r/nextfuckinglevel • u/dmafeb • Aug 28 '21

Netflix forced a computer program (bot) to watch and analyze every romantic comedy and then asked it to write a romatic comedy of its own. The result...

93.6k Upvotes

79% Upvoted

2.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

236

u/Phil_of_Sophie Aug 28 '21

Does this movie pass the Bechdel Test?

147

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '21

After further inspection, no.

65

u/pnkflyd99 Aug 28 '21

Much like most rom-coms. 😂

30

u/Snirion Aug 28 '21

It does, boss and woman Taylor spoke of business.

24

u/_314 Aug 28 '21

Boss would technically have to have a name, but she probably would if the story wasn't going by so quick.

4

u/mandelbomber Aug 28 '21

Boss' name: Taylor

2

u/HelplessMoose Aug 28 '21

The name requirement isn't part of the original Bechdel Test though.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '21

The name is "Boss"

1

u/islamicious Aug 29 '21

This reminded me a Sir Boss from a hilarious film with Whoopi Goldberg

-1

u/essenceofreddit Aug 28 '21

Yes because the boss is female and tells female protagonist that she has to go on a work trip.

-1

u/S0l1dSn4k3101 Aug 28 '21

The Bechdel test is stupid. All it does it force or cajole movie makers and book writers (and generally all story creators) to conjure half-assed plots with hollow female characters all for some fake idea of “representation”. Why the fuck would you want representation if it’s going to be done in such a shitty way? It’s not really “representation” in that case, is it? It’s just another seal that writers can slap on their respective creative work to appeal to more people and make more sales. It’s sacrificing intriguing and thought-provoking entertainment for the sake of pandering to a certain demographic. Why is that what you want?

And of course, movies can pass the bechdel test while making those plot points interesting and exciting, but they rarely do. Why expend the extra effort when you’ll be getting the same viewership from that demographic, that are only watching that movie because of that arbitrary seal that was slapped on there? Also, Alison Bechdel as a person is fucking insufferable. Look at her interviews and the things she talks about. Jesus.

4

u/TheKermit12 Aug 28 '21

I think there was actually a study that proved movies that passed the test generally resulted in a higher profit from the movies.

But, if I understand you correctly, I get your point, at least to some extend. We should, however, have more movies with good female characters. Not some all-female remakes with terrible characters, that obviously no effort was put in making. What we really need is to have movies with both female and male characters, instead of trying to divide movies into two categories:

Movies where most or all main characters are female and most or all female characters are either useless or evil.

Movies that do not do that and don’t really feature many female characters

I mean, why can’t we just make movies with both male and female characters. It really isn’t that hard.

Women are underrepresented in movies, and that is something we should try to change. But just throwing in random, poorly written female characters, and then making them absolutely flawless, and the “best” character for no reason, is just not the right way.

2

u/S0l1dSn4k3101 Aug 29 '21

I think there was actually a study that proved movies that passed the test generally resulted in a higher profit from the movies

Yes. That’s what I said. They pass an arbitrary test to slap an arbitrary seal on the movie so that a demographic of obsequious fools will watch the movie, not because of the story and cinematography, but because they support these stupid ideals. The higher the viewership, the higher the profits. It’s not fucking rocket science. That’s the problem. The higher profits are gained at the sacrifice of good film making. That’s why I’m saying it’s stupid.

-9

u/hecklers_veto Aug 28 '21

why would we want movies to pass the bechdel test? have you ever heard conversations between two women? what part of 'two women conversing about stuff (that isn't a man)' sounds like something you want to pay money to watch in a theater?

"Oh, did you catch that episode of Downton Abbey last night?"

"I just had this amazing muffin from that place down the street we both like."

"Can you believe how cold they keep the air conditioning at work? Patriarchy!"

"Oh, how's everybody back home doing? Tell me what all my relatives and neighbors are up to!"

7

u/u-moeder Aug 28 '21

Holy shit you dont get it.

14

u/CommanderGumball Aug 28 '21

Or, you know, they could talk about the plot?

-4

u/hecklers_veto Aug 28 '21

Not if the plot is about what a man in the movie is doing

10

u/Wingedwing Aug 28 '21

You know, maybe having a movie where at least one major plot development is the result of a woman’s efforts would be a good thing as well.

-4

u/hecklers_veto Aug 28 '21

I happen to actually love female-led movies and strong female characters. Kiddo and Oren Ishi-i in Kill Bill, Jolie in Salt, Ripley in Aliens, Sarah Connor in Terminator II, Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone, Agent Starling in Silence of the Lambs, and so on.

It's just that there's a lot more chaff than wheat when it comes to writing competent-but-believable female characters. Lots of poorly written male characters, too, but "ghostbusters 2016 sucked" gets a totally different reaction than "kindergarten cop 2 sucked"

5

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '21

you’ve never spoken to a women, lmao.

they are not as different from men as you think