Bechdel Test - Fanlore

Bechdel Test

Synonyms: Bechdel's Law, Bechdel/Wallace Rule, Dykes to Watch Out For Test, Mo Movie Measure
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Contents

Criteria for picking a movie to watch:

  1. It has to have at least two women in it
  2. who talk to each other
  3. about something besides a man.[1]

The Bechdel Test entered popular culture via Alison Bechdel's comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For, in a 1985 strip titled "The Rule."[2] Bechdel credits her friend Liz Wallace for the idea. It's also known as the Bechdel/Wallace Rule and the Mo Movie Measure, though the latter is a misnomer, as the strip predates Mo's addition to the cast of characters.[1]

Handy as a quick and dirty way to assess the feminist cluefulness of a narrative.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bechdel, Alison. The Rule, published on 16 August 2005 at DTWOF: The Blog. (Accessed 19 October 2008.)
  2. ↑ Ulaby, Neda. The 'Bechdel Rule,' Defining Pop-Culture Character, published on 2 September 2008 at http://www.npr.org/. (Accessed 19 October 2008.)
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