When I first heard that one of the new major characters introduced in the recent "Star Wars" film was going to be female, I was pretty stoked. As a comic-book-loving teenage girl, it's always awesome to see other females assuming the role of heroes and taking care of business, both on paper and in film. Daisy Ridley's portrayal of Rey was captivating and inspiring, Lupita N'Yong'o's role as Maz Kanata showed a whole new field of her talents as an actress, Gwendoline Christie made a powerful introduction for her character, Captain Phasma, and Carrie Fisher was stellar as General (no longer Princess) Leia. So, when I read online that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" had passed the Bechdel test, I was even more impressed with the film. Not only was the film everything I could've wanted from the franchise and more, it also kicked butt in the female representation department? "Awesome! The new 'Star Wars' passed the Bechdel test," I eagerly thought to myself while reading the article. But, then I found myself thinking, "Wait, this Bechdel thing, and what does this actually test for?"
I was so excited about the film passing the Bechdel test, but didn't really know what the test was. I knew it had to do with the representation of female characters in a film, but I didn't know the standards a film had to meet to be approved. According to Wikipedia, the Bechdel test (also called the Bechdel-Wallace test) first appeared in 1985 in Alison Bechdel's comic strip, "Dykes to Watch Out For." The test is simple and only has three standards.
1) the film has to have two named female characters,
2) these characters have to talk to each other,
3) this conversation has to be about something other than a man.
After actually finding out what the Bechdel test was, I was taken aback by the simplicity of it all. Here I was, thinking that the test was filled with analytical studies, sprinkled with ratio examinations, stuffed with script evaluations, and more. Yet, this test, that seems to be hailed as the key to highlighting the issue of female representation in the media, is utterly unsophisticated for the subject it supposedly helps point out.
Now, don't get me wrong here. I think the Bechdel test was incredibly important to the feminist movement. (Feminism, or "the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities," clearly defined by Merriam-Webster.) The test was created in 1985, when the issue of female representation in the media wasn't even discussed often. The test was progressive and started to bring people's attention to how women were portrayed in film, but 1985 was over three decades ago. What I'm trying to point out here is that the Bechdel test is outdated for our modern society. The world is not the same place that is was 30 years ago; we've made so many strides to better equalize representation in media. We need to update our standards to continue catalyzing positive change.
A film shouldn't get a check in its "female representation" column just because it has two females that have one conversation about something other than men. The simplicity of this for modern times is almost sad! A film could have a 30-second scene of two (named) girls talking about a pair of shoes, and it could potentially pass the Bechdel test!
That just doesn't seem fair to me for today's society. When a film does its part in realistically representing women, it should get its due credit, and the Bechdel test can't distinguish films of this merit from their counterparts that do a lesser job of this anymore.
On a more positive outlook, I think that many films today that passed the Bechdel test could also pass a more difficult and complex representation assessment. I believe that a film like "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" would pass a test of this nature easily, especially for the male-dominated genre of science-fiction.
After all of this, you may still be wondering, "Why does updating the Bechdel test have to be such a big deal?" Representation in the media is astoundingly important. It's hard to understand this concept until you experience a change in representation yourself. It's incredible what the impact of seeing characters that you have things in common with on-screen can do for your self-confidence. You might be able to picture yourself doing things that you hadn't even started to believe were possible for yourself in the past. Personally, when I see females in comics or films that are heroes with strong personalities and intellects taking on new feats, I feel like I can also achieve more in my life, just from watching other women accomplish their own exploits.
Representation in the media is vital. As a society, we're continually making improvements to better our understanding and solve this issue. We shouldn't stop now; we should keep making updates to our systems of social advancement so the improvements can keep rolling in. Now, if you want a good example of a film making strides in the right direction on this topic, that's right, go watch the new "Star Wars." (You know you want to.)
