Essay On Bechdel Rule

The Bechdel rule tests film maker’s views on gender equality. “Bechdel Rule is a simple test which names the following three criteria: (1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man,” explains bechdeltest.com. I do not think this is an accurate way to judge if a film as a whole is feminist and agree with Holly Derr when she says that we need to actually sit down and watch the film to decide whether it is feminist. Holly Derr states, “A film may have some feminist elements, some sexist elements, and some elements that are neither, because—and this is important—"feminism" is not simply the absence of "sexism." Movies who pass the Bechdel test such as Nerve and the Divergent Series:

They do not necessarily follow the woman stereotype and fall behind the man. They aren’t dressed proactively; they aren’t discussed like they are an object but treated more as a subject. Because there are numerous speaking roles between women in both movies that do not revolve around the male character it does pass the Bechdel test. The film 13 hrs does not pass the Bechdel test. This film did not have any female roles besides one of a CIA agent. However in all her scenes she is talking to a man or giving water to the men who spend all night in a battle protecting her and her fellow CIA Agent’s lives. I was surprised this didn’t pass the test and not looked at as a feminist movie because she is placed in the role of an intelligent CIA Agent who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and she is not sexualized nor does she get with any of the male characters. But looking at the movie as a whole I see that this is a male dominating “army” movie. War movies are put into a male dominant category, therefore a woman would not be placed as a main