Ep. 49: Is it Time for a new Bechdel Test?

Since the early 1980s, the Bechdel-Wallace test (often just called “The Bechdel Test”) has helped call attention to the gender imbalance in Hollywood by asking two simple questions of a film: Does it have at least two named female characters? And do those characters have at least one conversation that is not about a man? But nearly 40 years since its creation, is the test in need of a successor that could better influence Hollywood’s decision makers? To find out Rob and Geoff speak with Walt Hickey, Ella Koeze, Rachael Dottle of FiveThirtyEight.com. The three recently published a study where they interviewed a number of women writers, directors, actresses and producers, and asked them what they thought the next Bechdel Test should be. They then ran these new tests on the top 50 films of 2016 to see how they stacked up. Hickey, Koeze and Dottle discuss how the opinion of the Bechdel test has evolved since 1980, why the time seemed right to find a replacement for the test, and the glaring need for female representation behind the camera, in addition to onscreen. They also point out the distressing lack of Latina representation in top grossing films, and wonder how this year’s crop of potential Oscar nominees would fair when taking these newly imagined tests.