![]() Writer Roxane Gay proposed a six-part test: Is there a central female character, with supporting female characters, who doesn’t compromise herself for love or live extravagantly for no explained reason? And at least half the time, is this character a woman of colour, transgender, and/or queer? Gay’s sixth point is a non-requirement: Female characters “shouldn’t have to live up to an unrealistic feminist standard.” They can be flawed, so long as they feel like real human beings. A film passes this test if “1) one female character 2) gets her own narrative arc 3) that is not about supporting a man’s story.” The test is more subjective than Bechdel’s, but of course so is the issue they both address. ![]() Tumblr user Chaila invented the Mako Mori test after noting that Pacific Rim fails the Bechdel Test despite a strong female character, while Thor passes it. But Bechdel’s isn’t the only popular test for media’s portrayal of women. It’s the basis of a ratings stamp in some Swedish theatres, and it’s one of many check-box criteria on screenplay database The Black List. The standard is used in industry revenue analysis (showing that passing films outperform failing ones) and in annual Oscar wrap-ups. One chart of over 7,000 films indicates representation slowly improving since the 70s: Multiple organisations keep a running Bechdel scorecard of feature films. Club’s Caroline Siede points out, it raises basic awareness of the massive gender disparity in media: Very few movies would fail a reverse Bechdel test for men.Īnd it’s a strong measure of female representation across an industry. Setting that low bar has many valid uses, which is why it’s so popular. As her character Mo puts it in the comic, “Last movie I was able to see was Alien.” Bechdel invented the test with her friend Liz Wallace to set a low bar that many Hollywood movies still can’t clear. XZVPlJCrDGīechdel’s test, popularised in her comic Dykes to Watch Out For, was never intended to wholly define a film as “feminist” or “sexist.” After all, “Baby Got Back” passes it. Even a Mako Mori test pass should really be considered barely scraping by, since it is far past time for women in films to receive equal weight, and one woman with her own story arc may still be eclipsed by a film full of men.From last night #TheSimpsons: When it comes to her test, Alison Bechdel isn’t messing around. The Bechdel Test should realistically be considered less than the minimum bench mark for modern films, since it is entirely possible for a film to pass the test but still be horribly misogynistic. However, since Mako is such an important character in the film, it is undeniably more feminist than some films which scrape past the Bechdel test by having one conversation between two random women. The test was suggested as a response to the fact that Mako Mori is the only prominent female character in Pacific Rim, meaning that the film fails the Bechdel Test. Which is not about supporting a man's story.There must be at least one prominent female character.The Mako Mori test was suggested by fans of the film Pacific Rim as an alternative to or extension of the Bechdel Test for analysing the inclusion of female characters in media. ![]()
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