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

[[2]] The Imitation Game (2014) [imdb]

This movie passed 2 of 3 tests. It was entered by elfwhistletree on 2014-11-24 01:00:36.

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Comments

elfwhistletree said:
Joan Clarke, played by Keira Knightley, is a main character in this story, and an interesting one as well.

However there are few other female characters - as far as I recall the only significant dialog between women is Joan and her friend Helen talking about Alan Turing and Hugh Alexander at a table in a bar, before that turns into a conversation with those men themselves.
Message posted on 2014-11-24 01:00:36
Lauren said:
Fantastic movie, but it flunked the test because it mostly took place in a male dominated center of war and mathematics. Still, it shows feminist ideas by portraying one woman working alongside all these men in this era.
Message posted on 2014-12-14 03:59:58
Kaitune said:
Although there is a lack of female presence in this movie, it doesn't bother me too greatly though because the story is set in a heavily prejudice time in a male-dominated setting. Sure... I guess Joan could have talked about something other than men with her friend Helen, but otherwise she is a strong character. She has her own conflict going on as well as her personal development. Even though she might play the emotional supporter role for Turing some of the times, it is clear that she is there for herself, and she won't give a crap whether Turing wants her there or not. Joan is basically the second most developed character in the movie, being the two lone odd ducks with Turing in the place that unjustly antagonises them for backward reasons.

Being completely ignorant about Turing's story before going to see the movie, I unthinkingly expected Joan to be the supportive love interest, so I was very pleasantly surprised to put it mildly.
Message posted on 2014-12-16 21:52:52
Nannina said:
Though I enjoyed the film, I was very disappointed in the way they portrayed Joan Clarke and the women working at Bletchley. The historical Joan worked in Hut 8 from the start, Turing did not have to smuggle papers to her, on her second day at Bletchley she was transferred to Hut 8 and they moved Turing's desk to fit a desk for her beside him. She was working along with the men the whole time, and incidentally along with the other women who worked in Hut 8 as well. They could have easily passed the test if they had any interest in portraying the war effort correctly.

Yes there was sexism back then, but if you only focus on the sexism in history you diminish the very real role that women have played in important moments in history. It was as if they felt the audience wouldn't believe that a woman was needed and welcomed into this work, when in fact Joan was the person who worked in Hut 8 the longest, was made the deputy head of Hut 8 in 1944, and was described by Hugh Alexander as "one of the best Banburists (cryptanalysts) in the section". The film never seems to show her officially on the team, I don't see why this was necessary for the story.

I also felt that her character was purely there to illuminate Turing's, she fulfilled the role of "platonic love interest", and she could have been so much more. Yes she was a fun engaging character, but I'm sad about the number of missed opportunities they had with her, and even more so the other women at Bletchley, not that the movie should have been about them, but just for realism's sake having them part of the atmosphere, not turning Bletchley into a male realm.
Message posted on 2015-01-02 00:36:49
rmsgrey said:
@Nannina - It's not just the women of Bletchley Park who get character-assassinated by the movie - Charles Dance's character was, in reality, a keen supporter of Turing's efforts, the idea of a machine (a "Bombe") to crack Enigma was well-known in cryptographic circles, and, in fact, the Poles had designed their own Bombe that could handle most German Enigma machines - Alan Turing's contribution was to improve on their design to be able to solve the German naval traffic which used an enhanced Enigma machine. By the end of the war, there were something like 200 Bombes in operation, manned by a large staff - and the decision of what intelligence to act upon would have been made at a much higher level than Turing.

Essentially, the film discriminated against everyone except Alan Turing - by comparison with most of the characters, Joan Clarke got treated rather well...
Message posted on 2015-01-27 02:00:47
calvin said:
i suppose technically the rating is correct when judged according to the stated criteria...but, kk and bc's characters only have meaningful conversations with each other and she's treated as the only other character who's thoughts and feelings are expressed. the most important thing to remember about this film is that it was essentially(and covertly) fiction. all the more disappointing since the actual story had two such interesting and three dimensional characters representing both genders in struggles that though different had much in common in their cause. it did not discriminate in it's
Message posted on 2015-05-24 03:35:06
Vince said:
I affirm this rating- Joan and Helen talk about a man.
Message posted on 2015-05-30 20:14:42

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