As women of color, we have been advised to lower our standards in men if we hope to end up married. The state of our love lives has become as newsworthy as the state of affairs in foreign countries, with both issues gracing the pages of significant news publications. Understandably, we shot back with an overwhelming number of our own blog posts, magazine articles, and public discussions. We wanted our sides of the story to be heard.
However, we’ve yet to become as provoked about the films, or lack thereof, focused on and featuring women of color as we have about marriage statistics. Sure, our business was put on blast when reporters decided to investigate our alleged pathos, but the repressed representations of women of color in film has a far more regressive impact on our advancement as people (that includes women and men) than those articles.
When the Sex and the City 2 movie opened in theaters, my girls and I dressed to the nines in honor of the momentous occasion, rainy weather and all. Afterwards, we headed out to grab a bite to eat and discuss the film. While our opinions varied, we all agreed that whatever issues we had with the film paled in comparison to the fact that we had just had an awesome girls’ night out. Having had the opportunity to watch a female dominated film, which are few and far between, had been the icing on the cake.
About eight hot wings and fifteen cheesy fries later, one of my friends mentioned “The Bechdel Test,” a movie evaluation popularized in 1985 by Alison Bechdel’s comic Dykes To Watch Out For in the infamous strip titled “The Rule.” In the strip, one of Bechdel’s characters explains that she only watches movies that fulfill the three following requirements:
- The movie must have at least two (named*) women characters in it,
- Who talk to each other,
- About something other than a man.
*added through Mo Movie Measurements, a slight variation of The Bechdel Test, for all intents and purposes.
It was my first time hearing of such a test and I began running through a list of movies in my head, searching for any titles that matched the criteria. This task was challenging enough already but, to make matters worse (as many overachievers enjoy doing) I decided to throw women of color characters into the mix. After a few minutes of wondering about the eligibility of some movies, I ultimately came up empty handed. At the end of the day, the movies we remember most clearly are our favorite movies, and apparently none of my favorites made the cut.
In order to accurately determine which movies make the final cut, I’ll have to go back to the basics and personally scrutinize films, a task that will not only be fun but also easy (thank you, Netflixs!) Beginning next week, one movie of my own or your (the reader’s) choice will be put to the test and featured in The Black Bechdel Test column each week. Accompanying the movie’s Bechdel score will be a good sized review of the movie, in case you’re interested in checking it out for yourself.
Note: The purpose of this column is not to review every movie made, but, instead, to uncover great films that may have been disregarded mainly because of their inclusion of women of color. Through this column, I also hope to highlight the inclusion (or lack there of) of women of color in films about and/or made by people of color, in order to demonstrate and discuss the way we portray ourselves in film.
As a former English and Black Studies major, I’ve seen my fair share of films (thank you, Blacks in Film course!) so I definitely have a great starting place. And, of course, I’ll also have the input of you all–the readers! If you’ve recently watched or came across a movie that you believe fits The Black Bechdel Test, then please share them. If they pass the test, then they’ll make the list. Of course, some movies will be hazy as to whether or not it actually passes the test, but I’ll leave that up for you all to debate.
So, there you have it. Now start rounding up those movie titles. My Netflix account awaits!
For more information on The Bechdel Test and a running list of current movies put to the test, please see: Bechdel Test Movie List
