Based on a 1985 comic strip by Alison Bechdel, the Bechdel Test is a metric for determining the extent to which a film is a feminist text. To pass the test, films must feature two named female characters who share at least one conversation about something other than a man. The test highlights a couple of things; how startlingly low the bar is, and how shockingly few films would be able to pass over this rudimentary hurdle that aims to support the creation of more complex female characters. Instead, this low bar seems to knock out most films like a troublesome first round of limbo.
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It’s fantastic to have a metric for understanding how well a text is situated within feminist discourse, yet passing the Bechdel Test doesn’t always guarantee that a film is a feminist text. To the contrary; films fromthe Golden Age of Hollywoodalso coincide with a time of staunch misogyny and widespread acceptance of patriarchal values. This is what makes the classic films that pass the Bechdel Test so interesting - they have passed where many films surprisingly fall short, yet there is more complexity to building a feminist text that can also be appreciated.
10’Gone with the Wind' (1939)
Privileged brat and general nuisance Scarlett O’Hara is the central female character ofGone With The Wind, a civil wartime epic that romanticizes a problematic period in United States history. Barely likable and attention-hungry, spending over three hours with Scarlett is likely to make the audience give very few damns about where she will go, or what she will do.
More than one conversation takes place that qualifies the film for a Bechdel badge. Ladies discuss charity, lunch and each other, however little more depth is afforded the women who live within this tightly structured patriarchy, rife with racism and hard to swallow scenes.
9’The Wizard of Oz' (1939)
Everyone’s favorite single girl, Dorothy, is one of the few female leads in film who has no romantic male lead, and is not concerned whatsoever about pursuing love. She is, however, concerned with the woman she just killed with her house, and the closest she comes to caring what a man thinks is her attempt to findThe Wizard of Oz, believing he will ferry her home. As it happens, he’s ill-equipped to do very much at all, and Dorothy saves herself.
Conversations occur between the Wicked Witch of the West and Dorothy regarding the recent homicide and shoe theft in Munchkin Land. Dorothy also speaks with Glinda about how she arrived in Oz, and receives clear and succinct travel directions, both to the Wizard and home at the end.
8’Double Indemnity' (1944)
Femme fatale Phyllis falls in love with an insurance salesman, and uses him to construct an elaborate plot to kill her husband for his life insurance policy.Double Indemnityisfilm noir at its absolute best, despite painting the central woman as a blood-lusting black widow.
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The requirements of the Bechdel Test are met in one brief exchange between Phyllis and her husband’s daughter, Lola, in which they lament that cards are boring. Score one for the Bechdel test, but not much is done to build a female character with greater complexity than a distaste for cards and a penchant for murder.
7’Arsenic and Old Lace' (1944)
Frank Capra’sArsenic and Old Laceis about two adoring aunts who are sugar, spice, and all things nice - except for the fact that they like to murder drifters and bury them in the basement. When a long-lost relative arrives and the police get involved, farcical capers ensue.
Much of the conversation between Martha and Abby revolves around men, but discussions tend to lean pleasantly towards poisoning them. In that sense, the dialogue is really about spiking the wine and hiding bodies. The women also have an exchange about disliking horror films because they’re too grisly, delivered with perfect irony above a basement full of dead drifters.
6’Sunset Boulevard' (1950)
A megalomaniac has-been actress and would-be murderess indulges a brutally depressing fantasy life where she’s still the brightest star in the Hollywood firmament. Delusion and a less than firm grasp on sanity feature heavily inSunset Boulevard, a familiar trope in Hollywood classics with female leads.
Supporting characters Betty and her roommate Connie do have a conversation about something other than a man - however, in yet another blow to feminist discourse, they discuss a woman. Gossip and snarky remarks about the admittedly off-kilter Norma allow the film to pass the test, however portray the female characters as catty conversationalists.
5’All About Eve' (1950)
A harsh musing on celebrity, the craft of acting, and the even more important art of backstabbing,All About Evecharts the rise and rise of a newcomer actress, Eve, and the downfall of her idol, Margot.
Eve and playwright’s wife Karen discuss Margot, the ecosystem of the theater and the interplay of fandom and performance. Remaining on-brand for the way women were portrayed at the time, the central female characters are focused on taking one another down, beginning as harmless sycophants and eventually devolving into backstabbing harpies to stay ahead in a dog-eat-dog industry.
4’A Streetcar Named Desire' (1951)
Adapted fromTennessee Williams' play,A Streetcar Named Desirecoined more than one iconic moment in stage and cinema history. The story is about two sisters; one a faded Southern belle, and the other married to a brutish man whose sensibilities are beastly to a delicate and fragile Blanche. Violence and victimization are themes that burden both women, proving that while the Bechdel Test is a solid metric, it does not guarantee a feminist outcome.
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Sisters Blanche and Stella admittedly discuss Stanley a lot. However, other conversations between the sisters address their old homestead, their family, and their upbringing which is unapologetically romanticized by Blanche. Despite showing yet another example of a central female character being not of sound mind, the tropes are familiar, but mercifully the characters are more complex.
3’Singin' In The Rain' (1952)
Singin' In The Rainisan unmissable musical comedyabout the adaptation of cinema and its stars from silent films to talkies. This classiclove letter to cinemahas earned a well-deserved place in the hearts of cinephiles for its unforgettable musical numbers, comedic scenes and hilarious imagined history of a changing cinematic landscape.
The meatiest conversation between two women involves Lina, a film star whose transition to talkies is hindered by the fact that her voice sounds like pulping a bag of rusty nails in a second-hand blender. She speaks with her diction coach, Phoebe Dinsmore, to address these vocal concerns. While the coaching sessions are less successful than hoped, the scene gives viewers one of the best comedic performances of the decade.
2’How To Marry A Millionaire' (1953)
How To Marry A Millionairetakes the plight of the single woman in 1950s Manhattan to a cynical and brutally funny place. Perhaps speaking to the quality of available men, the women are cunning and dispassionate in their choice of mate. Even when they do speak about men, the men are generally objectified and reduced to a financial figure.
While the title concept seems shallow and flippant, it responds to an age when women couldn’t have financial independence - hence, the necessity for marrying said millionaire was a higher-stakes pursuit. Plenty of conversations revolve around men - how to select the best crop, how to manipulate them into marriage - but the ladies' discussions of transport and moving in together get the Bechdel tick.
1’Some Like It Hot' (1959)
Two jazz musicians witness the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and flee to the only place they won’t be found by the offending mobsters - an all-female jazz band.The American Film Institute’s best comedy of all time,Some Like It Hothit fantastic farcical highs, despite also reaching problematic, gender-biased lows.
Despitea largely female cast, few interactions meet the requirements of the Bechdel Test, and the only exception is the interaction between band master Sweet Sue and Dolores regarding room arrangements at the band’s Miami digs. Though far from perfect as regards feminist character advancement, apparently nobody’s perfect.
