Movies have been an integral part of society, and the type of movies one watches can define their character to a significant extent. Thus, movie creators have to take intensive care and have a moulding approach to the movie they are making. Most care in the world can still leave the sculpture with indiscretions if the sculptor is biased with his own thoughts subconsciously.
There’s this thing called The Bechdel Test. It tells us how male-dominated the movie-creating sector of our society is and is used to analyze the movie from a feminist’s point of view.
To pass The Bechdel Test, a movie has to pass three conditions:
- It has at least two women in it
- they must, at some point in the movie, talk to each other
- the conversation should be something besides a man.
It doesn’t seem like great odds for a movie to fail this test. But in reality, 40% of the movies actually fail the test. Even films with no clear masculine motives, like Toy Story, fail this test.
It was noted that the chances of a movie passing this test was inversely proportional to the number of male writers in the film. And it is not necessary that if a film does not pass Bechdel’s Test, it is made by a misogynist team of people. Even some of the films made by top filmmakers like Harvey Weinstein and Bruce Berman fail this test.
It has been seen that European studios are far more progressive than the US. Some of the biggest studios in the US disappoint in the most peculiar ways. For example – 53% of Warner Bros. movies fail the test, 54% of Columbia movies fail the test, and 55% of Dreamworks movies fail the test.
It is actually the result of the default subconscious stereotype that males are more dominating than females in real-world society. So, some creators don’t even notice that the movie they are making is not an exact replica of the real world. However, an obvious solution was given for the problem. This was to hire more diverse and woman employees in the movie-making business, which is largely male-dominated.
There are many small details that are lacking from modern movies, which is stopping the movie business from being ‘ideal’. Though subtle, we are a significant mile away from it because films are still struggling to simulate real life in its purest form.
The Journal Club 
Singular movies failing the test shouldn’t be given that much priority, especially since the test was originally written as a joke in a 1985 comic ‘Dykes to Watch Out For’.
I think what’s more critical is examining why a movie failed the test. The Avengers failed the test despite having powerful female characters in it. Whereas the intention of the test is to highlight movies which supposedly have a few female characters(supporting mainly) and yet when they are left alone, the sole topic of conversation that the writers think they could be having is about their boyfriends(or just males in general).
Whereas you were absolutely right in pointing out the worryingly high number of films that fail it, created by such greatly upheld and well-regarded studios.
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