Where Two or More Women are Gathered....

I came upon a website called The Bechdel Test in which we are asked to rate movies using three basic criteria:

1.     Does the film have two or more women in it?
2.     Do the women talk to each other?
3.     Do they talk to each other about something other than men?

 If  the film in question displays all three of these characteristics, it passes the test.
I like that this test totally validates my previous post about female TV characters who don’t talk to each other---everyone needs a good validating now and then. 

The proverbial old boy’s club in Hollywood still exists and still believes, unlike many actual male film goers, that if two or more female film characters talk to each other about anything but guys, men in the audience will either fall asleep, or invade a small country out of sheer boredom.  Thus, scriptwriters are “encouraged” to write about male leads and the women who talk about them. …to each other.

I also think that Hollywood fears women getting along with each other in art because that runs the risk of women, like actresses perhaps, banding together in real life to fight the domination of the industry that white males enjoy. 

I might add that when women are depicted having conversations about other subjects than men, they will probably be talking about children.