Women in Movies

I’ve been thinking a lot about the messages we receive about women through the media and I came across this short video about the Bechdel test for women in movies:

http://www.feministfrequency.com/2009/12/the-bechdel-test-for-women-in-movies/

It’s a really short video, only 2 minutes, on the presence of women in movies.  They describe the Bechdel test as having three components:

1.     If there are two or more women in the movie who have names

2.     If two or more women talk to each other

3.     If they talk to each other about something other than men

What was most fascinating to me about the video is when they flash through some of the movies that don’t pass the test.  The list includes: Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, Ocean’s Eleven, The Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, X-Men and many others.  It was particularly shocking to me because a few of my favorite movies are on this list.  I just watched the X-Men movies for the first time last year and loved them, particularly because of the powers that all the characters had to fight against forces of oppression.  I know that in the X-Men movies there are more than 2 women with names and I think they talk to one another. So, that means that if these movies didn’t pass the test, they only talk to each other about men! 

After seeing the Bechdel test video, I watched Oceans Eleven (it was on TV last weekend) and paid careful attention to the way women were portrayed in that movie.  Wow! I was surprised by what I saw when looking through the lens of the Bechdel test.  I have watched this movie probably 4 times before and this was the first time I noticed how women are portrayed. There is only one woman with a name in this movie, Tess (Julia Roberts), and she is talked about and to as if she is a piece of property.  She is the ex-wife of one of the eleven, Danny Ocean (George Clooney), and is currently dating the casino owner, Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia).  Part of the movie plot revolves around Danny and Terry’s fight over Tess.  Tess’ identity is tied up in who she is with – Danny or Terry.  This is her only reason to exist in the movie, as she has no identity beyond her relationship with these men.

Just last night I watched the movie Puss-n-Boots through the Bechdel test lens.  This was my first watch of this movie and it wasn’t a movie that I saw in the video, so I had no idea what I would find.  What I found were 3 female characters with names: Kitty Softpaws, Jill, and Imelda (Puss-n-Boots’ mother).  These three characters never talk to each other.  They only talked to the male characters, while the male characters talked to them and each other in multiple ways (making plans, arguing about the past, sharing moments of nostalgia – all sorts of human interactions).

How can girls and women develop a strong identity and sense of self, when the conversations we hear between women are focused only around men?  The message we receive from these movies is that our identity is tied up in the man we are with or the man we are trying to be with. In short, the message in many movies is that without men, women do not exist. 

I have watched many, many movies through my childhood and into my adulthood. In my childhood, my parents often regulated the movies that I saw based on The Motion Picture Association’s (MPA) ratings (G, PG, PG-13, or R).   These ratings are based on how much physical violence, sex, and bad language exists in movies and my parents didn’t want to expose me to too much of these things growing up.  While I appreciate the effort to make parents aware of the violence and sex that exists in these movies, I’m appalled at the way the MPA conceives of violence.  Physical violence is only one form.  The message that women do not exist without men is also a violent act that damages girls’ psyches and our abilities to develop a strong sense of self.   It is also a damaging message for men because it leads them to conceive of women as their property and to an inability to have truly authentic relationships with women based on fundamental equality.

Try the Bechdel test out for yourself.  Watch a movie or two through that lens and think about the messages that our youngsters are getting about the humanity of women and men in these movies.  Then share what you find out. I'm curious to hear about other movies - especially the ones that are rated G and PG and according to the MPA do not contain violence.