Mama: The Bechdel Test

Mama: The Bechdel Test

            Mama is a horror movie where two girls, Victoria and Lily, are kidnapped by their father, then end up getting into an accident and stagger to a small abandoned house by the lake with their father where they are about to be executed, when they are saved by a vengeful spirit in which Victoria and Lily call “Mama”. Five years after this incident, the girls are found by a search party funded by the uncle, Luke; after they are removed from the abandoned house, Mama follows Victoria and Lily into their new home with uncle Luke and auntie Annabelle and horror ensues.

            I believe the movie does pass the test. There was a point within the movie, where Annabelle was asking Victoria questions about Mama, and Dr. Dreyfus was brought up in the conversation, but not much was said about him. Uncle Luke was in a coma for half the movie after being pushed down the stairs by Mama, so not much was said about him either, other than him being in the hospital for a while, and that it would just be Annabelle and the girls.

            I believe the movie is feminist because the men within the movie played supporting roles and aren’t in the movie much, as the movie is plotted around Mama, Victoria, Lily, and Annabelle. In the end, it is Annabelle who saves Victoria when Luke becomes unconscious after Mama grabbed his heart through his chest. Mama took the life essence out of Annabelle to make her sleep, but with a “mother’s will” Annabelle still gathered enough strength to hold Victoria back from getting dragged off the cliff with Mama. Lily wanted to go with Mama, so not much could have been done there to save her, but the men were pretty useless in the movie.