Thought experiment

[james_davis_nicoll]

There are lots of books and films that fail the Bechdel test:

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

As discussed in other LJs and blogs, partly this is because film and TV writers are discouraged from writing material that passes it. Girls have cooties and viewers are assumed to be male, so unless the women are interacting with a guy there's no possible reason to have them in a story [1].

I'm sure the relevent link will turn up in comments.

Imagine the mirror image of the Bechdel test: Books and movies that have

1: At least two men,
2: Who talk to each other,
3: About something besides a woman.

These are pretty common. What I was wondering is if an author set out to deliberately write something that failed the mirror Bechdel test [2], would the readers notice?


1: Leaving aside porn.

2: I have a feeling there are some Archie comics that fail this test (Ones where the only men are Reggie, Archie and Jughead and all they talk about is Veronica and Betty).

Comments

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

Well, Allison Bechdel writes Dykes, and things are oft called for their creator, so the switch makes sense to me, though it also took me by surprise the first time i heard it called the Bechdel Efffect.

[avram]

Bechdel credits Liz Wallace in the original strip, so properly it should be "the Wallace Test".

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

I'd plumb forgotten that, and your point is quite valid. I suppose we're looking at the effect of the broader exposure in this case, then, at least for now.

[montrealais.livejournal.com]

I've heard it as the Bechdel-Wallace test.

It used to be called the Mo Movie Measure, but Alison pointed out that it was in a strip before Mo and the other recurring characters were introduced.