Tyler Perry’s Temptation

           

                                                         Tyler Perry’s Temptation

            The movie I decided to watch was Tyler Perry’s Temptation. This movie is basically about a married woman’s temptation by a handsome billionaire she meets at her job that then leads her betrayal, recklessness, and then changes the course of her life. This movie did pass the Bechdel Test because had multiple women characters with names and they talked about things other than a man, but I did find the movie to still be feminist in some ways. Now in this movie the main character Judith the married woman, is a strong Christian faith wife working at dating agency and her coworker Ava is always talking about how Judith dresses and how she needs to drees more sexy and show off her body more. Now Judith doesn’t believe there was anything wrong with the way she dressed until she started working with the billionaire. That’s not the only part that I thought was feminist, another part of the movie is when Judith’s mother comes to visit and her mother asks her does she cook, clean, and does everything a good wife’s supposed to do for her husband. I thought this part of the movie showed a lot of feminist in what they believe women/wife’s are supposed to do to be considered a good wife. There was another part of this movie that really suck out to me and it was the part where at Judith’s husbands job they hire a new worker named Melinda and based off of the cloths she was wearing Judith’s husband’s boss thought Melinda was lesbian. Melinda was wearing jeans, boots, and baggy sweater, and off those pieces of clothing someone perceived her as a lesbian when she was not. This was a great movie and showed another angel to certain situation in life that people may come across one day. Yes the movie may have had some feminist parts but overall all the parts were played well.

Freedom Writers

The Freedom Writers is a drama film, based on a true story that took place in the 1990s. It's about a teacher who takes a job at a high school in Long Beach, California that is facing many issues with racism, discrimination and gang violence. The teacher (Erin Gruwell) is able to successfully unite the students, inspire them to succeed in their academics, and create a positive learning environment for all of them.

The movie certainly did pass the Bechdel Test. I've seen the movie many times before needing to watch it for this project. Thinking about only the plot of the movie, it seems to me that one could assume that this movie would pass the Bechdel test before watching it. Before examining the movie, I expected it to pass without a problem.
There were a variety of women characters, such as the teacher, Erin Gruwell, a higher up (coworker) and a number of her students. While they do talk to each other, they talk about a variety of things that don't concern men. Subjects pertaining to well being, lesson plans, and a variety of other topics are covered. One of the main student characters Eva had a great and involved role, who discussed many things revolving around the plot of the story and gang violence during that time. She was the narrator of the story and was the character that most involved the audience.

I'm not sure if the film could necessarily be looked at as a feminist film. I believe that there are different ways that it could be looked at. But the way that it could be viewed as feminist would revolve around how Erin Gruwell took matters into her own hands and overcame many obstacles, including spiteful and uncooperative coworkers and higher ups and her husband divorcing her. She was still able to keep her goal in mind and achieve it despite all of the things she had going against her.

  

“Tammy” Bechdel Test

The movie Tammy is about a women who works at a fast food restaurant Topper Jack’s, she was on the way to work when she hit a deer and for this reason she got fired by her boss and then she made a scene. When she got home Tammy found her husband with the neighbor Missi at a romantic dinner setting. Tammy leaves the house and then walks to her mom’s house and from there it all started about the road trip with her grandma.

            Pearl and Tammy do talk a lot about men about Tammy’s husband and how he cheated on her, and how Pearl and Tammy’s father, grandma tried to sleep with her father and that is why Pearl left when Tammy was younger. Also talked about Bobby and Earl the two guys who they met at the bar, and also the ice cream guy who both Tammy and Pearl had something to do with him.

            On the other hand there was also other talks between grandma and granddaughter their relationships between each other during the years, the dreams they had and still have. Talked about the fails both of them have had and committed in the past. For instance in the movie when Tammy when to rob that fast food, the grandma found out on the news. They talk about money and grandma’s drinking, personal stuff. Tammy also talked on the phone with Deb her mom, most of the conversations are basically about how Tammy has to come back home and to watch out for the grandma. In my opinion the most touching conversation was between Lenore and Tammy had a very personal talk, Lenore gave Tammy a lecture about life. How she has always been complaining but has had done nothing to change her life. It was really touching and there was no talk about men in the whole conversation.

            I do think the movie past the Bechdel Test and that the movie is feminist. To start with the whole movie there was majority women in it, and focus on women’s lives, also had lesbians in the movie which I think made it more feminist. Even though there was part of the movies that were men included at the end movie was about ladies and how there is so much to life and to achieve it, it just depends on the women. 

Frozen

The movie I chose to watch was Frozen. In the beginning it starts off with Ana and Elsa, who are princesses, talking about building a snowman. As the movie shows the girls growing up, we find out that the parents die in a tragic shipwreck. Elsa has shut Ana out and Ana tries to talk to her and figure out why. During coronation day, Elsa and Ana talk about the party, the smell of chocolate, and how beautiful they thought each other looked. Then Ana meets a guy and asks her sister for the marriage blessing. That is one of the few times the test is untrue. The ending shows us that the act of true love was between Ana and Elsa, a feminist act, instead of a true love’s kiss. Therefore I do believe this movie passes the Bechdel test.

