Sweden To Offer Bechdel Test Cinema Rating

Every state, province and country has a cinema rating system. This system is usually based around controlling the lower age limit of the audience and monitoring films so that they
remain appropriate. The ratings system in most territories is self-regulatory and there is usually an independent body of people to vet each movie and make the appropriate decisions. In the UK this job falls to the British Board of Film Classification, and these decisions are mostly based on the incidence of bad language, nudity, sex and violence within each picture.

However, in Sweden, some cinemas are going to introduce a new rating system alongside the one for age that will advise whether the film passes the Bechdel Test. They will be the first in the world to do this. For those who are unfamiliar with this test, it is a marker of the incidences of women on screen. The test is simple. To pass the test a film must contain a scene in which two named women have a conversation that is not about a man and does not involve a man. If you are new to this test, you will be surprised at how few films actually pass.

The Bechdel Test started as a joke in a comic strip by a woman called Alison Bechdel. The joke was that two women wanted to watch a movie, and one of them refused to watch any movie without the criteria of two women having a conversation that is not about men. The joke was that the only movie they could find had been out for five years.

The comedic roots of the Bechdel Test have been used to disparage its findings, but these findings cannot be denied, and they make a serious point for the cinema-going public. In fact many valid points have been raised through humour, and comedy is often the most subversive outlet available.

It has been noted that many films with strong female roles would not pass the Bechdel Test. This is true; for example, the recent release Saving Mr Banks would not pass and yet it contains a brilliant female lead character. However, the idea that this should be an issue is preposterous; the Bechdel Test is not there to make sure that only female representation is available but to highlight the severe lack of films that address women in a fair and equal light. This means all movies, not only the ones that are about women. Bear in mind that the film only need contain one scene in which two women have one conversation that does not discuss or involve a man. These are very small criteria to fill and yet film after film fails.

This is also not to say that every film should pass the Bechdel Test. There should be movies that are male centred and fail the test but this should be in an environment of a more rounded representation of both male and female in film.

Lets take a look at the current UK top ten movies and see how many pass the test.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Pass
Gravity -  Fail
Thor: The Dark World - Pass
The Butler - Pass
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 - Fail
The Family - Fail
Turbo - Fail
The Counsellor - Fail
Captain Philips - Fail
Blue is the Warmest Color - Pass


As you can see, more than half the films did not make the grade, and this is for ONE conversation between two women. Moreover, Thor: The Dark World only just scraped in. This is a sore under-representation of women and, sadly, this is an unusually good week with more films passing than is often found.

Unfortunately this is a cycle that is fuelled by the nature of the film industry. When financing a movie a film maker has an idea and pitches this to the studio. The studio executives decide if they think this movie will make money and then start the project. This is where part of the problem begins.The studio needs to be sure of a financial return for the movie and the financial return is judged upon past box office receipts. Put simply: did another film like this one make us money? And there is the rub. It has become a myth that films about women don't sell; that only young, white men go to the cinema and watch movies because these films have traditionally made money for the studios. However, this is somewhat false in and of itself because these blockbuster movies are the ones which have the marketing money spent on them, creating a self fulfilling prophecy of success. If they are the ones with the most marketing budget then they are the most likely to gain success, despite the subject matter or audience tastes.

Add to this problems of distribution. This is also something that is controlled by the studio, as they decide the distribution of the movie. If the studio decides it is a 'smaller' film then the distribution is very limited as they are not keen to spend too much money. Therefore, the movie can only be seen by a small number of people and the box office sales will be lower. I for one have often wished to see a movie at the cinema, only to find the nearest one playing the film to be over 50 miles away.

So here is the problem. The film industry needs to wake up to the fact that other films can be profitable given the chance; one only has to look to the success of the film Bridesmaids to know that representation of women can be entertaining, funny and very financially successful. Yet there was a sense of surprise at the success of Bridesmaids; one that wasn't shared over the success of The Hangover, which is a very similar, yet male centred, movie.

So, why was Bridesmaids' success unexpected? Because it had a small budget, was about women, and had very limited marketing. It was word of mouth and the quality of the product that sold the movie. If many of the male-centric blockbusters had to do that, there would be a huge change in what we see at the multiplex. So, maybe all cinemas should employ the Bechdel rating and let the viewing public have a bit more awareness about what they are seeing. After all, a wider variety of films and a larger audience for the film makers can't be all bad. Who knows, maybe the Swedish people are on to something here.