I think what the test is good for is demonstrating that most movies are about men, even movies with a lot of female characters. It's a starting point for a longer conversation about gender on film.
This, this, this, with a side of this sauce. You don't need to boycott non-passing movies to find the test useful as an eye-opener on just
how
invisible and useless women have become in a huge chunk of mainstream movie culture. (And how segregated by genre: leaving aside the "not about a man" proviso, there aren't a hell of a lot of non-rom-coms that have two women characters at all.)
Also, how much awesomeness was there in the early years of DTWOF that we're finally talking about 20mumble years later? THIS MUCH.
Also, how much awesomeness was there in the early years of DTWOF that we're finally talking about 20mumble years later? THIS MUCH.
AND MORE. I feel like I need to curl up with my dogeared copies and wallow in it.
I would probably go see Punching Stuff Until It Blows Up 1 and 2.
One reason I loved "The Descent" was that ALL the characters were women, except for the husband of one, who died immediately, didn't have a single line, and was only seen on-screen in a couple shots. They talked about him a couple times, but he was little more than a plot device.
Whip It is the only recent movie I have seen that passes, but boy does it.
I would probably go see Punching Stuff Until It Blows Up 1 and 2
I would be right there with you, and I would buy the (giant) tub o' popcorn.
Punching Stuff Until It Blows Up 1 and 2
Both of which fail the Bechdel test, because they don't have any dialog, just grunting.
According to the mouseover text, PSTIBU 2 passes!
"SHE TALKS TO THE ROBOT QUEEN ABOUT EXPLOSIONS."
I think what the test is good for is demonstrating that most movies are about men, even movies with a lot of female characters. It's a starting point for a longer conversation about gender on film.
And Jessica nails it on the head. It's not the only thing about movies that matters and often not even the most important thing, but I find myself consciously looking for it in every media I consume. I find I have a lot less patience with TV series that fails the test episode-after-episode than I do with movies. (If you have 22 hours over a year to tell your story instead of just two hours, you better have some women in your show other than as passing love-interests.)
You know I don't think Justified passes. At the very least most episodes don't pass. Because while women do talk about stuff other than men, women almost never talk to each other about anything, and the one extended woman to woman conversation we have seen was between an ex-wife and current girlfriend about the ex-husband current boyfriend. I have not seen the latest ep though ...
