Happy November! October is always a fun month, but November and December remain my favorites. While I am definitely the person who starts celebrating Christmas earlier and earlier each year, I'll refrain from posting Disney Christmas/winter content until December.
Today, I'm going to visit some of my least favorite parts of Disney—or more accurately, of movies in general. It's not a secret that the film industry is male-dominated; as a result of this trend, the Bechdel test was created as an informal examination of the portrayal of women in films. To pass the Bechdel test, a movie must have at least two named female characters who talk to each other about something besides a man. It doesn't seem like a hard test; however, it's one that several movies—modern or classic, animated or live-action, for children or for adults—fail. Unfortunately, Disney movies do not have the best track record with the Bechdel test.
The Bechdel Test was created based on cartoonist Alison Bechdel's comic strip "The Rule."
Photo Retrieved from CBE International.
It's important to note that the Bechdel test is not a feminist vs. anti-feminist test. Passing the test doesn't necessarily make a movie feminist, and failing the test doesn't make a movie anti-feminist. Plenty of Disney movies that don't pass the test include complex, well-rounded women and portray feminist ideas. What the Bechdel test does show us is how often men are featured in films (especially films that are supposed to be about women) and how little women are featured talking about anything except men. A movie with a boundary-breaking female lead can fail the Bechdel test if the female's main goal is to save her father, making most of her lines about a man.
Does that plot sound familiar? That's right, Mulan, often seen as a pioneering feminist princess movie, does not unilaterally pass the Bechdel test. While some people claim it does, others point out that conversations about marriage or matchmaking are still about men. The main culprit for its failure is the overall lack of women in the film. When Mulan is with women, the conversation is about men: marriage, her father, Li Shang, etc. Mulan's ancestors talk to each other, but they are unnamed. There are a few very, very small bits of dialogue that may allow Mulan to pass (Fa Li notices notes on Mulan's arms, Grandmother Fa tells Fa Li she has a lucky cricket, etc.), but there is disagreement over whether these counts since they are all permeated by matchmaking or marriage (and are very short pieces of dialogue regardless).
Mulan and her mother Fa Li do have a few conversations; however, do conversations about matchmaking and marriage count enough to pass the test?
Photo Retrieved from Bustle.
Mulan isn't the only princess movie that doesn't 100% pass the test. Aladdin doesn't pass either. Like Mulan, Aladdin features almost no female characters; outside of Jasmine, the only female characters are unnamed side characters whose roles don't amount to much—and even then, they are always talking about Aladdin. Even Jasmine's lines are about a man in some way, mostly because she is talking about the other characters in the movie (as characters would), and since those characters are males...
You start to see why so many movies don't pass the test.
There are also several Disney movies that technically pass the test, but their passing is a bit of a stretch. Beauty and the Beast, which features a feminist Belle and criticizes what is now-known as toxic masculinity, also suffers from the lack of female characters. The enchanted objects include some female characters, but they're almost always talking about the Beast. It's a very brief conversation between Belle and Mrs. Potts about dinner that passes the test, but depending on who you talk to, this may not even count since the conversation is about a dinner with the Beast.
Similarly, in The Little Mermaid, Ariel and Ursula/Vanessa are the only main female characters. While Ariel and Ursula technically have a conversation about Ariel becoming human (which is not about a man), this dialogue seems iffy to count because Ariel's motivation to be human is because of Eric. Thus, the conversation is not technically about a man, but it is still permeated by it.
Of course, there are several movies that don't fail the test. Frozen and Frozen 2 pass with flying colors. Brave has no problem passing the test. In fact, Sleeping Beauty passes without a problem because of the dominant presence of the fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. On the other hand, Moana's grandmother isn't named in the movie, just the credits—so is that enough for the movie to pass the test? Tangled passes because Rapunzel and Mother Gothel talk to each other at the beginning of the film, but most of their conversation after the beginning is about the generic "scary men" or Flynn/Eugene. Thus, while current films do show a lot of progressivism and feminism, they still struggle to enthusiastically pass the Bechdel test.
Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather steal the show in Sleeping Beauty. Very little of their conversation is about a man.
Photo Retrieved from Disney Fandom | Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather
As I said, failing the Bechdel test doesn't mean a movie is terrible; it simply shows us how few named women actually make it into films. So what's the lesson for Disney (and really all movies?) Most of the Disney films that fail the test do so because of the lack of main female characters. It makes sense that female characters would only talk to men if most of the characters in the movie are men. It's not the movie's plots need to become more feminist (though in some cases, they certainly could). It's that there needs to be a shift in the types of characters we see in films and how they interact with each other.
Since the Bechdel test can be debated, there isn't an ironclad list of which movies pass and which don't; however, if you're interested in seeing how other people test the movies, check out these two blogs posts: The Bechdel Test and Disney and So How Many Disney Movies Pass the Bechdel Test?
Do you think we will see more Disney movies that pass the Bechdel test? What about all movies in the film industry? Leave a comment or send me a message, and don't forget to check out my content on my Instagram: @genielampofstories!
Until later, have courage and be kind.
Comments