Bechdel Test Movie List

This movie is almost entirely a female cast, except for Marc. Two mains scenes that stand out are 1)when Nicki's mom is teaching Nicki, Sam and Emily about "strong female role models" (ie, Angelina Jolie) and 2) when Sam and Nicki are talking to each other about halfway through. Granted, that conversation was about fashion, but still - not a man.

This isn't strictly related to the Bechdel Test, but I have an issue with the way young women are portrayed in this film. Marc, the sole male character, is the only one who is depicted sympathetically- the only one who has remorse about his crimes. The womyn in the movie are all vapid, shallow, devoid of any regret, and utterly two dimensional.

Yes, it is an all female cast, but the man is the only one to show a glimmer of humanity. I find both problematic and surprising, given the woman director.

In regards to cloudchamber's comment, i'm afraid that the movie is based on actual people who committed the crimes, and in the real story, the guy was the only one who ultimately confessed to everything and felt bad about it, while the girls remained shallow and unremorseful. the film is supposed to be a sort of testimony of celebrity culture, and unfortunately, women are the biggest and easiest victims to this culture, we are constantly bombarded by images of female celebrities that we are expected to want to emulate. i think the point was to show how shallow and vapid these girls were, to show the absurdity of that attitude.

I remember hearing about this case on American Greed etc. This film was based on a true story plus written/directed by a woman.

So it would be bizarre to suggest that the guy being the one to confess and show remorse represent latent sexist attitudes in the development in the film ... and not you know ... what happened.

Interestingly about the "based on actual events" bit is how good of an example this movie is of the typical Hollywood white washing we can expect for actual stories of people of color...

Passes the test with flying colors. And just for some extra fun, it also passes the Reverse Bechdel when Marc deals the stolen rolexes with another (named) guy.

Okay, I get what you're saying about Ms. Coppola reflecting the emptiness of celebrity culture and obsession- which does disproportionally plague young women in our society. I suppose the cold, unfeeling nature of the women originally rubbed me the wrong way because it mirrored our unfortunate reality.
Anyway: just wanted to add that this movie passes the Russo Test for LGBT characters as well- Marc is a gay young man who is not defined by his sexuality and is involved in plot. That's quite an accomplishment in its self.

I'm not sure it passes. The girls only ever talk about the next man or boy they will sleep with. The film is in addition completely tone deaf and couldn't understand "White privilege" if being hit on the head by it. Very sad to see how Coppola just doesn't get it.

I think the point everyone seems to be missing is that this is a real story. Not only that, it's a dark comedy. These women are portrayed as vapid, shallow, and remorseless because that's how they were in real life. Let's not confuse accurately portraying women with putting them up on some sort of moral pedestal. Believe it or not, there are actually vapid, shallow women. The women these characters are based on also had *SERIOUS* drug problems. Are we going to pretend there aren't women who live this kind of lifestyle?

To clarify cloudchamber's closing statment: Harmony Korine is a man. Not sure if this has any bearing on the portrayals in the film, but historically there are probably far more instances of unfavorable film treatments of women in male-helmed projects than films directed by women.

To clarify Rob's statement: the fact that Harmony Korine is a man does not have any bearing on the portrayals in this film since it was directed (and written) by Sofia Coppola.

Not sure why this has been flagged. Whether or not you think the women in this movie are portrayed in a positive light, it certainly passes the test.

To Rob:
I'm not quite sure why you're bringing up Harmony Korine. The Bling Ring was directed by Sophia Coppola. Korine directed Spring Breakers.

I think people are overlooking the fact that everything that was done or said in the movie was based directly off of an interview with the kids who were charged for burglary. Coppola tried to stay as close to the events in real life as possible.

Even films that are based on true stories who talk about crimes, if the suspect was a man, his character will be given a scene where the audience can sympathize with him or there will be other male characters that will bring light to their gender but in this film, no sight of that light for the female gender.

Those who are disagree are arguing the portrayal of these girls. That's not a requirement of passing the test. The girls did talk about other things than sex. Rewatched it Dilemma.