Joss and the Bechdel Measure

I just got my nine-year-old daughter to watch Joss Whedon's Equality Now award acceptance speech. We were talking about why she hadn't wanted to watch "Meet the Robinsons", which was actually pretty good, but why she and the friends who were sleeping over had preferred to watch "Legally Blonde", which is so-so but she loves it. And I had just run - again - across the "Bechdel Measure", which we were applying to kid's films. To pass the "Bechdel Measure" a film must have

1. At least two women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something other than a man.

And if you think it's hard to find films for grown ups that pass that test, try kid's films! Just to mention kid's films I really enjoyed:

• Toy Story
• Toy Story 2 - well, unless you count the dance between the little cowgirl doll and her female owner, until the female owner grew up, discovered boys, and put the little doll out in the recycling ...
• Monsters Inc - and I loved this film!
• Meet the Robinsons - which I just rented last night and quite enjoyed
• Finding Nemo - Mom gratuitously killed in the first 30 seconds; whole film is about a boy and his dad, and every helper figure he meets is also male, with the sole exception of Dory, a substitute mom-figure. Who never talks to or indeed meets another female...
• Happy Feet - buddy story, 3 guys, a couple of girl penguins sure but they never talk to each other, one is a mom and one is a girlfriend for the lead penguin
• Star Wars, all six parts - and the last 3 don't even have a pretense of a strong female character ...
• Any Miyazaki movie - in strong contrast to the above, they all seem to think that what female character do matters! Even when there aren't any boys in the room! As frequently happens! No wonder my daughter likes them. No wonder I do. And my son does too.

Most of these films don't even have 2 female characters. So by those standards "Legally Blonde" may be a so-so film but it's way ahead on the Bechdel Scale.
I want to start a "Bechdel measure" category on IMDB.
But meanwhile, and to come back to Joss: no wonder we love him. We're actually in his stories. Everything he does passes the Bechdel Measure. So I can't wait to dig out my Buffy disks to start watching them again once this reno is finally done - with my daughter this time.
In the meantime she wants to start fundraising to send athletic equipment to girls in Afghanistan. Well, I suggested doing something like that. But I'm happy to help her out with it. Obviously. And maybe adding Bechdel Measure Ratings to the IMDB listings.

Related articles

• The Avengers Didn't Pass the Bechdel Test. Oh well!

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