Bechdel Test Movie List

Passes only barely. On July 4th at the beach party, Brooke and Joanna meet and briefly talk about Brooke's tattoo.

No idea why people feel the need to comment and say "barely" for movies that fulfill the requirements of the Bechdel test. It passed; get over it.

Because it gives more information for those who want it. Saying that a movie only barely passed due to a single brief exchange is not the same as saying that a movie passed because of various deep conversations throughout the story.

Kudos to Victor for remembering that; I didn't, and was going to give it a failing grade.

Maybe this isn't the place for it, but I'm new, so.... I also note that the dance corps was all-white, and the only non-white characters with speaking were Latino drug dealers. This, in a movie set in Tampa, Florida.

Ankhorite: Good point; it definitely wouldn't pass the Bechdel Test for people of color. However, one of the dancers is Latino - Tito, played by Adam Rodriguez.

Victor: I agree that they're barely talking to each other, since Joanna was flirting with Brooke for Mike's benefit, during a conversation with Mike, and Brooke barely responded except to reject her advances. It was less a conversation than mild sexual harassment.

Swaan: I didn't interpret Joanna's flirting with Brooke to be "for Mike's benefit" at all. In fact, the film is clear that Mike is hesitant when he sees Joanna and tries to get her not to bring up their sexual relationship in front of her.

If anything, the exchange demonstrates that Joanna is a character with her own sexual agency, and she had her sights set on Brooke.

In fact, when Brooke walks away, Mike tells Joanna to stop going after her and she responds to the effect of "What, you don't want to share?" At that point it's an issue of Joanna's sexual agency against Mike's sexual agency.

As for the "barely passing" issue, personally, when I comment, I just provide the instance or instances in question and allow the reader to decide if one brief instance reflects well on the film compared to numerous instances or prolonged conversations. No need to inject my subjective interpretation of the quality of the pass. People are smart enough to know for themselves if two lines in a film is biased or even one conversation out of an entire film compared to multiple interactions.

Since their only exchange is in the context of Joanna's sexual advance entailing a three-way with Mike, I can't agree that this can't pass the test.

Also Rome speaks with Caroline about herself at Domina before Donald Glover's character sings to her.

Was quite surprised this would pass.

Glad it did though.