It’s safe to say there has been A LOT of talk about Barbie and Oppenheimer. Prior to their releases, much of the conversation was directed towards the possibilities of their narratives and which film would be more popular. Now they are here, the conversation has shifted and discussion of their themes and underlying messages has come to the fore. Regarding Oppenheimer, social media users have been discussing the Bechdel Test in recent days. But what is the Bechdel Test and why should you care?
The Bechdel Test is used to measure female representation in films. American cartoonist Alison Bechdel created the test and it is often applied to contemporary movies to help us understand how much progress is being made to reduce gender inequality in cinema.
To pass the Bechdel Test, a movie must meet the following three requirements:
- The movie has to have at least two women in it,
- who talk to each other,
- about something other than a man.
At this point, we should note that Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer does not pass the Bechdel Test. As such, the movie – which recounts the life of the “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer – is receiving criticism from some on social media.
Why does Oppenheimer fail the Bechdel Test?
Oppenheimer fails the Bechdel Test as it does not satisfy its three rules.
There are only two prominent female characters in Oppenheimer – Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer (Emily Blunt) and Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh).
They both act as love interests for Cillian Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer. Much of their dialogue and character development (or lack-thereof) focusses primarily on him. Additionally, Pugh appears in sex scenes with Murphy soon after her first appearance in Oppenheimer. This has prompted further criticism of the role of women in the film.
Naturally, social media users were quick to weigh-in on Oppenheimer and the Bechdel Test, such as @detranslightful who shared this now-deleted TikTok video. She described Oppenheimer as “exactly the male supremacist culture that Barbie critiques”.
Twitter user @clarkjoes said of the controversy: “Nolan has never made a movie that passes the bechdel test why do you think Oppenheimer would lol”.
User @seaglummm commented: “boycotting oppenheimer because it doesn’t pass the bechdel test”.
Others have pointed out that the reason for Oppenheimer failing the test may be due to its subject matter and setting.
@icromantis said: “Why would a historical war drama pass the Becdel test? I am serious. Especially with a movie about Oppenheimer. It’s his story. It doesn’t need to pass the Bechdel test, and it’s not misogynistic for ignoring it. It wouldn’t show s**t that’s not important to his story.”
Similarly, @fruityashtray shared a picture of the Caltech Department of Physics from 1931 (which included J. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein and was made up almost entirely of white men). They commented: “Applying the Bechdel test on Oppenheimer when this is what his academic sphere looked like at the time is actually insane to me”.
While using the test to assess the overall success of Oppenheimer may seem redundant, some people find it useful for getting simple indications of how women are represented in movies in general.
However, there are other important factors to consider – primarily the wider context of a film and its narrative. With that being said, Oppenheimer remains a stunning cinematic achievement despite failing the Bechdel Test.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to check out our other Film & TV articles…
