Bechdel Test Movie List

Nickelodeon series adaptation.
Main female character. Katara, reduced to a barbified version. Speech showing her strength in the series, incorporated into the main male character.

Kyoshi warriors (all female) eliminated from the film, when they are pivotal to the future of the series.

I think feminist viewers will also want to know that this film has been 'whitewashed', white actors cast in roles which should have been given to people of colour. See this article on racebending.com.

I can't believe they would completely remove the Kyoshi warriors!

Katara talks to her Grandmother about Aang (in the beginning where for some reason Katara does not know what the Avatar or Spirit World is, despite later saying she always knew he'd come back).

Or does that not count, since her brother was also in the scene?

Lydia has a point, it passes 2 of the 3 tests. There is ( minimal) female involvement and interaction, but it exists.

As someone mentioned, I think Katara talks to her Grandmother about the Spirit World and about her mother, and therefore passes all 3 rules, though certainly not with flying colors.

I think people should watch the cartoon instead, because it passes hardcore.

THIS MOVIE SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MADE. Do you not see the significance in the animation? In today's terms, we'd say everyone in this world is "mixed". It's probably a hopeful outlook for the future, but that would be the DISTANT future, since everyone's still so hung up on race and genetics.

People griping about "racebending" don't seem to understand a key significant point in the animation: EVERYONE IS BLENDED.
1) The children's eyes were wide and round ("childish wonder") while the adults' eyes were more focused. Eastern Asians DO have narrower eyes than "caucasians" (why we settled on that term for people of middle-eastern descent, I'll never understand), so get over it!
2) Dark skin, blue eyes; you get that in areas where blue eyes are uncommon if one of the parents are of European descent, or if they're malnourished. I'm sorry, but pictures from that racebending site do not prove anything in that department.

So NO, not EVERY character was supposed to be Asian. They weren't really supposed to be anything that this world has, aside from the cultures illustrated. This makes it possible to reach EVERYONE in the audience. It's sheer laziness that this movie was "whitewashed" but not everyone was supposed to be Asian. I also resent the term "people of color" because my skin is NOT without pigment, thank you VERY much. Let's see if we can fix this mentality for the next generation, shall we?

To Renee: Dude, they're Asian. The creators said they're all Asian. Everything about the show is Asian, except the Water Tribes who are Inuit. ACCORDING TO THE CREATORS. The only reason they have blue eyes is to symbolize a connection to WATER. That's it.

As for the round eyes signifying mix... no. That's a stylistic means of using the most expressive part of the face. Check out how Caucasians are drawn in anime sometime. We look like ridiculous caricatures, and the Asian people look "normal."

You are wrong. The creators say you're wrong. Sorry, honey.

Hey Michael: I'm mainly just irritated that this movie was made, and that the artists in charge of makeup and such didn't even TRY to match the cartoon. It would have been easy enough if they'd have used a little imagination. The fun thing about stories is that they're open for interpretation, even by the audience.

Also, calling someone 'honey' isn't going to sweeten the number of times you tell them that they're wrong.

Er, I kind of agree with Michael on this one. The creators of the show DID say they were Asian.
But I do agree that the movie should not have been made. The cartoon was awesome: funny, thought-provoking, and had a fulfilling but not overly complex plot. Much better quality than what you would expect from a cartoon (for younger audiences anyway), especially from Nick. The movie was a travesty.

Whitewashed? As much as I don't like the term either, yeah, it is. Symbolism in the cartoon? I can see it. It's a nice stylistic choice. I'll also agree that name-calling is uncalled for in this forum. The important thing is that we can all agree that this move should not have been made. I'm happy to see that a sequel has not been green-lit.

Of course this movie would fail. It ruined everything else about the cartoon, including its strong female cast.

To people who mention Katara talking with her gradmother... The grandmother is not a named character, thus scene with her doesn't qualify. Besides that, female characters never talk.

Good point about the grandmother. In the series she has a name, but not in the movie (not even in its credits).

On the plus side, at least the series passes the test quite easily. :P

@Michael: The creators also wrote (pretty much the entirety of) the godawful Legend of Korra series, so I wouldn't put much stock in their word...or talent.