Welcome To My Independent Study!

Hello to all who are visiting my new blog. My name is Ambrosia Naramore-Winfrey and I am working on an independent study for my class. This is an entertaining way to chart my results and an interesting view on what it's like to blog! My independent study is focused on the Bechdel Test. The Bechdel Test was created by an American Cartoonist named Alison Bechdel. In her comic strip, Dykes To Watch Out For, Alison made a strip about one of her characters talking about the Bechdel Test. Here it is:

This comic sparked the creation of the Bechdel Test, and was created to point out the flaws of women representation in movies. Though the test can be tailored to a person's interests, it has 3 main rules.

These are:
1. Must include at least 2 female characters
2. These women must have a conversation with each other
3. The conversation must be over topic not about a man

This can not only be applied to movies, but television shows and video games as well. The Bechdel Test is important to the world because it is a way to introduce that there needs to be more diversity in media. Though there can be flaws to be this test, it has a good idea in place for society.

Now this test peaked my interest a few years ago when I saw this on a Feminist Frequency video seeing if the 2011 Oscars best picture nominees pass the Bechdel Test. It was surprising to me because only 2 officially passed, out of 9. Let me restate that. Only 2 out of 9. Here is the video:

Which made think, what about my movie collection? Do my movies pass the Bechdel Test? So now I have decided to watch all of my movies to see if the actually pass this test. Using an experiment and a blog.

The Experiment:

Using the 3 rules I mentioned before, I decided to watch all my movies and test them.

I first recorded all the movies I own by genre:

Classic: 1                                           Romantic Comedy: 5                           Musical: 2

Comedy: 5                                         Thriller: 6                                             Family: 5

Science Fiction: 6                              Action: 6                                              Historical: 5

Fantasy: 5                                          Animation: 16                                      Miscellaneous: 2

After watching a movie in my collection I will rate it with stars going from 0 to 4:

0: Did not pass any requirements

1: Passed only 1 requirement

2: Passed 2 requirements

3: Barely passed all three requirements

4: Passed all 3 requirements with flying colors

I then will use Class Dojo to record all of the movies ratings and to randomly select movies for me. Basically just a recording system. Then I will post my results on this blog and more things I noticed about the movie! My hypothesis is that if I test my movies then only some will pass because of women are normally portrayed in all genres of movies.

Conclusion:

I hope you all enjoy my blogs about the Bechdel Test and that this can add to how women are viewed in media. :)