Disney Movies Fail to Pass a Simple Test Regarding Interactions Between Women

-
How hard is it to produce a 90+ minute movie script (with, ahem, a female lead character) and include just one conversation between two named women where they discuss something other than men? Very hard, apparently.


The test described above is named for Alison Bechdel, who attributes its creation to her friend Liz Wallace. The Bechdel Test is frequently used to evaluate Disney princess movies, and judge the communication between women within them. One conversation really is not that complicated, but among further examination… many movies struggle to pass the test.


Certain princess movies, such as The Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, pass. Other movies, such as Aladdin and Mulan, definitely fail. However, there is a third category of movies that falls into a grey area; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Alice in Wonderland are just two examples of a movie that elicit some confusion about their qualifications to pass because of the lack of real names assigned to female characters (i.e. “The Queen”). According to a test done by a writer for Her Campus, Disney had a 45% pass rate (and the writer was generous with some of the points awarded) for the Bechdel Test. The very idea that it was hard to score some movies, because Disney was getting by through loopholes, is problematic. It seems as though a single conversation between two named women about a topic other than men should be a minimum standard for a movie – especially when the franchise producing it is so impactful on young children. The lack of empowering dialogue between women in these films threatens to teach both young girls and boys that women’s only real interest is men, which reinforces harmful gender stereotypes as those young kids grow up and begin to develop personal views of themselves and their peers.


Mendelson, Tamara. “So How Many Disney Movies Pass the Bechdel Test?” Her Campus, 6 May         2017, www.hercampus.com/school/ucsb/so-how-many-disney-movies-pass-bechdel-test

Garber, Megan. “Call It the 'Bechdel-Wallace Test'.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 Aug.      2015, www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/08/call-it-the-bechdel-wallace-test/402259/.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Impact of Increasing Prices of Entry to Walt Disney World and Disneyland

-
Image
During the second week of February 2018, Walt Disney World and Disneyland increased their entry prices. The price of each entry option was heightened anywhere from a couple dollars to over ten dollars more. The price for a family of four to attend Magic Kingdom park in Orlando, FL for one day now amounts to $526. Personally, I am not super surprised that Disney is raising its prices; I imagine that, from a business perspective, this is the ideal change. Disney is so enormously popular; people plan out entire trips just to visit the parks. For this reason, I doubt that the amount of people who attend the Disney parks will actually change all that much. Most people will probably be willing to pay the higher prices, increasing Disney’s revenue pretty extensively over time. However, I think that the socioeconomic class diversity at Disney (to the extent that it exists...) may end up decreasing. While people obviously have to have a certain amount of wealth in order to ...
Read more

Reflection: Susan Jeffords

-
The Susan Jeffords piece on The Beauty and the Beast was fascinating - especially because it delved deeply into the differences between the original fairytale and the Disney version. I really enjoyed her discussion of Disney’s portrayal of the Beast as a somewhat helpless victim, despite the fact that the corporation changed his character to be at least partially deserving of the curse. This has also always frustrated me (at least as I have become re-familiarized with the film in the last couple years). I imagine being cursed and turned into an animal is not pleasant, but that does not mean that the Beast gets a free pass for his abuse, kidnapping, and aggressive anger. No matter what has happened to you, treating someone like that is unacceptable. However, it feels to me as though Disney tries to somewhat excuse or justify his behavior by providing an immediate backstory. In doing so, Disney romanticizes domestic abuse and encourages the audience to express sympathy for the perpetra...
Read more

Release of Black Panther: Implications for Disney and the Audience

-
Image
On Friday, February 16th, 2018, Black Panther was released in theaters. The movie was released by Marvel, which has the Walt Disney Corporation as its parent company. Disney had provided a $200 million budget for the film, which, for the first time, starred a black actor playing a superpower, and was directed by a black man. In just the first weekend, the movie has generated over $360 million across the world. The release of this movie was highly anticipated, especially because of its messages about race - both in stories and in Hollywood. Many believe that it will set a powerful example of black leadership - especially for younger audiences, who will finally be able to see themselves reflected in power positions in films of this genre. I believe this proves that movies are not simply a couple hours of our lives that, otherwise, have no impact on our lives or development. Rather, the messages depicted through the entertainment industry can both empower and destro...
Read more