The Bechdel Test

The Bechdel Test is a tool we can use to think about how women are (or aren't) represented in movies. It sets some simple bare minimum requirements that should be easy to fulfill and leaves it to the reader to think about how many of their favorite movies manage to fail it.

The questions:
Does it have two or more named female characters.
Do they talk with each other at some point.
Do they talk about something other than a man.

For example, here are the ten top grossing movies and how far they make it though the above questions:

1. Avatar - Only talk about men 
2. Titanic - Pass 
3. The Avengers - They don’t talk 
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Don’t talk. 
5. Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Iffy pass (this can be a bit subjective) 
6. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - Don’t talk 
7. Skyfall - Iffy pass 
8. The Dark Knight Rises - Don’t talk 
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest - Barely talk, and about man 

Toy Story 3 - Barely Pass So, if you're being generous, that's 4/10. Easy as the test is, you may not be feeling very charitable. In that case it's 1/10.

Of the AFI Top 100 films, it comes out to 32/100.

See also the Finkbeiner test for science journalism. Stories about female scientists tend to focus a bit too much on the fact that they are female.