Women and Film

It's interesting to think that before I watched this video (embedded below) of Colin Strokes discussing the necessity of more strong female protagonists in film, I rarely considered the role of women in many films I watched unless it was glaringly obvious that their only role was to be subservient and the "damsel in distress" for the main character, usually male. When analyzing a film, of course I think about the significance of any character and their relationship to each other, however it never occurred to me how few films deviate from or "pass" the Bechdel Test.

Colin Strokes explains that the Bechdel Test is a three question test to determine how a film is representing their female characters. The questions are:

1.) Are there are least two women?

2.) Do the women talk to each other?

3.) Do they discuss anything other than men?

Suprisingly, when he applied the Bechdel Test to the top 100 most popular movies in 2011, only 11 passed the Bechdel test. It is shocking and appalling to consider the amount of films that are released weekly and how rarely any of these films choose to have female characters who are more multi-faceted and dynamic than those who only maintain the qualities that the Bechdel test invokes. Its absolutely insane to consider that most female characters in film are given such little development and individuality that they are only capable of being in grave danger and/or being exclusively interested in men and nothing else.

Strokes not only criticizes the state of the film industry today in its lack of proper representation of femininity and the ability for females to be just as interesting and magnetic protagonist as men, but recognizes the danger that these kinds of films impose upon men as well, especially young boys. These gender-defining kinds of films not only dictate what roles in life are reserved for women, but for men as well. Strokes uses Star Wars (in which all of the heros are male and the solitary women character throughout the film's only role is to sit and wait to be rescued) as an example of the kind of dividing gender roles that are perpetuated by most large-scale entertainment films today. In addition to essentially telling women that fighting for their own freedom and safety is not even an option (“you're just not capable or strong enough, don't even try”). A film like Star Wars also perpetuates the male stereotype that is just as confining and oppressive as the female stereotype- which is that men are naturally strong, brave, capable of beating anyone who threatens the safety of “their” woman and often are partial to doing it all by themselves, the solitary hero. By comparison the Wizard of Oz, as Strokes concludes, is a film which models what should be expressed to impressionable children today. Rather than waiting around to be rescued from Oz, Dorothy takes her life into her own hands and embarks on a journey to save herself. She picks up those along the way who also seek help and rather than insisting that her solitude is a significant asset to her success (and pride), she invites them to join her. Dorothy achieves success by being courageous, generous, friendly and genuinely compassionate and as a result achieves her goals without having to wait around for a “solitary hero” to save her.

It may seem obvious why these gender-defining ideas perpetuating in most popular films today is a detrimental idea to ingrain within the minds of children (and adults!) but it does more than chisel the impressionable into believing that because they are male or female that they have to be represented in such a one-dimensional manner in the cinematic world, it inspires how they behave in the real world as well. Just like all media, films do more than entertain us. Films are made by directors who often insert their own values into the film (whether it is detectable or not) and they present us with how humanity falls into places with these values. Historically, the nuances of society have always been told through film and they definitely subconsciously dictate how we behave in this world and how we perceive things in reality and our relationships with each other.

So, what was the last film you watched that passed the Bechdel test?