Bechdel Test Movie List

Ripley is the only (alive) woman in this film.

it's interesting that "alien 3" fails the test right out of the gate, whereas the previous two pass.

of course, it fails specifically for the merit of its intentional gender commentary: placing a relatively strong female lead in a colony of (celibate) "extra-male" rapists. surely there are feminist themes here...

It's not so much that I disagree with the rating, which is technically correct, but that I agree with arachnophilia. You have a strong female lead, one that potentially revolutionized female leads in the previous films even. You have a strong male lead (the doctor) who is completely egalitarian, even when it comes to sex. You have another strong male lead (Dillon) who is somewhat misogynist, but in a protective way. You then have just about every level of misogyny from the indifferent administrators to the convicts that simply see Ripley as nothing more than a piece sexual meat to be raped. This too is part of the social commentary and I thought the writers did an excellent job looking at these kinds of issues from all angles.

In this case I think it's the Bechdel Test that fails, not the movie.

Really, I'm having trouble taking all of this seriously.

1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it

1) Ripley
2) Newt

Would also like to add that this movie proves just how ridiculous the Bechdel Test really is when a movie like Alien 3 doesn't even make the grade.

And a movie like Night of the Living Dead (which, it must be said, is in every other way the superior movie) passes the test.

This is a perfect example of the limitations of the Bechdel test. While a good benchmark overall for judging female representation in films it should not be seen as a defining goal for all films to strive for. Alien 3 is full of feminist themes as Ripley deals with rapists and murders of women, who all see her as an inferior sex object, while being forced to become the leader who will help everyone overcome the odds and defeat the alien.

A very passionate film about false faith and the power of an individual, regardless of gender. Fails the Bechdel test on every measure. Wins for feminism 100%.