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]] Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) [imdb]

This movie passed 3 of 3 tests. It was entered by Rajesh on 2015-05-15 17:36:08.

Reviews

Comments

Rajesh said:
There are plenty of conversations between strong female characters in the movie. The issue is that I cannot recall anyone other than Furiosa being actually addressed by name in the movie.
Message posted on 2015-05-15 17:36:08
Przystupa said:
The test states:

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

The named part is optional and so I think that there are plenty of interactions that fit this bill.

For example between The Dag and Toast the knowing, which is in one of the trailers:
Toast: What are you doing?
The Dag: Praying.
Toast: To who?
The Dag: Anyone who's listening.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 04:56:23
Cathy said:
I'm pretty sure all of the Wives' names are given at some point. Definitely Angharad (when the others are remembering her after she dies) and Cheedo when she wants to go back to the Citadel.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 04:56:32
Cam said:
At least the character of "Splendid" is named, although I can't remember if she and Furiosa had much conversation
Message posted on 2015-05-18 06:19:35
Chus said:
At least, as far as i can recall, Cheedo and Angharad/Splendid were adressed by the name (or nickname)
Message posted on 2015-05-18 07:00:27
Mark F said:
The film has at least 7 named women in it (we do hear the names, or they are made clear), and they most normally talk about things other than a man.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 08:53:03
SIMON said:
Several strong women characters, a 2 minutes scene with just two of them talking, a fiminism thème. What more could you want?
Message posted on 2015-05-18 08:59:02
George said:
The women are named, even though the names are unconventional. (The seed keeper, Dag, Toast)
The women talk,
To each other,
About something other than a man.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 09:47:07
Georges said:
1. Furiosa, Angharad (aka Splendid), Capable, Toast, Fragile, Valkyrie, Hope...

2. are talking about...

3. ...God (no gender with this one, only named as "anyone"), survive, the "greenplace", and maybe other stuffs.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 09:59:19
Luke Mochan said:
That's wind and pish.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 10:17:46
Jacqueline said:
They had names; they were just weird names like Splendid, Capable, Toast, etc.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 10:39:05
Eltopio said:
- There is Furiosa, Miss Giddy, Splendid, Cheedo, The Dag, Toast, Capable..
- They talk together
- They talk about their mission, hope, their relation together.

This movie is a pure 3/3
Message posted on 2015-05-18 12:10:10
furyroadsta said:
Wrong. The movie passes. All the wives had names, most notably "Splendid", the main wife. There was also Dag, Toast the knowing That I can name off hand.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 12:57:39
Sam said:
At least one of the wives was referred to by name, the 'favorite' one. They're all named in the script.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 13:04:48
Laurent said:
Other than Furiosa, at least Angharad and Cheedo are named in the movie.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 13:22:19
Watcher of Movies said:
Almost all notable characters in Fury Road are named. The guy with the flailing guitar, for example, is named Coma-Doof Warrior. Granted I can't at a glance tell who among the Wives and the Mothers are who, but the conversations about heirlooms and satellites I would gather make for a pass in my book.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 13:37:13
A. said:
That is incorrect, the movie passes all 3 portions of the test. Splendid Angharad (at least) is also called by name and the female characters talk to each other about assorted, not male, things. For instance, seeds and the inability to grow them.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 15:21:56
Jack said:
The movie passes.

1. Furiosa and Angharrad are named.
2. They talk a lot as Max hardly says a word.
3. About survival and defense as well as repairs to the big truck.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 16:14:03
mkb said:
Rajesh, in fairness it's not as if the supposed main character ever gets addressed by name either... this movie barely has any dialogue.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 16:34:16
Nephie said:
I think the problem with criticizing the lack of knowing names is that Furiosa is really the only character, male or female, whose name we know (aside from Max, but not because he says it until the very end). We hear all of their names in passing but their names aren't focused on in the rush of the film. Names are irrelevant in this world, they aren't how you recall or describe someone.

