Sweden considering adding a label to films that pass the Bechdel Test

[thewayne]

There's some interesting arguments both for and against such a thing, I think it would be a good idea because chances are a lot of people on the writing/production side of making films are probably a little bit blind to the issue.

Simply put, passing the Bechdel Test means your film has two or more women and they don't talk about men. The Avengers movie from last year passed, I think all of the Star Wars movies fail.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/swedish-cinemas-bechdel-test-films-gender-bias

Comments

[moiraj.livejournal.com]

This is interesting. On the one hand, I wonder if this will turn off more people than it sways, but on the other, maybe one of the people it does change will grow up to be a great movie maker.

I would be interested in some people counting how many lines of dialogue or screen time male characters v female characters have. I read the Avenger script and it seemed that one of those two female characters had very little participation.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the women in the Avengers movie didn't have much going on, but at least they weren't talking about guys. I saw an article yesterday, unfortunately I didn't capture the link, that PG-13 movies have more gun violence than R. Hollywood seems stuck in the rut that violence is good and relationships are icky and that women can't have a life without a he-man. I think this could change that equation, we'll see what happens.

[moiraj.livejournal.com]

That makes me think of a line from the Rosanne show. Rosanne was objecting to Darlene seeing an R rated movie, and Darlene assured her there was no sex in it, just violence.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Yeesh. I hate the warped Puritan hangover in this country, they've been dead for ages: evolve, people!