Bechdel Test

The movie I chose to watch for the Bechdel Test was the 2002 film, Sweet Home Alabama.  This movie is about a southern girl, Melanie Carmichael, trying to make it big in New York as a fashion designer.  She has met the love of her life or so she thought and he proposes to her.  Before she can marry him she has to go visit her past because she is still married to her southern sweetheart, Jake.  While back home she falls in love with Jake and at the end of the movie she has to choose if she wants to still be married to Jake or if she wants to start a new life with her new love Andrew. 

I believe that this movie does pass the Bechdel Test.  There are many female characters in this movie.  These characters include, Melanie Carmichael (main character), Pearl Smooder (mother), Dorthia (friend), LauraLynn (friend), and Stella (Jake’s mom).  These characters did talk to each other throughout the movie.  Some of their conversations included talking about what Melanie was going to do about Jake or Andrew but there were many times that they talked about things other than those men in her life.  Many of the conversations with her friends included catching up on the things she missed when she moved to New York.  One conversation with her friend Dorthia was about how she looks so different and that she had lost 110 pounds.  Another conversation with her friend LauraLynn was about clothes they were wearing and the fact that she was toting her baby around with her as she was working at the bar. 

I do not believe that this film is feminist because it mostly focuses on Melanie trying to get Jake to sign the divorce papers and then how she realizes she is still in love with him and doesn’t want to marry Andrew.  There is a scene in the movie that could be considered feminist though.  This scene includes Jake coming home to Melanie cooking in the kitchen and wearing an apron.  When Jake walks in she asks him how the family is doing while she still stirs the food.  She had also cleaned the house, redecorated and done some grocery shopping.  I don’t believe it was trying to be feminist because Melanie was trying to teach Jake a lesson by spending all of his money and doing her “wifely” duties.