Also, there are multiple conversations not about men. One of the brides and the Keeper of the Seeds discuss how life was before, and why she keeps the seeds. Multiple times there are interactions about fixing or manning parts of the rig (which is the main topic amongst anyone throughout the film really).

No one is claiming this film passes with flying colors, but I do believe it passes more than you are giving it credit for.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 16:47:58
J said:
In the stars scene, none of the male characters are even present, and they talk about how satellites used to be used for communications.

I think the conversation about seeds also counts.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 16:51:52
Lance said:
All of the female characters are named, but they are weird post-apocalyptic names that also kind of serve as general character titles (example, the older woman with the bag of seeds is named "Keeper of the Seeds") and most of them are in the credits only. I think it's possible that this could be a pass, depending on if any of the names Furiosa gives when they are at the big electric tower with The Valkrye included the names of any of those female characters, or if the big bad guy names Splendid Angharad when he re-kidnaps her. The fact that I can't entirely be certain if either of these actually happen is enough to keep me from checking the "disagree with this rating" box.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 16:52:54
Kaitune said:
All the women actually have names, and I think that at least one of the women Furiosa met at the destination is named verbally in the movie.

However, even if none of the other women is named in the movie, I would be tempted to give it a pass anyhow since most characters (both men and women) aren't really named in the movie. For the majority of the time, we only know the name of Furiosa and Immortan Joe. Max himself isn't even really named until almost the end of the movie.

I would consider it a 3/3 pass.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 17:04:52
Maurice said:
This is easy 3/3 furiousa talks to keeper about being gone, and about her mother dying. Keeper also talks to dag about seeds. Toast also talks to furiousa about bullets. capable and dag, also talk to cheedo to stop her from going back.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 18:20:42
Chris said:
The rating is incorrect. They are several named women (Furiosa and Splendid to name 2) in Mad Max Fury Road.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 18:47:05
Ralf said:
Here's a movie that definitely passes the test in my opinion and I'll tell you why:

Mad Max: Fury Road not only just features strong female characters. In a clever plot twist, the movie you might expect to be about a guy named Max is revealed to actually be about five women being freed from oppression and slavery by another woman.

There aren't that many dialogue scenes in this film to begin with but of the few that there are, a couple show conversations between women who - although mostly not mentioned on-screen - all have been given full character names.

One example for a scene where they are talking with each other and about something other than a man: The group has met some older female survivors in the desert and they sit down under the starlit sky to talk about the old days, when they see a satellite pass by. They explain to each other what that moving thing in the sky is called. One line of dialogue I can explicitly remember is "In the old days everyone used to have a show".
Message posted on 2015-05-18 19:02:04
K said:
They are named, but it might not be that obvious that it's their names...
Angharad's name ismentioned several times and so is Capable (both 'wives').
The other wives might be named too, but I can't remember it having seen it only once.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 19:29:36
B said:
When the immortan is looking for them in their room, he calls them by their name (at least 2 of the 'breeding' girls).
I don't remember if the old ladies are named at any time...
Message posted on 2015-05-18 19:42:45
Brendan said:
The characters are named in the credits, doesn't that count? And for all I know they were named in the script, because several parts of the dialogue are garbled to me. This movie is incredibly feminist and it would be frustrating to have it fail this test on a technicality.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 20:32:29
Mitchell said:
I recall Miss Giddy, Splendid, Capable, and Toast being addressed by name at certain points throughout the film.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 20:52:11
Urd said:
At least one other woman is named: Angharad (the pregnant lady who gets her baby cut out of her). I think more of the girls are referred to by name as well, as well as the biker grannies.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 21:22:16
rynne said:
i'm definitely sure that Splendid, the leader of the brood girls is named by Joe.
Message posted on 2015-05-18 21:32:56
jenn said:
All five of the wives and several if not all of the women in the bike gang have names. They discuss family, survival, environmental disaster, weapons, automotive repair, strategy, seeds ... Mad Max Fury Road passes the test with flying colors. Amazing movie!
Message posted on 2015-05-18 21:42:33
Beth said:
How did this not pass the test? There are many strong female characters who form the majority of the more main characters, and they all have names. At least four of them called by name during the movie (Furiosa, who is called by name frequently, Splendid, who is called to by name by Immortan Joe many times, Fragile, who is called by name as she is trying to run away, and Miss Giddy, who fends off Joe when he finds the wives gone and holds Splendid as she dies). Very few of their conversations are about men. Most of them are conversations about their current situation in the battle.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 01:30:24
RJ said:
Many of the characters, including men are not named, and that is just the nature of the movie. They are given names in the credits. The women definitely talk to each other about things other than men, such as seeds and the stars.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 03:18:44
McKinley said:
All of the wives have names in the credits, and two of them are spoken aloud (Angharad and Toast). Furiosa and Toast have a conversation about ammunition/bullets.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 03:57:33
Tyronomo said:
I disagree. As does this guy...

