Bechdel Test Movie List

Wyldstyle talks to Princess Unikitty

When, exactly, does Wyldstyle talk to Unikitty? Because all the conversations seemed pretty one sided, and directed through Emmett. As is a common refrain, please don't make this test even less rigorous than it already is.

Wyldstyle: You just said the word "no", like, a thousand times.
Unikitty: And there's also no consistency.

Two named women talking about something other than a man.

That said, you could reasonably argue that Unikitty is half-Unicorn half-Kitten and she isn't a woman.

If the Lego figs are 'human', I'm going to have to argue that Unikitty is not a 'humnan', and doesn't meet the criteria.

Loved the movie, but while Wyldstyle was awesome as her badass ninja self in the first scene, she unfortunately ended up bloody well deferring to Batman for the rest of the movie. Disappointing, really.

The only interaction is between father and son. The rest of the interactions are between legos that are representative but not inherintly gendered, and all those interactions are happening within the consciousnesses of said father and son, ergo it fails.

Yes, but she is female identified correct?....just because she's not human does not mean that takes away her female identity.

While neither Wyldstyle nor Unikitty are human, they are both female characters, which I believe still qualifies for passing the Bechdel Test.

The father/son debate thing doesn't mean we shouldn't count Wildstyle and Uni Kitty as female for the purposes of the test, or that we shouldn't count the male lego characters as being male.

That said, it is a dubious pass. There are two female characters in the core group of heroes. But they don't have any meaningful conversations alone.

"The only interaction is between father and son. The rest of the interactions are between legos that are representative but not inherintly gendered, and all those interactions are happening within the consciousnesses of said father and son, ergo it fails."


That is without a doubt the stupidest argument I've ever heard on this site. And I've read the Bridesmaids entry.

Oh really. All cartoons or animations, works of art, literature or anything which isn't a live action performance, have now been reclassified as "Failures" for the Bechdel because drawings, pictures, writings and computer graphics aren't "inherently gendered"?

The characters identify themselves as being gendered, just like anyone else. (Gender isn't a physical trait)

Also for the record, it's not taking place in the humans' consciousness. Emmett clearly has a consciousness when he's listening to them talk and even manages to jump off the desk by his own power.

Personally, I think the argument that a film doesn't qualify because the female characters aren't women (or technically without a human sex) is splitting hairs. The Bechdel Test wouldn't be applicable to many films if that were the case, simply because they revolve around non-humans or children.

The test may use the word "woman," but it seems to me--and others--just a placeholder term for "female gender." Gender itself is often a personal identification, rather than based on biological parts. In this instance, the characters are identified as female, give no indication that they are not female, and speak to each other. Regardless of how strong they are as characters, it does pass the test on those grounds.

I'm sorry but are you trying to say that:

Wyldstyle: You just said the word "no", like, a thousand times.
Unikitty: And there's also no consistency.

counts as a conversation? That's so watered down that a group of characters meeting and all saying 'hi' would count as long as two were named women. That's nuts.

It blows my mind how pedantic it is not to want to count gendered but non-human characters against the rule. Especially when judging a movie with few or any human characters.

If a movie is about talking frogs and two female frogs talk about baseball they passed the test.

If the movie is about talking legos and two female legos talk about how one of them doesn't like rules. Then the movie passed the test.

That said, this movie is a very dubious pass at best.

Legos are not human.

A cat-unicorn hybrid is not human.

The conversation between the two is too short.

Anyone who thinks this is a pass is not only an idiot, but also a sexist, misogynistic d-bag. This movie was obviously about men and their bond with each other while completely ignoring and degrading women. Thinking this is a feminist friendly film is ridiculous!

Dear Rebecca,
I appreciate your defense of the human race, but unless you include other sentient beings I feel that the alien rights activists will begin to get on your case.
I also enjoyed your eloquent use of "d-bag" and accusations that anyone who would be remotely interested in a website about movie feminism would be misogynistic and sexist.
I too revel in the shunning the notion of all that is ridiculous, especially when pertaining to a children's film.
Signed, Dr. SpaceGoat, MD.

