the moviegoers are dishing out more cash for movies with prominent women roles, it hopefully will encourage movie production companies to produce more films that can pass the Bechdel test. The article called it "unfortunate" that only four of the nine movies nominated for best picture passed the Bechdel test, but that also seems to be an indication of progress in some ways, which I'm sure will only increase exponentially.
This is a cool test, I have often heard complaints about how women on TV and in movies only talk about men and sex, and as someone who watches sex and the city I would say that is pretty accurate. Women are coming to the forefront of Hollywood more and more there is no doubt about that, but I really like that there are solid statistics that encourage strong female roles in films, maybe we will see more and more of them.
This article comes back to a recurring subject on this blog, about the lack of female representation in film and television. I have read a few articles about the lack of female writers and directors, but this is the first one I've seen about the lack of female prominence within the film itself. The Bechdel test, while flawed in some ways, as the article points out, seems like an appropriate way to qualify movies as having or not having prominent female roles. The idea that the two named women characters must have a conversation about something other than men seems key here. While it is disappointing to see that there are still so few movies passing this test, it is encouraging to know that these movies are doing better box office wise and hopefully their success will lead to more movies like this being produced.
This article definitely shows a different side of the women to men ratio in entertainment. It seems like a lot of articles posted on here talk about how women are under-represented not necessarily about the women who are in films. It's interesting to see how strong female components in movies can influence performance at the box office but I am curious as to why it does. Are more women seeing these films than men? Is it because women now are looking for strong role models? I can see how Twilight and the Hunger Games would influence box office performance. What about other female-powered movies that aren't directed towards younger female audiences?
I completely agree with Joe on this matter. I've always been a huge proponent for more female roles in the industry, whether they be actors or directors or camera-women. It's important to have more female representation in such a male controlled culture. Some statistics say that there is a rising increase in female roles in the industry, and we can only hope that this statistic remains true for years to come.
The Bechdel test, while it does help determine a bit in regards to equal gender representation in films, does not really mean all that much. Just because there is more than one woman and that the two women talk to each other about something other than a man, does not make it a successful, good, or even a well-represenmtative movie. The world is made up of more than two women, there is an even divide. Women have so much more to them than men, and passing the Bechdel test does not make up for the lack of female characters. Women also don't only have to be in strong leading roles, there can be women who struggle, who work at home, either from choice or force, there can be women who lead and women who assist. I just want to see more women in every role, leading and not. There is just a severe under-representation of women in films. That means that the Bechdel test needs to be updated in order to pass only truly equal movies.
I think that this is really interesting. I wouldn't have expected for movies that passed the Bechdel test to be so notably lucrative, when they are also so few. Hopefully this trend will continue, and hollywood will start to produce more movies in accordance. I was also interested in the idea of refining the test. It seems unfair that movies with prominent female characters such as Gravity don't make the cut. I wonder what the best way to go about this would be.
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