This is an unexpected post, so bear with me for this post may be disjointed.
John August’s post on his blog got me going this morning so I place full blame on him. It has to do with the The Bechdel test
- Are there two or more female characters with names?
- Do they talk to each other?
- If they talk to each other, do they talk about something other than a man?
Here is the thing. Only one movie I have written/directed out of the two has passed this test.
An added bonus is that two films that I am working on are nothing but these rules.
The Family Affair
Octavia
In most movies you would think that there has to be two women, with character names, that talk to each other about something other than a man.
Not really:
It is a good idea to learn your craft and all the rules and tests that apply to it. (See Heroes Journey.)
Should this test be applied to every to every one of my scripts —- No
The reason is that while “tests” like this are out there, I think that if you are putting out a good story, it should just be good and if it happens to follow any rules, standards, or tests then bully for you.
An added point I would like to make is that in most of the scripts that I have written they have strong female characters in them. I do this for several reasons. None of which fall to the point of doing it on purpose. Strong female characters are nothing to be afraid of – unless it’s Octavia then all I would say is stay out of her way.