Wyldstyle and Unikitty's dialogue was not a conversation. Unikitty spoke to the group as a whole when she said that there is no consistency, and besides - two lines cannot count as speaking to one another. This movie failed badly.

The very basics of the test is that two female identified characters talk to each other about something other than a man. when going by those standards, it passes. But if you add on the 60-second conversation rule, it doesn't. so I think its good to take this rating with a grain of salt and recognize that while it is better than some films which don't even have two simple lines of dialogue between women, it is certaintly not perfect and 100% feminist friendly. There is no need to be throwing a fit, honestly. The Bechdel test is meant to be the lowest, simplest standard for gender equality. This movie passes, but only by a very small margin.

There is no need to even see the movie to recognize it does not pass the test's last principle.

Just by reading the wikipedia plot resume we see there is barely any female activity in there and the said "conversation" mentioned above is clearly not between the characters but as someone else mentioned between them and the group.

I believe it is important that we try and distinguish between "...but I liked the movie" and "not passing the test". Because one can like a movie and it STILL does not pass Bechdel's test.

Of course female lego characters must be considered "women", even though they're not human. Otherwise, 90% of all animated movies would fail because of a technicality.

That being said, in my opinion this film dpes not pass the Bechdel test. The one line Wyldstyle and UniKitty say to each other was in my opinion more to the group, and not directed to one another directly. After all UniKitty's response wasn't directed to Wyldstyle personally, but to a group of people.

The Bechdel test is already a simple test with a very low bar; there's no point in lowering the bar even more by counting short remarks made to a group of people (most of them male) as conversations between women.

Therefore, the rating should be downgraded to only passing 1 out of 3 tests (for having two named female characters).

I too like the movie, but as Ladob points out what you think of a movie has nothing to do with whether it passes the Bechdel test.

It faaaaails big time! Also, when 'Wyldstyle' talks the main character drifts off into his own thoughts and thinks 'bla bla bla' and puts words into her mouth 'I really like you' completely trivialises her. Then at the end the main character wins her as a prize and her current boyfriend Batman just hands her over like a medal. Sends subtle but very negative messages to young men!

My 4 year old daughter made her first comment about gender after watching this film: "the girls weren't as funny as the boys". She is a very funny herself, I hope she can stay that way if she wants to.

A despicable display of misogyny if I ever saw it. NO THE TWO "FEMALES" (THEY ARE LEGOS AND HAVE NO GENDER) DO NOT HAVE A DIRECT CONVERSATION AND THIS MOVIE FAILS. I hate to say it but people need to re-evaluate what they like about this movie because it reeks of offensivde stereotypes. Wyldstyle and UniKitty are awful and set the trend that female characters are there just to make their male co-stars look better and to be trophies to be won.

Okay guys here is the "no consistency" scene. If you watch it, it clearly meets the criteria. Unikitty is clearly talking to Lucy, she turns to face her when she utters the line. They aren't talking as a group. It is a small interaction, but counts as "talking to each other"
Unikitty:
Here in cloud cuckoo land there are no rules. No government, no babysitters, no bedtimes, no frowny faces, no bushy mustaches, and no negativity of any time.

Lucy:You just said the word "no", like, a thousand times.

Unikitty: *Turns to Lucy* And there's also no consistensy

/watch?v=Z-LzY5SUsKw

Yes, this passes the test, and clearly (based on Sammy's link), Unikitty addresses WyldStyle directly. The test is weak in and of itself and it should be noted that passing the test doesn't make it a movie that speaks for a feminist movement. This movie is about boys, generally for boys, and the 2 main themes of the movie are father/son relationship and non-conformity. It doesn't try to be a feminist voice, and that's ok.

The fact is, the Bechdel test doesn't require a certain number of lines of dialog, it just requires dialog. So it passes. If you want to change the test, go for it, then it will fail... And you'll feel better (?).