Via www.hitfix.com/harpy/7-ways-mad-max-fury-road-sublimely-subverts-movie-sexism/2

"For those who don’t know, the Bechdel Test is a film litmus test. To pass, a movie must have two female characters, with names, who talk to each other, about something other than a man. It’s not perfect but it helps illustrate how utterly underrepresented women’s voices are in film. “Mad Max: Fury Road” passes on a level heretofore unheard of outside “chick flicks.” There is a moment late in the film when no less than twelve women — seven of them named — are talking together. On the one hand I am mortified this is cause for celebration. On the other hand, it’s a decisive victory worthy of a fist pump."
Message posted on 2015-05-19 04:22:03
Sam said:
Shouldn't this be an easy pass? While, yes, I can't really remember if any of the other non-Furiosa women are actually addressed by name, they definitely *have* names.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 05:32:10
Roger said:
There are several great female characters, who talk about far more than men, but the name part is tricky. The female lead is prominently named, but the other characters aren't addressed by names as far as I can recall. But the thing is, very few characters, including several prominent male characters, are actually addressed by name. You can look at the credits and see all those characters have names, but the story doesn't really require them to be used. It makes sense in the movie, from a narrative standpoint. Even the titular Max is only referred to by name one time.

Ultimately, for a movie like this, that gives women several heroic roles and moments, including several elderly women (which is pretty much unheard of in an action movie), you have to look past the Bechdel test, and appreciate that something like this would be actually be made by Hollywood in the first place.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 06:40:10
Ema said:
I am sure at least Splendid and Cheedo are addressed by name in the movie.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 07:36:25
rant said:
There is a moment late in the film when no less than twelve women — seven of them named — are talking together.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 09:04:30
Emma said:
I saw the film with subtitles and Angharad and Cheedo are both also addressed by name several times during the movie.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 09:23:17
Maya said:
Joe was yelling the wives' names, so even though it wasn't directly at them, their names were used. They are all named. Also when Cheedo was trying to get back to Joe, the others were calling at her by her name.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 11:01:46
addeee said:
I'm sorry that you obviously stopped watching after the first 5 minutes. All but the ones being milked had names. They had personalities, well developed ones at that. The only man they talked about was Immortan Joe, and they talked about him only to emphasize what a terrible person he was and it served to show how strong they were for leaving. The Vulvalini had names, too; Valkyrie, who cried when she met Furiosa, Miss Giddy and the Seed Keeper who were badass grannies that talked to the Wives about their lives and hopes. I mean honestly there were more women speaking to each other than I can remember different men speaking to one another? did we watch the same movie???
Message posted on 2015-05-19 11:58:20
Mad Max said:
They had names, read the credits. It's a Mad Max film, most people aren't referred to by name directly; even the men. But they were definitely named.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 13:13:30
Dylan said:
The 12 female characters all have speaking roles, have conversations about things beside men (most of their conversations are about what is best for themselves as a group). Two of the wives are addressed by name--Capable, and Splendid--and multiple of the older clanswomen are addressed by their names.

