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user-inactivated  ·  4009 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 2013 Movies & The Bechdel Test: Hollywood Movies With Strong Female Roles Make More Money

But a movie with a single female character is perfectly capable of propagating strong female roles, right? (Fargo, say.) The whole test just seems weird to me. I know how it started but why on earth did it catch on in mainstream media? People take it semi-seriously.

    Keep in mind - it's not about "strong female roles."

Shouldn't it be, if we have to have a test at all? I mean, putting aside whether the inclusion of a made-up character in The Hobbit was criminal, she's basically there because one of the long-standing criticisms of Tolkien (and fantasy in general) is his relative lack of female characters -- so now because of the attention paid to "strong female roles" in Hollywood, little girls can go see that movie and have a role model. (They still fail any test, in my opinion, because of the idiotic romance they forced on her, but it's a step.) My point is she never has a real conversation with a female character but who cares?