Bechdel Test Movie List

Judge Kaplan describes to Ma-Ma how she's going to kill Judge Anderson.

Anderson also speaks with Cathy, the woman in the apartment, about how to make the elevator work and how Cathy wants the Judges off her level and away from her and her family.

Also, Anderson talks to the (female) Chief Judge at the beginning.
The fact that part of the judges are female and that a woman is in command of them is treated as something so natural it's not even pointed out or discussed.
And female Judges' uniforms look almost exactly like those of their male colleagues - no silly steel bra or tight-fitting latex or exaggerated cleavage or similar.

Funny- if basically a First Person Shooter movie can meet the Bechdel Test- pretty much anything can.

Note that this is a very simply plotted- kill or be killed film- the screenwriters could have totally taken the out that a conversation between women would not advance the plot.

What helps is that so many women are involved- the main villain Ma-Ma for one- she is a former prostitute- but what might be a trope in other films makes perfect sense in this dystopia.

I was so fascinated by gender in this movie, because it was such a typical generic action flick in every single way except for the role of female characters. There were multiple interesting female characters, some protagonists, some villains. They were far more fleshed out and interesting than any of the male characters, including the lead, and interacted with one another in a number of scenes.

None of the women in Dredd talk about anything that advances the plot. The female interactions are essentially meaningless. For a true pass, I feel the women have to discuss something beyond chit-chat.

The conversation between Anderson and the Chief Judge at the begining of the film is the introduction to her character and establishes who Anderson is in the context of the universe where the film exists.

If you remove this scene, the audience will be confused when Anderson mentions her psychic abilities before the raid, or when she uses those abilities after the raid.

It also should be noted that this film is of the classic "hero's journey" plot, although Anderson is the hero. As with the comics, Dredd is the straight man, and Anderson in the character that shows emotion, and the audience relates too. Olivia Thirlby is great casting (as is Urban), and puts in a great performance.

@Ian Cooper - I take your point, but I disagree with your disagreement. To me, part of the point of the test is that so few movies pass it, even though it ought to be laughably easy. Even a five-second interaction along the lines of "Hi Jane," - "Hi Jill," - "Nice weather!" - "Yes, isn't it?" would technically do the job, and yet look how many can't even manage that! Introducing an additional requirement (4 - Which advances the plot) - much as I'd like that to be something that happens in films, as a matter of course - muddies the simplicity of a test that underlines how ridiculously marginalised women are in many films.

Judge Kaplan and Anderson, two-thirds of the way though, have a full conversation, albeit short, in a corridor, and it is nothing to do with a man.

Second Marzipan & Nony's comments. The Cathy's apartment scene was important as it showed Anderson that she couldn't treat the world as Black & White, as Dredd did. There are consequences, even perps may have a family life.

I would agree that the conversation with Cathy had no importance to the plot- if Anderson wasn't a main character. She and Ma-Ma are more developed than any others, including the title character. This was not a character heavy story, but because of that, every little moment we spent with these characters have to count, and for the most part they did.

Female characters and acting essentially defined this movie. At least 70% of the key actions that moved the movie forward involved a woman making a decision in a leadership role over men.

Judge Anderson was the only protagonist that changed throughout the movie. She went from being a complete novice with no street experience to taking down the largest drug empire in the city. Without her, they wouldn't have known of Kay's importance, they would have died near the beginning in the hallway (vs several armed men), never found out about the worse than meth drug superlab, Lex would have killed Dredd, and so on etc. She overcame men mentally and physically throughout the movie, and when objectified sexually, she destroyed the man attacking her.

Ma Ma was the lead antagonist. The entire movie is dictated by her moves as drug lord of the block/city. She locked down the block, called every shot for the gang, massacred thousands of people, physically dominated men 3x her size, and was incredibly successful in her own life despite her background as a physically abused prostitute and powerless sex trade victim.

There are truly as many scenes or more involving a powerful and respectable woman advancing the plot as compared to men. I would go so far as to say Judge Dredd was literally just the equivalent of a robot, advancing, killing things in his way, using advanced martial arts and combat skills, but lacking the vast intelligence and empathy of Anderson, the flexibility of the Chief Justice, or the overlord mastermind capability of Ma Ma.

If this movie doesn't represent Women being treated as equals in a traditionally male dominated genre, nothing will. I think anyone that thinks this movie isn't gender neutral needs to really think about what they would change, and then ask themselves if the movie would just be patronizing powerful women at that point as a trope pandering to feminists with those changes.

Thanks for reading,

David

David:
> think about what they would change, and then ask themselves if the movie would just be patronizing

Here's one non-patronizing change: in the final confrontation with Ma-Ma, reverse the roles of Dredd and Anderson, ie he's a bit slow on the draw (understandable since he's still injured) and she's the one who improvises judgment on Ma-Ma.
- it cements Anderson's narrative arc from passively following Dredd's lead ("you don't look ready" and "wrong answer?") to confidently leading the charge
- it would have made clear that Anderson's character arc was developing her own a sense of justice which cuts both ways: clemency even though the technician broke law, execution even though it may put lives at risk
- it would have emphasized the contrast between Ma-Ma's and Anderson's respective philosophies in how to confront a bleakly violent world: nihilism backed by violence for the former, judgement backed by violence for the latter

I agree with the test rating. Anderson, Head Judge, Ma Ma, and evil female backstabber judge are all involved in trying to arrest/prevent arrest of Ma Ma. They are not romantic interests.

And I think it's an excellent movie. I did think the female angle was a little forced, though. Lena Headey (Ma Ma) is awesome and believable. No problem. But then they have to layer it on further. But Anderson (Thirlby) is too pretty to be completely believable. But the movie still works well. The Head Judge was straight out of diversity casting (and fat).

In general, the movie falls prey to the "butt kicking babe" fantasy of young gamers. Which is very unrealistic. But it was so good it overcame it.