Bechdel Test Movie List

/bech·del test/ n.
1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

[[3]] Avatar (2009) [imdb]

This movie passed 3 of 3 tests. It was entered by neil (webmaster) on 2009-12-22 23:33:32.

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Comments

neil (webmaster) said:
In two scenes Neytiri talks to her mother about Jake.
Message posted on 2009-12-22 23:33:32
Rebecca said:
Does it need to be a two-way conversation? There is one scene where Grace (Sigourney Weaver) tells Trudy (Michelle Rodriguez) to wait with the helicopter.

There is also another scene where Grace is pleading with Navi to leave Home Tree, and you could maybe view it as her talking to the female spiritual leader.

Sad that those are the only two even arguable scenes.
Message posted on 2010-01-03 20:24:05
Ulumuri said:
Navi talks (prays) to Eywa about saving Grace's life. Do goddesses count?
Message posted on 2010-01-21 02:15:54
Maria said:
There is a scene where Grace tells Neytiri's mother to scape. There are a few instances of women talking to each other about other than a man, but all are brief, not actual conversations. I don-t know if that counts.
Message posted on 2010-02-28 11:30:40
Renee said:
Even if countless women are talking to each other, the parameters on this site state that the women need to have names to fill the criteria.
Message posted on 2010-07-02 22:51:12
astrocom said:
Neytiri's mother does have a name, it's Mo'at, whether the scene in question count otherwise is another matter though.
There's also a third instance I can recall of women talking, when Grace is allowed back into the village to see the children, she talked to them, and there must have been one or two females among them, though they almost definitely were not named. Though I don't believe it's in English.
Message posted on 2010-08-07 08:18:12
Renee said:
It does need to be a two-way conversation, seeing as that's the way conversations work. Having female characters speaking a language that nobody in the audience understands is still on par with suggesting that what a woman has to say doesn't matter; the men will still save the day at the end of the movie.
Message posted on 2010-09-08 02:33:24
Steve said:
I'd disagree with Renee on both counts. One could easily conceive of a scene where one female character speaks to another at length, and yet the one listening doesn't get a word in because of the context of the scene. Similarly, dialogue that no one understands doesn't mean that it doesn't matter; one could conceive of a film where the entire plot revolves around a line of dialogue that is intentionally designed for the audience not to understand, and yet drives the entire plot (or, similarly, something a character whispers to another character, and the audience never hears let alone comprehends). Both of these constitute counterexamples to the claim that one way conversations, or those the audience does not understand, do not count as conversations.
Message posted on 2010-09-19 05:21:14
Karon said:
@Steve the rules are:
1. It has to have at least two women in it = Yes
2. Who talk to each other = No. - Talk at each other? But not to each other...
3. About something besides a man = if they are speaking in another language how can we tell? Also, such a conversation may as well be background noise for all it's relevance to the this test...and as useful to the plot as an explosion or soundtrack - But it's not a dialogue, just sound prop
Message posted on 2010-09-30 05:17:00
Rachelle R said:
I disagree on condition 3. Yes, Neytiri and Mo'at have a conversation about Jake, but in their first conversation they don't view him as a man. They think of him as an alien at that point in the film, and while it's true that he has a gender assignment, that's not relevant to their discussion. It would be like my mother and I arguing about E.T.; we'd be talking about an alternate life form that requires my supervision, not a person I could see as potentially marriageable.
Message posted on 2011-06-21 05:46:17
j said:
"they don't view him as a man"

That's irrelevant. He is, in fact, a man, so they are, in fact, talking about a man. For the purposes of the test, you certainly can't discount the perceptions of the *audience*.
Message posted on 2011-07-08 09:09:52
Donald said:
Karon - what about the conversation? Unknown dialogue that is later revealed is a big part of that movie, certainly not inconsequential to the plot. How about all those movies where someone says I have a plan, then they huddle and whisper. Later we see plan in action but never hear words spoken. In the story and it's world though the conversation happened and it was important.
Message posted on 2011-09-09 22:26:40
Jules said:
Grace and Trudy are talking, when they are flying through the "Hallelujah_Mountains". I think it Counts.
Message posted on 2018-10-12 19:41:59
Tobias said:
Just read about the test. Wanted to check whether Jules is right. Watched the scene again. And indeed they both have two short lines about arriving in the floating mountains and how hard it is to see. Only reason to not count this seems to me, if the women have to have the conversation alone.
Message posted on 2019-03-21 18:09:33
Daniel said:
I do not think it passes test 3 because Navi's is not using language that we understand which means we can't tell if they are talking about something other than man. So it is difficult to say it passes test 3 unless we know their language exactly.
Message posted on 2020-02-03 03:35:06
Mercedes said:
Jules is right, it’s an absolute clean pass:

GRACE:
See these magnetic formations. We're
getting close.
TRUDY:
Yeah we are. Look at my instruments.
GRACE:
Yup. We're in the flux vortex.

That’s two named women, Trudy and grace
Having a conversation about something else than a man
(I don’t like the movie, but that’s irrelevant)
It’s a Clean pass 3/3

THE HALLELUJAH MOUNTAINS. Right in front of them.
Message posted on 2021-01-05 14:36:35
neil (webmaster) said:
I've updated the rating from 2/3 to 3/3.
Message posted on 2021-01-06 09:28:26

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