What are you watching & reading? Will you do the Beshdel Test on it?

[Seabright]

I have been trying to apply the Beshdel Test to what I've been watching lately.

The wiki entry in the link above explains more, but basically to pass the Beshdel Test a work of fiction must have:

A) At least two female characters
B) Who Talk to each other
C) About something other than a man

This evening I have watched:

1. Rizzoli & Isles - pass, just
2. The Good Wife - pass

And I'm reading an Ian Rankin novel at the moment (yes, my choice of tv and books is pretty limited - crime & murder!) which so far fails, but I'm only part way through.

I'm reading The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M Banks, which passes. Watching Bones, which is patchy!

Blushingly, I'm reading The Hunger Games.

Think it passes.

Watching Homeland. Meh. Not quite.

Watching Game of Thrones and this episode passes, I think or maybe not. Queen Cersei and Catelyn Stark are talking about their children. Specifically, marrying them to each other and how pretty Catelyn's daughter is. In their defense there wasn't much else for women to do or think about in the time period the book is set.

I'd like to see a discussion between Arya and Brienne of Tarth. They wouldn't talk about men.

Reading the Hobbit to ds - epic fail

Just finished Jeanette Winterson 'why be happy when you could be normal' which is an epic pass, although it perhaps fails another test; is there more than one male character and do they talk to each other about something other than Jeanette Winterson?

Also recently finished Arthur and George by Julian Barnes. Erm... think it failed, in fact, though I wouldn't swear to it. I really enjoyed it, but I quite disliked The Sense of an Ending, which IIRC would have been a stonking fail, and that's one of the reasons I didn't like it.

I'm reading The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes and it passes, but sadly not by a hell of a lot.

Chaos - I LOVED The Hunger Games!

PS - it's Bechdel not Beshdel OP. I feel like an utter knob pointing that out, but just so's you know.

I have just finished The Mystery of Mercy Close - I loved it. Thanks for letting me know about the typo - brain and fingers working at different speeds tonight!

Just watched a documentary on English queens with a female presenter - passes, though quite a lot of it was about the men they married/might have married.

Reading - Apple Bough by Noel Streatfield. Passes easily. Children's lit often does, I've noticed.

To clarify, if it's a conversation with multiple topics, say, gardening, Obama and housing costs, does that pass or fail? And do young boys count as men?

Either way, The New Normal passes more often than not.

Ha, I went to see The Master last night (wonderfully acted; dire film) and came out having nodded off several times thinking what a waste of 2.5 hours that was, and it didn't even pass the Bechdel test...

I keep getting stuck bfing with Two Broke Girls on telly. It's DIRE but passes easily. Main characters are trying to start a cupcake business together so are often discussing that.

Reading a YA romance book at the moment called Torment. It fails rather spectacularly

Watched Silent Witness - pass.
Reading Villette - pass

Just read 'House of the Mosque' - passed

Last thing I watched was 'Eggheads' but I don't think that counts! next time I watch a fictional programme I'll take note though

The Wheel of Time - easy pass.

Just read When She Woke by Hillary Jordan - pass. Although the horrible situation the main character finds herself in was mostly caused by a man, she gets through it using her own strength and the support of her female sidekick. The 'knight in shining armour' character is also a woman. Feminism is mentioned positively and half of the group of feminists are men.

Watching Silent State - fail
Reading a guide book! Before that read The Playdate, which passed easily.

Ha, wuthering heights: not really!

Watching - How I Met (various episodes). Some pass, some don't (it has two lead female characters, but three male)
Reading - the Power of One (about a small boy who wants to become the world welterweight champion, told from his perspective) barely passes.

Mike the Knight it passes.

Doesn't mean it's not shit though.

Does Mike The Knight pass? I always assumed it would fail.

I'm reading Mumsnet too. That almost always passes

I'm reading Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (finally!) I think it passes.

Currently reading the MN Relationships board - does not pass!

I started a Bechdel Test Thread ages ago.

I went to see Wicked this week - it only struck me at the end as the actors were taking their bows that it is unusual for the two main characters (the two who take a bow last, together) were women.

Yeah, Relationships not so much (but wouldn't pass a reverse Bechdel if a man was the OP, I expect). But some posts do eg practical aspects of planning a divorce.