Women in Film: The Bechdel Test

It’s a new year… and perhaps time for a new focus. What if that focus could be on half of the population of our planet—a half that, in today’s world, is under-served in film? I’m sad to say that the half of the population who gets little attention in film is… women.

So let’s start by looking at how we determine if women are well-served in films. The industry standard, in both the U.S. and around the world, has become the Bechdel Test. This is a test that helps determine whether films are biased when it comes to gender.

Alison Bechdel gave birth to this test in a comic strip she wrote. Two women were talking about going to a movie, and one woman says to the other: “Well… I dunno. See, I only go to a movie if it satisfies at least three basic requirements. One, it has to have at least two women in it who… two, talk to each other about, three, something besides a man.”

Cute, huh?

Or maybe way more than cute. So thought critics, analysts and film festivals worldwide. There are now festivals where the filmmakers have to include a Bechdel analysis of the film they’re submitting! How cool is that?

The idea that women’s stories are worth telling is something I’ve come back to over and over again in my writing life. I’ve had optioned or been commissioned to write films on:

• Berthe Morisot [Distance, the story of the French Impressionist painter, a founding member of the core group of six Impressionists]
• Edna St. Vincent Millay [Vincent, the story of the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for poetry]
• Nancy Cunard [Nancy, the story of the reporter, writer and advocate for equal rights of Blacks]
• Ada Byron Lovelace [Ada, the story of the woman considered to be the first computer programmer]
• Frida Kahlo [Frida, the story of the Mexican painter’s life and art]

One thing you might notice—only one of these five films has been made—Frida. The others, though commissioned or optioned by the studios/producers, have yet to be made.

But the more important question is, what drew me to these stories? Universally it was that this was a woman artist or writer whose work needed to be brought to the attention of the world. And as all of these women were trailblazers in their time, their personal lives blazed trails as well—making the totality of their existence riveting, making me want to tell their amazing stories.

But the mindset of Hollywood has been that films with female leads don’t pay off as well for the studio as films with male leads. But guess what… the tide may just be turning.

More about that next week.

Copyright © Diane Lake

07Jan18

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com