The Divergent by Maggie McDonald

The Divergent

The film I chose to watch was, Divergent. The film's plot is about a society that functions in factions which are, factionless which means you are homeless and don't belong anywhere. Candor which is the faction where members run on honesty, Amity are the peace keepers within the factions, Dauntless which are the brave and the defenders of all factions, Erudite which are the brains in society, all people who value education go here. Lastly there is Abnegation, which are the selfless people of all the factions.  Beatrice Prior who later changes her name to Tris,  is the main character in this film, which is the reason I picked it. Beatrice is portrayed as a strong independent women who goes against the odds and picks a faction no one expected her to, Dauntless. She goes through brutal training, fist fights, using guns, and throwing knives, which obviously are not your typical female traits. She then comes under suspicion of the leader or Erudite, Jeanine Matthews, because she sees how different Tris is compared to everyone else, she may be a Divergent. A Divergent is someone who can think on their own, see things in ways other people can't. And if your society were to try and control you, the control won't work over a Divergent, which makes Tris a threat. That's when the leading male role, Four comes in and helps protect Tris from getting harmed or taken away from the Dauntless faction, causing a lot of chaos within all factions.

I would say that the movie The Divergent passed the Bechdel test. It included many female leads like Tris, Christina (Tris's best friend), Jeanine Matthews and Natalie Prior (Tris's mother). A lot of this film highlighted how strong and independent each of these individuals are, they are intelligent, strong, loving and bold and courageous. The only conflict I had while deciding if this were a feminist film or not was when the going got tough Tris had to rely on her love interest, Four to help dig her out of the mess. At times in the film it was great to see women take over control of situations and show dominance within their factions. Like Matthews who is the leader of her faction, and Tris who out performed many men in her faction.

Overall I would say this movie did pass the Bechdel test because of the relationship Tris had with her mother Natalie, Jeanine Matthews and Christina. They do mention her love interest Four when conversing. But the majority of their conversations focus around Tris and how she is different and needs to conceal that in order to remain normal in her faction. Her and her Natalie also focus on their relationship which is centered around how her mother picked the wrong faction and how proud she was of Tris for picking the right one for her. All in all it was a surprise to me that I picked a movie that passed the test, considering how many films don't.