Bechdel Test Movie List

Yes on one and two, but NOT on the third. There was no talk between the women, only in one scene where one of the mutants said to another mutant that she didn't like men looking at her.

"What are you guys doing" CIA female to the team.
"You Can Fly?" Mystique to Angel
"Angel No" Mystique to Angel

Okay Jimbocpp, that is correct! I will have to take my objection away. I suppose in my brain, I look for something beyond quick comments...but I didn't make the rule here. Great observing!

this movie does not pass the test.

Can you site any reasons, James?

I'm pretty sure there's brief conversations throughout the movie that occasionally include 2 women (though I'm not sure if the Mutants Showing Off scene counts), so by strict law it should pass.

I disagree as well. The key to me is that they *talk to each other*, not that one woman says three words to another.

This, in my opinion, is especially useless:

'"What are you guys doing" CIA female to the team.'

One woman talking to a group of mixed-gender folks just ain't cutting it.

I may be wrong, but I always thought that the third rule implied more of a dialogue, an actual back-and-forth conversation between the two women, even if it was very brief. By that reasoning, First Class failed.

allycat, I agree. I think that "talk to each other" implies that:

1) One woman says something
2) Another woman replies

It's not exactly a big hurdle, but this movie fails. I'd love to hear from Jimbo an explanation of his interpretation of "talk to each other".

Raven "You can fly" Angel "Yep" or "Yes" They already have 3 of the top 6 characters being female and running around doing alot of stuff. As for Angel saying what shit about the guys looking at her. Have you ever read X-Men? It's about mutant persecution. She was stating that she hated people looking at them as freaks.

I retract my statement but would like to say it's been fun. I just find this place to radical about everything. Have a nice day :)

As far as I can tell, Jimbo, your argument is that it passes all the tests because you like the comic strip, and some female characters do things.

"Running around and doing a lot of stuff" is great. Still, there aren't female characters talking to one another. That doesn't mean it's a bad movie, per se. I enjoyed it. It just doesn't pass on the 2nd or 3rd criteria.

For my two cents, I disagree with the rating. I do not think the quick (VERY quick) interaction between Raven and Angel qualifies as talking to each other.

Furthermore, Angel's statement about men is that she'd rather be looked at by male clients (at her strip club job) than by the male CIA members (who are treating her as a freak). This is still, respectfully, talking about *men*. It's saying that the lustful male gaze is preferable to a "you're a creepy freak" male gaze.

I enjoyed the movie, and I'm sorry if my opinion is too radical. ;)

I think the essence of the test is to look for movies that have conversations between women as part of female character development, women as people rather than women as accessories. I loved the film but it didn't pass the test for the reasons said above. There was no substantial conversation between women on any subject other than men. There could have been easily but for some reason they chose not to go that way.

I agree with what's been said here about the film not passing the third rule. Given the amount of conversation had between the male characters and male and female characters, I don't think a three-word comment or some other one-sided comment here or there really counts as women talking to each other. I just saw the film and was really disappointed. There was no conversing -- it was speaking to (and VERY little of it), not speaking with. One female character would say something, and that was it There wasn't any response. Really disappointing.

Wasn't there a scene early in the movie where Mystique and the girl in the bar had a conversation - What are you studying, Waitressing, Oh look, your eyes are of different color, too, etc?

Odonian -- good point. However, any conversation that occurred (if there was an actual exchange, I'm not sure) had at its root the fact that Mystique was getting jealous of the way that Xavier was flirting with whatsherface.

So maybe it reaches the second threshold (women talking to each other) but the entire conversation, if there was a back-and-forth, was really about Xavier.

"had at its root the fact that Mystique was getting jealous of the way that Xavier was flirting with whatsherface" -- That doesn't make it a rule violation. "was really about Xavier" -- only it wasn't *actually* about Xavier.

can't help but noticing that the movie is called x-MEN

M: What's your point?

I agree that the movie does not pass the third test, a quick question or sentence does not constitute talking to one another. Also, at one point or another in the movie, EVERY single one of the (4) female characters were extremely sexualized. I guess that is the norm for superhero movies though...

M: Well, I imagine that, "X-People of varying genders but primarily males and all mutated members of the human race: First Class" didn't fit very well on the promotional material.
And I'm afraid you can't count a woman's motivation for the test. If that was the case, no movie would pass the test because someone would argue the women were motivated to talk by some male character or other. I say First Class passes. It barely passes, but it passes.

While I agree that it does contain a conversation amongst women, my understanding was that they both had to be named characters. A throwaway line, or a conversation between Raven and 'some woman in the bar' shouldn't count. Sorry if I'm wrong I'm a noob at this site

Before Raven says, "You can fly!?" to Angel, to which Angel replies, "Uh-huh, and uh- (proceeds to spit on statue)" Angel says, "My stage name was Angel, it kinda fits." The statement is directed to the entire group, including Raven, and Raven responds. In this case there are three lines among the two girls. Other threads have decided that women who talk to each other within a conversation with another woman still passes the test.

Raven is also the first to protest when Angel joins Shaw, but Angel doesn't respond before Banshee also speaks.

Angel is a guy in the comics, so this movie gets extra points in that regard.

"Angel is a guy in the comics, so this movie gets extra points in that regard."

Different Angel. This is Angel Salvadore (as opposed to Warren Worthington).