The movie passes the test with flying colors.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 15:10:29
Miki said:
I disagree because I think this warrants further investigation. The thing is that even though the female characters may not be referred to by name, Miller gives pretty much every character a backstory and with that, a name.

Seriously, the guy playing the guitar is called "The Doof Warrior". I am sure that The Wives have names.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 15:15:00
Andres said:
I believe you are distorting the Bechdel test. The female characters do not have to be "addressed by name", only be named, which is not the same. Besides, you do not recall correctly. There are several moments during the movie when they mention each other name. In fact, the first conversation with the Vulvalinis is mostly a conversation regarding their own names, which goes so far as to explain the maternal family lines.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 15:31:04
Flanageddon said:
Toast, Cheedo, Capable, and Splendid have their names mentioned on screen. That said, they are hardly names and easy to miss. I don't think Dag's name was ever said. Keeper of seeds is more a title than a name, but names in the Mad Max universe are questionable at best.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 16:06:50
Emily said:
They shouted Cheedo's name several times when she was running away. Immortan Joe shouted Splendid Angharad's name several times over the course of the movie.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 16:43:21
Emily said:
Forgot to say that I remember Angharad being called by name between the wives.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 16:45:43
Samantha said:
Joe refers to Spendid by name when she's using herself as a shield. Earlier in the movie, she comes up from the hold to tell Furiosa that the girls can't breathe, and Furiosa tells her to stay hidden. Cheedo is also referred to by name when she's running away, although I can't remember if she qualifies for points 2 and 3.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 17:03:06
John said:
At least one other female character was mentioned by name in the film: "Splendid," Immortan Joe's favorite. The names are a bit confusing in the movie, so it's easy to miss.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 17:10:00
ipvicus said:
Spendid is the name of the pregnant "wife." She's addressed by name several times, by different characters male and female.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 17:48:56
Jo said:
All the female characters have names but they are strange and difficult to remember. I only remember Max, Furiosa and Immortan Joe's names. Introductions were brief but there are TONS of discussions between the women about something besides a man.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 18:23:05
Callum said:
There are a number of Female named characters, Furiosa, splendid, toast et.
The women talk about things pertaining to more than just immortan joe, for example the seeds and general exposition
Message posted on 2015-05-19 18:48:22
Amanda said:
The Splendid Angharad is named (the pregnant wife), as well as Valkyrie (one of the Many Mothers). Their names are said in the movie.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 21:03:29
Rob said:
This movie does in fact past the Test. The Brides refer to each other a several points by name, as do the Valkyrie, who are the women who were the survivors of Furiosa's Clan.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 22:34:34
Sheherazahde said:
The women are named: Splendid, Capable, Cheedo, Toast, and the Dag.

Their full names in the script are: The Splendid Angharad, Cheedo the Fragile, Toast the Knowing, The Dag, and Capable

The point of the rule is that they aren't just "the wives" or wife 1, wife 2, etc.
Message posted on 2015-05-19 23:41:38
Nate said:
There are over two women named. Furiosa, Splendid, Toast, etc. There are conversations, like the one about shows, which do not involve a man. Therefore, it passes...
Message posted on 2015-05-20 00:00:00
Mike said:
A couple of the five wives' names are called out at different points in the movie, but they are so ridiculous (Toast? Capable? Dag?) that it's possible to miss that that's what is being said.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 00:10:40
Erin said:
This movie passes the test. There are many named women, and they talk about many things besides men in several conversations, about civilization, the past, memories of their homes, their wishes and hopes, etc. They do refer to one another by name, as well.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 00:25:15
Seraphina said:
Splendid (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), who is one of the wives and whose name is mentioned, talks with Furiosa. I feel like they also mention Zoe Kravitz's character's name Toast near the end of the movie.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 00:50:27
Angel said:
It passes 3/3 tests. No one has a traditional name outside of the titular Max, but they do have names. And those characters have conversations that meet the requirements.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 02:11:03
Lee said:
All the major female characters are named. It's a very visual movie, with a lot going on, so it's easy to miss things, but they all had names and called each other by them. They're odd though. Toast the Knowing, Capable, The Dag. It's understandable if you didn't pick up on them. They also talk to each other about various things related to their survival. How much ammunition is left, the seeds, what happened to the green place, etc.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 03:29:16
NotTopherGrace said:
There are plenty scenes where two named women talk and names are mentioned.
The Dag's first line is "Angharad, do you hear a whisper in the wild or is that just a furious fixation"