Generally, if we remember that passing the test does not necessarily equal a strong feminist movie, then the anger I see in these comments, calling people misogynists, etc, may be tempered.

One line of dialogue isn't enough to pass the test (the test is easy stop handing out brownie points to every bad screenwriter who can't even muster more than 6 words per female character), and one of the characters is an animal- from the view point of the world the movie is set in. The rating should be lowered. Also why are men even commenting on a test coined by a lesbian woman about women's portrayal in film? No it's fine ruin the test you already have anyway.

This movie may/may not pass the test, but the creators are unsure if it has or not, and are planning to resolve this in their sequel!

Why are people so angry about this being given a passing rating? BY DEFINITION, it passes.

Having to qualify it by saying "she's not a human, so it doesn't count" is being even more nitpicky than the people who you're complaining about.

You can say it's not a feminist movie, sure (though I'd say Wyldstyle is a strong female character); but it passes the test whether you like it or not.

I don't think this movie deserves a pass. If we have to argue whether two female characters that were present together within the core group of characters for at least 40 minutes of the film had a conversation that passes this test, and the ONLY defence for a pass is one conversation that contained two lines and only 15 words total, then it can't be considered a pass.
Superman and Green Lantern had more dialogue together. President Business and Bad Cop's father (who, by the way, is an unnamed character) had a more in-depth conversation.

The point is, side characters just there to create comic relief and unnamed extras had more lines of dialogue and meaningful conversations than two of the main female characters had together. This movie shouldn't get a pass based on one throwaway joke that they happened to give to the (almost) only female characters.

Is the Unikitty female? Or is it just pink?

There is no rule that says the women have to talk to each other for a certain amount of time or a certain amount of lines. The only rule is that they talk to each other.

Reminder: In the original comic, the women says that the last film she saw was Alien. Alien passes the test because of a brief conversation between Ripley and Lambert about the monster, which doesn't count as a man even though it literally was shaped like a penis.

The point of the comic is that it was written in 1985, and the woman who only watches films that pass the criteria hasn't seen a film since Alien in 1979. The point of the test is that even though it is easy to pass most films don't.

As for Unikitty being a female instead of just punk, she refers to herself as "Princess Unikitty" so yes she is female. This film passes.

She refers to herself as "Princess Unikitty," so she at least thinks she's female. lego.com refers to her using feminine pronouns as well.

This movie doesn't pass. Uni Kitty and WyldStyle aren't even females, technically this movie HAS NO WOMEN. Change the icon, change the rating. Stat.

Chris McKay the director said "I’m not sure our movie passes the Bechdel test entirely and I think that it's important", so if it does pass it passes weakly. However in this article he says he wants to change things in the sequal.

This is the funniest website. Y
all know this "test" comes from a cartoon an was most like only quasi serous to begin with. Barbie movies pass this test folks! I can't believe people take this seriously.

Sorry, the 2 characters in question lack a meaningful conversation and only acknowledge one another in passing.

As for the argument that the characters are not human, therefore do not qualify as women; bechdel never once lists being "human" as a qualification for passing the test.

If Unikitty and Wyldstyle don't count as females because they aren't technically human (even though Wyldstyle represents a human), then how can this test be applied to movies that don't have any human characters at all, such as the Lion King and its sequels?

I think it should be able to be applied to non-humans as long as the characters are clearly depicted as sentient, considering that many children's movies have more non-human characters than human characters and sometimes have none. To say that non-human characters in kids films don't count is to ignore the impact these characters can have. Most kids don't care if the characters are human or not; they care about whether the character is interesting, relatable, and/or awesome. Being non-human doesn't stop most kids (and many adults) from caring about these characters or from learning from them.

I agree that Lucy/Wyldstyle and Unikitty should be considered female for the purposes of the test, but their one line each interaction can't really be considered a conversation.

There's actually a small additional line of dialogue between Princess Unikitty and Wyldstyle/Lucy. The Princess tells Lucy, "Wildstyle, look, it’s the citizens!" as they return to rescue Emmet's hometown.

