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Sweden introduces 'gender bias rating' to cinemas
Star Wars and Harry Potter would fail the ‘Bechdel test’.
Sweden is stamping out sexism at the cinema.
We already have ratings to tell us how much sex, violence and profanity a movie contains, but now the Scandinavian county is pioneering a new system to highlight gender bias on film.
Supported by the Swedish Film Institute, the so-called Bechdel Test will only issue an “A Rating” if a movie passes three simple questions:
1 – Are there two or more named female characters in the film?
2 – Do they talk to each other?
3 – Do they talk to each other about something other than a man?
High profile films that fail the test include the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, and seven of the eight ‘Harry Potter’ movies.
[DVD company apologises over ‘sexist, racist’ Sapphires cover]
“For some people it has been an eye-opener,” Ellen Tejle, director of Stockholm’s Bio Rio cinema, told the Associated Press – adding that movie watchers rarely see “a female superhero or a female professor or person who makes it through exciting challenges and masters them.”
Aimed at tackling inequality and how woman are portrayed in society, the new rating system wouldn’t say anything about the quality of a film. Instead, “the goal is to see more female stories and perspectives on cinema screens,” said Tejle.
The test itself originated from Allison Bechdel's 1985 comic ‘Dykes To Watch Out For’ – designed simply to assess the presence of women in a particular film.
Other movies that fail the test include: ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘Shrek’, ‘Pulp Fiction’, ‘The Bourne Identity’, ‘Transformers’, ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’, ‘Fight Club’, ‘Raiders Of The Lost Ark’, ‘Trainspotting’, ‘Mission Impossible’, ‘Gladiator’, ‘X-Men’, ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ ‘Back To The Future’ and ‘Toy Story’. The potential list is endless.
Recent US research supports the idea that women are under-represented in movies. According to the Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film, of the top 100 US films in 2011, women accounted for 33% of all characters, and just 11% of protagonists.
Do you think Sweden’s new rating system will encourage gender equality? Should the UK adopt the Bechdel Test too? Let us know in the comments below.
Watch our round-up of the latest trailers, here.
