Bechdel Test Movie List

Plenty of conversations between women not about men :)

Is Barbie the first movie to fail on the inverse of the Bechdel test? There are plenty of conversations between named male characters but are any of those conversations not related to Barbie? This movie was absolutely brilliant and the commentary on women and the life we live was incredibly thought provoking

I disagree. I think most conversations in the film have the context of men and so don't really pass. I mean it passes sure but probably just about.

The movie does not past the 1st test as "Barbie" is the only name attributed to all women in the movie.

Although the 2nd part may be a pass, the 3rd aspect of the test is still questionable and not an undoubtable pass. Without physically going back to the movie its really hard to recall conversations that do not bring up men, which is not necessarily a bad thing since the movie's message relates to feminine vs masculine identity in society.

I think this movie actually fails a "reverse" Bechdel test, lol. It was great.

Not enough conversations between men about something other then woman

film_fanatic's comment ignores all of the movie's human women (such as Gloria, Sasha, and Ruth), plus someone with not enough time to watch the movie again can still watch a trailer for examples of the Barbies talking about subjects other than men (such as the imperfections in Stereotypical Barbie's life).

I agree with the rating. Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt), and Ruth Handler are all women with names who have actual conversations other than Barbie.

I don’t know that Allen or talks to the Kens, or if the names Ken’s talk about things other than Barbie/other women.

The corporate men all talk about Barbie and talk about Ken in relationship to Barbie.

The patriarchy is a gendered thing where they are talking about themselves in relationship to Barbie. The end of the movie is literally about how Ken only defines himself through Barbie, so it is at least in spirit, having the men in the movie revolve around the women in their life.

Everyone is forgetting the other women in the movie who aren’t a “Barbie.” Ruth, Gloria, & Sasha.

seeing a lot of people saying it doesn’t pass cause everyone is called Barbie. I don’t agree with that lol but this movie still passes the test via Barbie’s convo with Sasha:

film_fanatic, not all the women are named Barbie in the movie. There's Gloria, her daughter Sasha and Ruth Handler. The Barbie movie passes the first part of the test.

This is an obvious pass. Even if there weren't other named characters, the idea that it wouldn't because multiple people have the same name is ridiculous. The test doesn't say "two women with different names."

The film obviously passes the Bechdel test. What is interesting though is that, as Megan says, it fails the previously unknown 'inverse Bechdel test'. I can't recall two men talking about anyting except Barbie. Brilliant.
I wonder if this was deliberately done by the movie makers. Sadly I think this is the only thing that redeems the movie after it fell apart half way through.

Of course this passes the test but I wanted to say a couple of things…

I think the movie was about so much more than the patriarchy. The movie was about girlhood, shown through the eyes of THE girlhood symbol. She started out naive and young, she grew emotional, she learned what it’s like to be objectified and harassed, she learned what it’s like to be a victim of systemic misogyny, she experienced the full weight of depression, she grew the ambition to fight back in a way that invokes minimal physical violence (she, like most of us, chose emotional violence), and she grew enough maturity to empower Ken in a way that wouldn’t diminish others (something I’m trying to learn myself!), and finished her whole adventure holding hands with her mother and, despite the emotional roller coaster she’d been on, asking for life.

This movie is important and I love it, even with the irony of its most memorable scene being Ken singing about Ken.

The actual test only says it should be two women (it is not specified they should have different names). Either way, I don't think the fact that all the barbies are named Barbie would be cause to say the movie doesn't pass. If we look the other way, maybe it is intentional that, from the kens' perspective the movie doesn't pass.

Of course this passes the test but I wanted to say a couple of things…

I think the movie was about so much more than the patriarchy. The movie was about girlhood, shown through the eyes of THE girlhood symbol. She started out naive and young, she grew emotional, she learned what it’s like to be objectified and harassed, she learned what it’s like to be a victim of systemic misogyny, she experienced the full weight of depression, she grew the ambition to fight back in a way that invokes minimal physical violence (she, like most of us, chose emotional violence), and she grew enough maturity to empower Ken in a way that wouldn’t diminish others (something I’m trying to learn myself!), and finished her whole adventure holding hands with her mother and, despite the emotional roller coaster she’d been on, asking for life.

This movie is important and I love it, even with the irony of its most memorable scene being Ken singing about Ken.

sure there are a couple of conversations not surrounding men (that's because the main plot of the movie is about main Barbie coming to terms about who and what she is), the subplot that ends up taking a lot of time in the movie the main group converse plenty about having to fix the Kens issue. So it's a great movie, but it doesn't pass the last part of the test.

I believe passing the Reverse Bechdel Test is just as important, and this movie absolutely does not. The few male characters that were actually named talked about nothing but Barbie and women in general. They were also presented as stereotypical douchebags that treat women as objects. The movie also didn't touch on the various double standards (e.g., if a woman compliments a young boy's appearance, it's considered cute and innocent, but if a man compliments a young girl's appearance, it's considered creepy and sleazy) and impossible expectations (e.g., don't be unemotional or you're "toxic", but don't be emotional either or you're "a wuss") that men are held to. Basically, it's incredibly biased and does not advocate for equality, but rather the same superiority Barbie had over Ken, whose "happy ending" was being relegated to an unknown corner of Barbieland after being dumped by the girlfriend who took him for granted.

There's a scene where Barbie and Weird Barbie are both talking about Ken. Plus, the many scenes where the Barbies are talking about the Kens.

So obviously passes, from the very start when the barbies talk about the flat feet, and the whole journey. I think it also passes the inverse test, the kens talk a lot about horses lol

I really cant believe people are arguing that it doesn't apply... even if you view Barbie as a concept... there are a few Mother Daughter conversations, particularly when Sasha is telling Gloria she likes her dark weird drawings.

I would actually say it passes the reverse (barely maybe a little dubiously) I think Ken talks to another Ken about horses... but if your in the camp of All Kens being one character like Barbie then this won't really fly. The convo when Ken asks for high paying job, and the guy tells him you'll need a MBA or PHD and tells him they're not doing patriarchy well gets close, but I don't think that character has a name.

That's never really been the most important rule to me though tbh.

A lot of people are complaining that it may not pass a "reverse Bechdel test" because the Kens don't talk about anything but Barbie. If that is true (one would need to review the script to check), that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. In the future, when gender equality is the norm, all media should easily pass both the Bechdel and reverse Bechdel test, but until then, women have to take what they can get. One could even argue that we need more movies that fail the reverse Bechdel, so that we can make the gender gap in media smaller. I'm not saying we should do that, but small-minded men need to understand what women go through, and this is one way.