The Bechdel Test is fun and interesting because it allows historians to combine their own historical analysis with the film industry and popular culture. The test reflects how women are represented in our society in movies based upon a set of questions. In the future, historians may use current films to gauge women's roles and progress in the same way we analyze primary sources such as the letters between Magdalena and Balthasar or the Life of Christina of Markyate. This is one reason we should be concerned with the messages our movies send. What do they say about us?
Today I watched the movie Gravity starring Sandra Bullock. I have used the Bechdel test to my best ability to judge whether the movie is positive for women or not. I will also include themes we have discussed in class regarding the history of women and the first feminists. Below is how Gravity fared with the Bechdel test.
1. The film must have two or more women- Yes, there are two women other than Sandra Bullock, one is a dead astronaut, and the other is corresponding with her at NASA headquarters while she is in space, however this woman is never shown.
2. These women must talk to each other- Yes, Sandra's character (Ryan) talks to the female controller shortly over her speaker.
3. About anything other than a man- Yes, the two women discuss what Ryan needs to do for her job.
Although Gravity seems to have (barely) passed the Bechdel test, I will give my feedback which is a bit more thorough as well as critical of the movie. I first must point out the big picture, and that is that the plot of the story includes a sole female character who is intelligent, educated, and dedicated to her career. Besides a short dialogue of humorous relief between Ryan and her fellow astronaut, played by George Clooney, about whether she finds him attractive, little is mentioned about Ryan's sexuality as a woman. For the majority of the movie, her body is completely covered in the space suit with only her face visible. These are the good points I found, of which there are an equal amount of negative points.
In my opinion, the movie is not only about a female astronaut who is lost in space and (spoiler alert) who finds a way to survive, it is also about the main character's journey from being weak in the beginning to strong in the end after being tested to ultimate extremes, both physically and mentally. In the beginning she is extremely emotional after her space station is hit by debris, destroying it and making her and one other astronaut alone in space. George Clooney's demeanor is on the opposite side calm, almost to the point of annoyance. During their scenes together the classic male hero theme arose when Clooney talked a hysterical Bullock through getting to a nearby space station before their oxygen ran out. Only after he saves her and sacrifices himself does Bullock begin to make choices for herself and towards her own survival.
An apparent theme in the movie which relates to class is Ryan's role as a mother, the core purpose viewed for women throughout the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. Even though Ryan does not talk about romantic relationships, she does reveal that she had a daughter who had died when she was four years old. This aspect of the movie is not negative when it relates to feminism, however it reveals that the "Ages of Woman" and motherhood are still important to what it means to be a woman in the eyes of modern audiences. It seems that the message being conveyed is that professional women can have both a career and a family, or the fact that Ryan was a mother made her more "womanly." In the end, Ryan turned out to be a strong female character who uses her intelligence and training to direct and land an empty spacecraft back to earth. The movie passed the Bechdel test, however it includes interesting themes about women and their relationship with men and motherhood.
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