Image from FanPopīeyond that, I have never given any thought to the subliminal messages that our children could be taking away from the movies they viewed – that woman are superficial, a prize to be won once you defeated the dark side, and only an accessory to a man – until I saw this video from Colin Stokes on TedxTalks: … and Eep from The Croods who represents the “larger girl” who is stronger than her love interest – Guy (although I still think she is a bit too gushy for my liking). Even then, I only looked for broader messages like fighting racism, building character with adversity, and developing a growth mindset. I also noticed and appreciated the improvements in the way movies portrayed the female characters in animated features like Brave, whose female protagonist is the unlady-like Merida climbing cliff faces and riding off on horses with her bow and arrows (whom I can totally relate to because that’s exactly the kind of girl I was growing up – without a single lady-like bone in my body)… Image from FanPop Until I had children, I have never really thought much about the messages we have been receiving from the movies we watch. Even one of my all-time favourite movies (the original Star Wars trilogy) flunked the test miserably! In fact, many of the movies I’ve watched and thoroughly enjoyed all fail the Bechdel test. The test is simple enough (and even considered to be setting the bar too low), but it seems a lot of movies are failing it. Subliminal Messages Our Children are Learning from the Movies they Watch Is the conversation about anything other than a man?.Are there two or more women in the movie?. ![]() So for a movie to pass the Bechdel Test, it has to meet three criteria: If the women do have a conversation, it is almost always about a man. Even if there is a strong female lead in the movie, she usually lacks depth of character and is rarely shown having conversations with other female characters in the movie. Most female characters depicted are usually done so in relation to a man in the movie – mostly being the love interest and needing to be rescued. The rule is basically about the unequal representation of women in films. Alright, we’re late on the bandwagon since this rule has been around since 1985 when it was first introduced by Alison Bechdel in her comic strip “ Dykes to Watch Out For“. There is something I learned about recently called “The Bechdel Test”.
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