About Lolita's Fist

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I watch a lot of movies. It's time to start collecting my notes about them into one place. I am a radical feminist, so Anita Sarkeesian is in my eye-thoughts as I watch. She is the founder of Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture.

And the Bechdel test is also in my eyes. Named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, in whose comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For the test first appeared in 1985. In 2014 I started rewatching all the movies I have seen to see if they pass the Bechdel Test.

The test goes - are there two named women characters who speak to each other about something other than a man. Broadly, my investigations say about 12% of films pass, 50% of the passers were made before 1950. Of the rest of the 50% most pass on a single sentence, sometimes just women criticising each other. And most of this 50% is just a bunch of bad movies. 1% of the passers are a good movie that passes on a conversation that women have that is supportive or helpful.

Special mentions
Favorite passer: Black Swan (2010)
Most supportive passer: You've Got Mail (1998)
Favorite movie of all time: Blade Runner (1982) (doesn't pass)
Second favorite movie of all time: Withnail & I (1987) (doesn't pass)
Second-second favorite movie of all time: You've Got Mail (1998) (funnest passer)
Favorite series episode: Frasier S04E01 (1996)

My IMDB lists
Bechdel passers
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls057018629/

Have to Haves
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls009373026/

Seen, but don't pass the Bechdel
http://www.imdb.cf/list/ls009357841?ref_=tt_rls_2

My rating system
My rating system goes like this:
  1. I didn't finish it, it was too irritating.
  2. I finished it, barely.
  3. It had something annoying that I wanted to see how they resolved it.
  4. Not really ever going to watch it again, but not vile.
  5. I would watch again if I was actually surfing on my phone and didn't feel like finding something else to watch.
  6. I would watch again and mostly watch and lessly surf.
  7. We're starting to talk watchable.
  8. Oh yes, this is a good one.
  9. Fabulous, but wouldn't watch it over and over and over.
  10. Have to Have, and either have watched many, many times, or will watch many, many times.



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