The Bechdel Test is an interesting exercise to highlight things that often slip beneath the radar.
It is, however, entirely possible for a film to pass it and be sexist as all fuck. It is also possible for a film to fail it, while having strong female characters, sensitive male ones and anti-sexist themes. As a test for the presence of sexism, it is absurdly simplistic.
Take Scarlett Johanssen's character in
The Avengers - the Black Widow - as an example.
This character:
Is regarded as so competent by her peers that Agent Coulson is visibly bored whilst waiting for her to beat up a roomful of bad guys despite her beginning the fight tied to a fucking chair. This theme continues throughout the film with no sympathetic character treating her as anything less than a consummate professional.
Goes from this situation to "bringing in" Dr. Bruce Banner; a task that the entire US Army has failed to do on numerous occasions. Later, she survives the Hulk's attempt to "smash" her with only superficial injuries. The superhumanly-tough Thor suffers more extensive injuries. The Hulk goes on to punch out a plane, a mechanical sky-serpent and about half the invading alien army.
She holds her own in battle alongside Captain America and Thor, despite having no powers whatsoever. She is the only character to use the aliens' own weapons against them. She is the character who goes after the machine central to the alien invasion and shuts it down. She is the only member of the team not to get either mind-controlled or have a massive childish tanty - admittedly "having a massive childish tanty" is actually Banner's superpower, so maybe he passes too - that threatens the success of their mission.
She successfully interrogates Loki, by using his own sexist assumptions against him, after Nick Fury fails to get anything other than taunts out of the prick. This is foreshadowed by the initial scene where she insists she is interrogating the corrupt Russian officer who has her tied to a chair. A theme the character clearly develops is, people who make sexist assumptions about women's abilities are fucking idiots.
She - and this is fucking awesome - clearly regards it as her duty to rescue Clint "Hawkeye" Barton from Loki's mind control. This is not something she does by coincidence along the way when an opportunity comes up; this is a female character who drops everything and deliberately puts herself in harm's way to rescue a male character. She also knocks him out cold, despite him trying to kill her (mind control remember).
And yet,
The Avengers fails the Bechdel Test and is therefore sexist because Natasha Romanov and Maria Hill didn't have a 60 second conversation about hair and makeup?
No, I'm not saying that the conversation required by the Bechdel Test
has to be about a stereotypically feminine topic; the point is that it could have been. By adding a scene that made two strong, highly-competent professional women look like complete bimbos,
The Avengers could have passed this test.
"Democracy is asset insurance for the rich. Stop skimping on the payments."
-- Mark Blyth
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