Comment on Also, it's over 2 1/2 hours long.

• misophist@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The Bechdel test is a famous test of film to measure whether a movie represents women as more than just accessories for the male cast. Specifically, the test is passed if a film features two women who have a conversation about something other than a man. Surprisingly, a lot of films fail this test.

  The Ulvaeus test is a fictional test in the same vein named after Bjorn Ulvaeus, a prominent member of the band ABBA. Presumably, thus test might be passed if a film contains a musical segment featuring the works of the band ABBA. This would be a clever pairing for this film, as ABBA has a song called Waterloo and the Napoleonic Wars ended with the Battle of Waterloo.

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  • snooggums@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The Bechdel test is a famous test of film to measure whether a movie represents women as more than just accessories for the male cast. Specifically, the test is passed if a film features two women who have a conversation about something other than a man. Surprisingly, a lot of films fail this test.

    It isn't surprising for a few reasons.

    1. A lot of movies, which the test highlights, have female characters that are not really fleshed out because of sexism. They only exist for the real characters, the men!
    2. A lot of movies don't have female characters because of the setting, like The Shawshank Redemption. An all men's prison just isn't going to have women in it. Small cast movies in similar all male settings are also not surprising to fail the test.
    3. Some movies are all about a main character and there aren't scenes that don't discuss the main character. So a conversation that doesn't include the main character would be forced in just to meet the test.

    Now, while it isn't surprising that a lot of movies fail the test, the real purpose of the test is to show how all three types of movies are massively over represented in the number of movies made. #3 is an issue overall because of how the vast majority of main characters are men and not women. #2 is an issue overall because of how many movies there are about all male settings. It highlights the overall trend that main characters are men and the movies are all about the men, and wouldn't be an issue if there were just as many movies about women or with casts that only include women. The Descent stands out with all characters being women because that is very rare!

    So if a single movie fails the test because of the setting or small cast, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. If there is a diverse cast, but the women are not fleshed out then it is an issue. If a movie could have included women, but they were too lazy to do so and to give them characterization, then it is an issue.

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    • misophist@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      ok

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• StrongHorseWeakNeigh@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  [deleted]

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  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    OP is one of the members of ABBA?! Is Agnetha amongst us?! 😛

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• SonnyVabitch@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The others have explained it better than I ever could, but I’d like to add that I haven’t even checked whether Napoleon fails the Bechdel test. I’m reasonably certain that the Ulvæus test is bullshit, because I just made it up.

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• Stovetop@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The Bechdel test is if a movie is able to have two female characters having a conversation with one another about any topic other than a man. A surprising amount of media fails this test.

  Björn Ulvaeus is a member of Swedish supergroup ABBA and one of the composers of the ABBA song Waterloo, which is about the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.

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• dephyre@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  youtu.be/3Dc_cnj1PEc?si=MBjn-ymyYEs2CDB6

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