Later when Cheedo is trying to run to the war party, the women shout "Cheedo, don't be Stupid. Don't go back to him. we are not his playthings"
"Thats what Angharad said, and she is dead"

The five wifes also mention Aunt Giddy a few times sporadically.

They have names, they are just weird and don't sound like names
Message posted on 2015-05-20 03:33:43
seel said:
They say their characters names a few times. Toast(Zoe Kravitz), Capable, and Angharad(pregnant one) are the three I remember them saying out loud.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 03:40:59
Chris said:
This rating was definitely made by someone who hadn't seen the movie. There are more than 2 named characters, 12 overall, each of them a speaking role, having conversations with each other, about things other than men.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 04:04:17
Pippit said:
I think it rates a 3/3. Strong women introduce/reacquaint using formal and intricate heritage and discuss the environment. There are many female characters who's names are used. The main theme is feminist. The plot is women out to save women from slavery, which is intercepted by a character called Max.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 04:15:56
Brooke said:
The female characters in the film were repeatedly named. Their names were shouted out on numerous occasions. They spoke numerous times about the "green place", the truck, etc
Message posted on 2015-05-20 04:55:43
Alison said:
The test is first passed when Splendid - the obviously pregnant wife - tells Furiosa that they can't breathe in the hold. The other wives have names as well - the Dag, Toast, etc. They're not good names, but they're there.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 05:34:58
neil (webmaster) said:
I've updated the rating from 1/3 to 3/3.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 05:37:09
Will disagreed with the rating and said:
The movie absolutely passes the test. Nowhere in the three rules does it say the characters have to be addressed by their name within the movie, just that they have to be named. I can see where one might want to split hairs with the rule – for example, when it seems like a name was tacked on in the credits in a cheap attempt to "legitimize" a minor character. But in Mad Max, the names of many of the characters, male and female, are given only in the credits, due to the sparsity of the dialogue, and, based on the stylistic touches of this film and previous ones in the series I am fairly certain these names were not afterthoughts, but were fully intended from the beginning to be the names of the characters.
Message posted on 2015-05-20 05:41:32
Lloyd said:
All of the women in the movie have names. Nux (the bald war boy) addresses the redhead girl as "Capable" (her actual name, not an attribute) at least twice, Cheedo (the dark haired wife) is addressed when she tries to run back to Joe, Splendid (the very pregnant wife) is named by Joe, Dag (weird blond girl) is named by the other wives, and a couple of the Vuvalini are named.
The only women I can't recall being directly addressed are some of the Vuvalini, the creepy little girl in Max's hallucinations, and the character played by Zoe Kravitz.
But to be fair, a lot of the men aren't named, either (I had to look up Nux's name, incidentally).
Message posted on 2015-05-23 05:58:28
James said:
I thought the "named" part of the rule was just so we didn't count minor interactions between unimportant characters. A character ordering a pack of cigagrettes for ten seconds wouldn't count.

Most of the women on the rig have important speaking roles. Doesn't matter if their names were repeated enough for you to remember. Max was the main character, and if you ran across this movie on TV 5 years from now you wouldn't know his name until the very end.
Message posted on 2015-05-25 19:24:58
Dorian Deome disagreed with the rating and said:
I've already linked the review, at t.co/Vx9H6MeOCa (not spam, I'm a real person), from a friend of mine who does academic work in feminism. Her review specifically focuses on the film's failure to pass the Bechdel test (because of the third criterium).

