Bechdel's Rule, also known as the Bechdel Test or the Bechdel-Wallace Test, is a sort of litmus test for female presence in movies and TV. In order to pass, the film/show must meet the following critera:
- it includes at least two women,
- who have a conversation with each other
- about something other than a man.
Now, by limiting yourself to shows/movies that pass the test, you'd be cutting out a
lot of otherwise-worthy entertainment. But that's the point: too few shows/movies created today have independent female characters. It's gotten better since the law was first formulated (the strip below comes from 1985), but
Hollywood still needs to be prodded to put in someone other than
The Chick.
Of course, keep in mind that nearly
all conversations in film that don't involve the lead directly involve him or her as a subject (or they wouldn't be shown), so this eliminates nearly any film with a male lead, however strong or independent the female characters. Still, the number of films with
female leads that break this rule (not to mention the disproportion of male leads in the first place)...
It's obviously easier for a TV series to follow this rule than a film, because there's far more time for the conversation to occur in. For example,
Stargate Atlantis is not an especially feminist show, but one episode features two female characters discussing a (female) alien that's attacking them.
Named for Alison Bechdel, creator of the comic strip
Dykes To Watch Out For, who made it famous with
this strip
.
Compare
The Smurfette Principle.