This happens while the camera is showing the spaceship they're flying in, so you don't see their faces, but it's clearly Princess Unikitty's voice.

This happens after Lucy gives a speech that successfully rallies all the citizens of the universe to build and fight back against Lord Business.

I agree that this movie doesn't seem to pass the test. I admit, I haven't watched the whole thing, but the second rule is "have a conversation", not "say something to each other". A conversation needs to have a little more exchange than just comment and response. Is there a minimum requirement for a conversation? Maybe, but I don't think I can unilaterally decide how long that is.

As for the whole argument as characters are "not female", that is so weak. The point of the test is to show that women actors (or "actresses", if you will) are generally underused in Hollywood. Wyldside and Unikitty are pretty clearly female in their voices if nothing else, so step one passses.

As for why males are debating something that a lesbian created, I see that as a sign of progress. If both genders are discussing it, that means that people on both sides of the gender lines care about this. We should be so lucky that all gender issues are so well received by the other side.

This film does not pass the Bechdel Test. Unikitty is in a different category from Wildstyle. Think of talking animals in a Disney movie: Does Cinderella talking to girl mice count as a conversation with another woman? Come on.
Also, if the two of them do have a conversation, it's not significant enough for one to recall after watching the film once; I only remember them talking in groups.
In general, the Lego Movie portrays women as prizes and sidekicks. And, given that the only LEGO women I can recall (Wonder Woman, Good/Bad Cop's mom, and WildStyle) never converse with each other, it doesn't pass the Bechdel test.

The movie passes, barely, because Lucy does talk directly to Princess Unikitty and she talks to Lucy about Cuckoo Cloud Land.

If we're going by the bare technical requirements while ignoring the spirit of the test, this movie passes. But I feel like that misses the entire point and idea of the test. I mean, even a Justice League movie can pass this test. Throwaway dialogue that could have been said by anyone isn't a real conversation. Things said in a group setting are also, I feel, inherently watered down because it could have been said by anybody to anybody, and it just happened to be unikitty and wyldstyle.

I mean, the above commenter hit it straight on- even Bad Cop's dad has a more meaningful conversation with the characters than the female characters in this movie had with each other. So technically, it passes, but in a practical sense where we are trying to find meaningful interaction (not just throwaway) between female characters, it fails.

An additional point of female-female "conversation" is when they fly into the city in the spaceship and UniKitty says something along the lines of "Look, Wyldstyle! It's the citizens!". Although it doesn't technically count, it's still another thing I guess.

I am amazed at the amount of nitpicking here. Unikitty is female. WyldStyle is female. They talk about things besides men/male characters.

If anything, the wording of the Bechdel test itself should be re-considered, since if we're strictly going to count only "women" rather than "female characters" (and "men" rather than "male characters"), then any movie that has two named female children talking to each other about something other than a grown man would also fail the test... which would be ridiculous. For all intents and purposes, the fact that there are two named females talking about something other than a male should be what matters. So yes, this movie passes.

Within the context of the Lego Universe, Wyldstyle and Princess Unikitty are female. They exchange two lines about negativity. Given that the Bechdel Test is supposed to be a low bar, this passes.

A technical pass, which illustrates, as others have noted, that the test is a low bar. This is still a male-centred film (also a good film FWIW).

In slight defence of the filmmakers, the Lego toy 'universe' is in itself male-centric (with it's various settings being surprisingly conflict-driven), as can be seen in the fact of the risibly pinked-up 'Friends' spinoff targeted to girls - carrying an implicit expectation that the mainstream Lego settings are boys' toys. (The exception being the purist 'creator' series which has the toy in its original purpose as a construction/imagination playset, rather than a buildable scenario for playing.)

Of course girls (and women) can and do enjoy playing with Lego (N.B. plural is NOT 'Legos'!) in all its forms. But we should be fair to the filmmakers and acknowledge that the world they're adapting already has inherant male bias.