"Yes, Fury Road has female characters, and yes they talked to each other, but did they ever talk about anything besides men—their captors who kept them in chains? Maybe a little bit. Not really."
Message posted on 2015-06-06 04:10:13
Testy said:
It passes the test with flying colors. People need to remember that the test is supposed to be EASY; the WHOLE POINT is that Hollywood keeps failing it anyway. If the movie meets the letter of the test, then that's it; you don't get to add new conditions to the test so you can declare anything short of Feminist Paragon a failure.

Examples (plural) where it passes the test:

Imperator Furiousa: How are you?
The Splendid Angharad: It hurts.
Imperator Furiousa: Out here, everything hurts. [Turns to the rest of the Five Wives] You wanna get through this? Do as I say. Now, pick up what you can, and run.

Toast: What are you doing?
The Dag: Praying.
Toast: To who?
The Dag: Anyone who's listening.

That's 2 conversations with 4 different named women that pass the test right there.
Message posted on 2015-06-17 21:14:47
Em said:
I'm surprised at how many people think the women in Fury Road (who, yes, do have names that are clearly stated several times in the movie) don't talk about anything other than the men who are their captors. They talk about each other, about going to The Green Place, about hope, about fixing the truck. I have no idea why people would want to say it doesn't pass the Bechdel Test. It's fine to argue about how *feminist* the film is or isn't, but it's weird that people are so invested in claiming it fails one or another aspect of the Bechdel Test when it clearly, provably passes all of them!
Message posted on 2015-07-15 21:15:42
Charlotte said:
I am so confused by anyone who could actually believe that this movie does not pass the test.

They discuss the green place, at length, several times throughout the movie. There's an entire sequence with the Dag and the Seed Keeper discussing the need to kill people and the seeds that still exist. Furiosa, the Wives, and the Many Mothers stand around in a circle, sans the men, discussing Furiosa's past and what happened to the green place. They discuss Angharad's death. They discuss weapons, bullets, and strategy. Capable and Furiosa discuss going Capable's ability to scout out the back. Furiosa and Toast discuss bullets and weaponry. There are innumerable conversations in this movie that have nothing to do with men.

The Wives are all named and several of their names and stated in the movie multiple times. When Immortan Joe realizes the wives are missing, he calls out both "Splendid!" and "Angharad" while searching for her. He also calls Miss Gilly by name in the same scene. Later on, he again refers to her by both her nickname and actual name, and after she dies the wives mention her by name several times. Cheedo actually yells her name out, and she is also referred to by name when The Dag sees the captors coming for them, and when they are discussing anti-seeds.

Cheedo is referred to by name both when she is running away from the group and later on when she tricks Rictus into putting her on the other car so she can help Furiosa.

Nux refers to Capable by name, and the other wives refer to The Dag by name, but their names are not mentioned as often as the other two.

Of the Vulvalini, I know Valkyrie is named in the movie by the others.

Many of these characters have conversations with each other about things other than men.

It passes with flying colors.
Message posted on 2015-07-26 01:08:46
A sapient raccoon said:
The "named" part of the rule is quasi-optional. The point is to stop random background characters from letting the movie pass the test. The brides were not random background characters, so it doesn't matter if their real names were given.
Message posted on 2015-07-26 02:45:54
ray said:
At least 2 women are called out by name in the film. "Capable" and "Furiosa". People need to pay attention and watch the film
Message posted on 2015-12-29 19:10:31
Steve said:
When Imortem Joe is running back to the vault, he names most of the women who escaped. Its hard to pick up on because of his voice and their seemingly random names.
Message posted on 2016-04-10 14:40:13
Marian Zoleta said:
There are a lot of female characters, though Furiosa is usually the one seen speaking and doing the tough jobs as the movie progresses. Still, most of the scenes focus on the women and how they overpower their foes, which were mainly men.
Message posted on 2022-12-05 09:07:12

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