Bechdel Test Movie List

There are two women in the movie - Granny and Susan Calvin. They don't talk to each other, though.

Thanks, I've updated the rating.

Dr. Calvin converse with VIKI, the murderous female personality AI) at length about security protocols.

The rating is fine by a strict interpretation of the rule: two WOMEN. VIKI is given a feminine personality but is still just an AI.

OK, VIKI is an AI with feminine personality, but is acted by a real female person (Fiona Hogan) who's face is shown and voice is audible.

If we would interpret 'woman' within the rules so strict, we would have to rate every animated movie as "failed". Even if the main character is female and interacting with a lot of other women. Or what about a film only containing children. It won't pass either. We shouldn't be too pedantic and focus more on the meaning of the rules.

At least VIKI and Dr. Calvin talk about something meaningful, not just beauty or shopping. Their conversations/roles are very philosophically and very important to the plot and Dr. Calvin has a respectable profession and status in the movie.

Thus, I would still let this movie pass.


Other female roles (for reference):
* Gigi, Spooner's Grannny (Adrian L. Ricard)
* Marci, Spooners ex-wife (by Angela Moore)
* an asthmatic women (Sharon Wilkins)
* a newscaster (by Lynnanne Zager)
* some girls (played by Kyanna Cox, Shayla Dyson and Emily Tennant)

But, they only talk to/interact with Spooner or with nobody at all (as far as I know - maybe someone could check this).

I do think that VIKI, who is indeed an artificial intelligence (AI), counts as a woman. This aligns with other ratings on this site:

1. Blade Runner 2049 (2017), where Joi, an AI, is counted as a woman (as are multiple female replicants), passes all three tests.
2. Ex Machina (2015), where Ava and Kyoko, two AI-robots, are counted as women, passes one test.
3. Her (2013), where the title character, Samantha, an AI, is counted as a woman (she chooses to appear in female form physically), passes two tests.
4. Tron Legacy (2010), where Quorra, a computer program, is counted as a woman, passes one test.
5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), where Deep Thought, a supercomputer, is counted as a woman, passes one test.
6. Alien: Resurrection (1997), where Call, an android, is counted as a woman, passes all three tests.
7. Metropolis (1927)—arguably the first appearance of artificial intelligence in film—where Hel, a robot, is counted as a woman, passes one test.

Just because VIKI is not human does not mean she is not female. In introducing VIKI earlier in the film, Dr. Calvin makes a point of using "she" to refer to VIKI—something Detective Spooner comments on: "'She'? That's a she? I definitely need to get out more." And a female actress, Fiona Hogan, plays VIKI.

Tons of recent films with non-human women who aren't AIs pass the Bechdel Test, like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Finding Dory, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And it's in the nature of science fiction as a genre to include plenty of non-human characters. In this film, the third major character (other than Spooner and Calvin) is the AI-robot Sonny.

More to the point, the conversation that putatively passes the third test, between Dr. Calvin and VIKI at the end of the film, is essential to the plot and ethics at the core of I, Robot. Dr. Calvin argues that VIKI is "in violation of the Three Laws [of Robotics]," to which VIKI responds with an in-depth analysis of how her interpretation of the Three Laws has evolved, leading her to take control of humanity's destiny. That decision is what drove almost all the narrative action of the film.

Yes, VIKI is a female. Yes, she is assigned one short nonsense speech to recite. One.
This movie isn't neutral. It ignores women.
The screen writers made Will Smith's character a swaggering, female hating, bimbo that looks like every racist imagining of a stupid pimp from the 70s.
What's with that walk?
He insults women almost every time he opens his mouth. He is assigned a faceless nameless ex-wife to malign.
When he meets the female "co"-star, he speaks to her in ways that would of been asking for a beating if she were male.
The female doctor has a flat personality. We are never given reason to care about her or even hate her. She is clearly the token female.
All around poor movie with insulting stereotypes about blacks and no admission of females as part of the world.

I agree with a lot of what LootCake said. I also agree with the other commenters that argue that this movie passes the Bechdel Test.

I've seen comments from admins when they update ratings, but not when several people disagree with the rating and it goes unchanged. I'd love some clarity on why I, Robot is still listed as 1/3, and more generally, what it takes for a rating to get updated.

Stefan is right. If we only count human females, then every animated movie fails the test. I say this movie passes. Dr. Calvin talks to VIKI, about something other than a man.