Bechdel Test Movie List

/bech·del test/ n.
1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

[[3]] Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) [imdb]

This movie passed 3 of 3 tests (although dubious). It was entered by zugabdu on 2011-09-01 09:31:22.

Reviews

Comments

zugabdu said:
Uhura asks a female passer-by where the naval base is in Alameda. I'm not 100% sure whether this passes because Chekov pipes in to the conversation to ask about "nuclear wessels." Does it count when two women are talking to each other, but a man is also participating in the conversation?
Message posted on 2011-09-01 09:31:23
PeteW disagreed with the rating and said:
To answer your question- I'd say it does count if a man pipes in as long as his part in the conversation is less significant. But the conversation has to be between too "characters" not just a character and a walk on so I guess this is a fail. Shame I love the film and at least Kirk's love interest gets a responcible job outside Starfleet.
Message posted on 2011-10-19 20:49:14
J disagreed with the rating and said:
Doesn't it fail flatly because the passer by is not named? My reading of the rules says the to conversationalists have to be named characters, not just having two named characters at all.

I think this is a 1.
Message posted on 2012-12-14 04:17:07
Richard disagreed with the rating and said:
Let's see how it matches up:

1. There are probably about four named women in there I can think of: Uhura, Dr. Gillian Taylor, Amanda (Spock's mother) and Saavik.

2. The only instances of women talking to each other do include Uhura and the random passer-by who is not named (so doesn't count) and Gillian and the old lady in the crowd (not named). Uhura and Gillian appear on the Klingon ship bridge in the same scene and both have dialogue, but don't *directly* talk to one another as far as I can tell.

3. And the old lady? She's talking about a man (sort of, if you want to quibble about species)- Spock, who is swimming with the whales.
Message posted on 2013-05-26 21:39:48
Sam said:
Not only is the passerby unnamed, but that was an unscripted moment. I'd say it fails for a second count since that interaction was unintended.
Message posted on 2013-09-02 22:52:32
Tally said:
But is there not also a (named) female Captain who try to talk whith Uhura, but then the contact failed?
Message posted on 2014-01-23 19:06:12
thereaverofdarkness disagreed with the rating and said:
This movie fails the second test. No two named women actually speak with each other.

In response to Zugabdu and PeteW: It doesn't matter how many men are present or how important their speech is--if two named women involved in the conversation talk to each other about something other than a man, it passes.
Message posted on 2014-05-03 02:37:10
shorty disagreed with the rating and said:
I agree it only passes 2/3 tests because there's not that many named women and they never have a real conversation together. Amanda talks with Spock, Saavik talks with Kirk, Gillian talks with many people EXCEPT Uhura and everyone after that is a nameless nobody. Having said that, all the women in the movie do posses strong moral character and are not treated like idiots or objects, and Gillian has real agency. She basically saves the planet because she's the only whale expert willing to help the heroes.
Message posted on 2023-06-25 00:58:39

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