            Even though the whole movie is the effect of Ana introducing a boy to Elsa, the movie doesn’t become any less feminist. Ana does take a journey with Christoff, who is a boy, but she is trying to find her sister. The fact that Elsa was given powers leads me to believe that females were favored and shown as powerful in this movie. A woman controlled the weather, a woman had the power not a man. But at the same time I thought about the fact that maybe the producers gave Elsa the power to show society women can’t handle having power and just cause destruction. If that was the case though, why would the ending be her fixing it? I think this movie shows non-believers that women with power can be destructive, but they are smart enough to figure out a solution.

            Just like most movies, it ends with a kiss between a man and woman, but it was the feminine act of true love that thawed a frozen heart.

Girl Most Likely

Girl Most Likely

I chose to watch the movie Girl Most Likely for the Bechdel test because I was going to choose Bridesmaids but someone beat me to it! I love Kristin Wiig, so I settled for this gem of a movie that I stumbled upon on Netflix a while back.  The whole premise of the movie is that this girl, Imogene, gets dumped and fired from her job. She calls her ex one afternoon basically saying she's a suicide risk if he doesn't come over. So she props open her front door and goes and lays on her bed with a bottle of pills open next to a suicide note. She took one pill. A friend of hers found her passed out like that and Imogene wakes up in the hospitals psychiatric ward. Due to high density, the doctor called Imogene's mother to come and take her home and watch her for the next 72 hours. Imogene wants nothing to do with that, after all she didn't actually try to commit suicide, she's just crazy over that guy and went to extremely drastic measures to try to manipulate him back into her life. Back in her childhood home in ocean city, Imogene is reunited with her brother Ralph and a new person, a tenant her mother has been renting her old bedroom to. They fall in love, of course, I called it from the beginning. While she struggles with the break up, her mother delivers earth shattering news that her father didn't die when she was a kid, in fact he's alive in New York City and is an accomplished writer, which Imogene is thrilled about because she writes plays, or used to at least. She eventually meets him and is less than impressed. In the end she writes a play, starring Julia Stiles. This movie passes the Bechdel test due to the many female characters in the cast who have names, there's Imogene and Dara, who Imogene helped write the book Dara had published. I don't think I'm the best judge when it comes to deciding if a film is feminist or not because I'm not sure what that means. I did some research however, and I'd say this movie would qualify as feminist because of the way women are portrayed. Imogene isn't sluttin' it up in NYC, and neither are her closest gal pals who are all in the crowd of authors. All of these women are very classy, never trashy. Imogene dresses very conservatively, never revealing. 

 

The movie I watched for the Bechdel test was "Sister Act". This movie is about a lounge singer who witnessed a mob crime scene. Vince (mob boss) puts her name on his hit list, so the police decide to protect her by sending her to a peaceful and traditional convent as a nun. 

I knew it was old movie (1992) and I knew the plot of the movie, but I never had watched it before. Most of the characters are female characters (Deloris, Mother superior, Mary Robert, and Mary Patrick. etc.) except the gang members (three of them), and a main cop who's willing to help Deloris as much as he can. More than a half of the conversations that were made in this movie were between female characters. The topic of men and sex was only brought up for comical relief, such as comparing singing bringing the same feeling as sex.   

I think this movie is feminist film. Most of the nuns, except mother superior, were open to trying new things.  They fixed the convent's car by themselves, painted the building, helped clean up the neighborhood.The movie illustrated the ability to have fun while not focused around men. This was demonstrated in the scene where two nuns were having fun out dancing and enjoying the atmosphere of a bar and music. They didn't ask the question "Can we do this ourselves?" Instead of doing so, they were not afraid meeting new people, doing the activities they have never done before. However, at the end of the movie, where Vince was pointing his gun right to Deloris' head, it was the police who saved her at that very last moment and they were all males. But, other than that, I believe this passes the bechdel test and the film is a feminist one. 

Enough

This film depicts a woman who is placed in a situation after she meets her husband in a local diner. After realizing her husband is cheating and has no problem abusing her as a means to make her stay with him, she flees from him in an attempt to protect herself and her daughter until she finally decides enough is enough and trains herself to fight back.

There were approximately three women in the film, one being Slim (Jennifer Lopez), another being her best-friend Ginny, and lastly the mother of her ex-husband who was only in the film for a short bit. In the beginning, she and her best-friend discuss topics about school and what they plan to do with their lives in the future. This is expected in the movie because this is well before Slim becomes acquainted with her soon to be husband. Later in the movie when Slim ends up talking with her husband’s mother to confess that he’s been beating her, the conversation takes a turn of the worst and her mother-in-law ends up blaming Slim for making her son feel the need to beat her. Although most of the talking in the film was about her abusive husband trying to use his powers and connections to find her, take back their daughter, and potentially kill her, the only discussion between the two best-friends that wasn't about him was at the very beginning of the film. All in all, this film did pass the Bechdel Test.

I would say in a way this film is feminist. It contains a strong female character who defends her rights as a wife, mother, and most importantly as a woman.  I feel this movie helps other women understand the severity of domestic violence is and how important it is to take it seriously. The film is obviously created to spark an intense drama and thrill within the viewer, but I feel it helped create more awareness towards the image of domestic violence within marriages. However, I wouldn't advise anyone to go after their abusive partner and kill them. 

Sava Gidey

Selma Bechtel Test

Selma

This movie took place during the Civil Rights time period.  It was based on Selma, Alabama because approximately 50 percent of the population there was of color and of that percentage of the population, only about 2 percent of the colored people had voting rights.

Selma did end up passing the Bechtel test.

There were more than two female characters throughout the movie, but the movie highlighted more of the male population.  The women would talk to each other about voting rights or the dangers of protesting.

Based on the readings from chapter 1 in our book, this movie is more of the critical race theory over feminism.  I believe this because it wasn’t women that were the main focus throughout the movie.  It was predominately black men that fought for the right to vote.  Women were just there to support them and cry over the pain of losing a man in the fight against racist terrorism that our country endured during the Civil Rights time period.

Krista Wermerskirchen

The Holiday - Janelle Brown

Summary:

I chose to analyze the movie The Holiday to see it if it passes the Bechdel test. In my findings, The Holiday does proceed to do so. The 2006 movie starring Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, Kate Winslet, and Jude Law is focused on two women who over the holiday break decide to switch houses. They switch houses primarily because both feel they need a break after one has broken up with her cheating boyfriend, and the other after finding out the ex she is still in love with is now engaged to another woman.  As the two women switch temporary roles they ironically meet new significant others that are each part of the two women’s lives.

The two women in this film names were Iris and Amanda. Although the Bechdel test was passed the two women were only in correspondence when arranging their stay at one another’s house. Throughout the film, other than that correspondence, they were only communicating indirectly as both reached out to the friends that Iris and Amanda got to know through each other switching places. It wasn’t until the end of the movie where Amanda and Iris were found chatting together as they all were reunited with their new connections and it was then that the movie ended and music took over. Before Amanda and Iris found their new romance in each others friends, Amanda was a successful movie editor she was depicted as “unemotional” and distant as she would shut significant others out. Iris on the other hand, is depicted as a British writer who is heartbroken as she is still in love with her ex whom she can’t seem to get over.

           

I don’t believe this film is a feminist film as it ends in a typical romance however, I don’t think the women were depicted wrongfully and in many ways both withheld success within their jobs and both seemed to be financially secure. The relationships developed were surprisingly natural and both started out in friendships. Overall I don’t think this film is feminist but I also don’t find it to be offensive or a typical love story.

The Blind Side by Tay H.

The Bind Side

1. Does it have more then 2 women?
* Yes
2. Who talk to each other?
* Yes, Leigh Ann Tuohy Played by Sandra Bullock and Collins Tuohy Played by Lily Collins.
3. Talk about something other than a man?
* No
Does it pass the Bechdel Test?
No! It has 2 out of the 3 but it doesn’t pass maybe because it’s a movie mainly about the life of this specific football player and family. There are many conversations with women in this movie and when the women do converse it’s mainly about Michael Oher.

Hairspray is a movie that takes place in Baltimore in the 60’s. It is about a high school girl, Tracey Turnblad, who is bullied in school because of her weight and big hair. Her dream is to be a dancer on her favorite show The Corney Collin’s show.  When she finds that there is an opportunity to be on the show she goes to audition. The woman who is in control of the Corney Collin’s show is a racist and does not like the way that Tracey looks (not skinny) or that she is for integration, soher dreams get crushed by this awful woman, but she doesn’t give up. She ends up getting recognized in detention by a boy named Seaweed, who is on the show once a month on negro day. He introduces her to the main character on the Corney Collins show (Link) and Link gets Tracey recognized by Corney Collin, (the host of the show) for her dance moves.  Tracey ends up becoming a well-known dancer on the Corney Collin’s show, gets the boy, and also integrates Baltimore. This movie sends out the messege that size doesn’t matter, it cant stop you from accomplishing your goals.

            This movie is one of the few that passes the Bachdel test. The main character Tracey does talk about boys with her best friend Penny, but at the beginning of the movie they also talk about how it’s Tracey’s dream to be on the Corney Collins show, and having big hair.

            I don’t really think that this film is feminist, there are strong women leads but I don’t really consider it as being a feminist film. The movie doesn’t really focus on that, it focuses on the racial discrimination, and the judging of people because of their size and they way they look.