Ah, finally the weekend before Christmas. The perfect time to start wrapping presents, making cookies, and watching classic holiday movies.
I’ll be honest: I’m obsessed with all holiday movies—the good and the bad. I’ve spent nearly all of my free time lately watching every Christmas movie I can, from the traditional to the made-for-TV Hallmark specials.
That’s why it’s important to think about the movies that we’re watching. What do they say about real life, and what kind of image of the “real world” do they offer us?
Oftentimes, holiday movies are sorely lacking in key areas of casting—namely, these movies hardly ever center on a woman, a person of color, an LGBT person, or a person over the age of 30 (unless that person is Santa himself). And so in 1985, Allison Bechdel coined the idea for a test that can help a person rate the movie in terms of feminist principles and basic respect for women. These 3 criteria have come to be known as the “Bechdel Test.”
According to BechdelTest.com, a movie can be said to meet the mark if:
1. There are at least two women characters with names
2. These women have a conversation
3. This conversation is about something besides a man
This tiny little test asks for the bare minimum of women’s presence in a movie. But you’d be surprised at how few movies pass the low, low bar. Which of these 8 holiday essentials comes out on top?
The Old Standards (Before 1990s):
White Christmas (1954)
Depending on how strict your interpretation of the 3 requirements of the Bechdel Test are, White Christmas can be said to just barely pass.
Though there are two main women characters (Betty and Judy) whose roles are essential to the musical’s storyline, their conversations between each other rarely stray from the men in their lives. In one scene, Judy encourages Betty to go downstairs for a late-night snack. Though this conversation does not explicitly mention any men, Judy’s purpose for sending Betty downstairs is so Betty can meet Bing Crosby’s character, whom Judy knows is alone at the bar.
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Another near-miss for a holiday classic—It’s a Wonderful Life fails the Bechdel Test. Not exactly surprising, seeing as this movie predates both color TV and the polio vaccine.
Yes, there are nearly a dozen named women characters of varying importance—Mary Bailey, and daughters Janie and Zuzu, to name a few. But these main characters never speak alone onscreen about something other than a man. Plenty of opportunity, but no moments realized.
To get nitpicky, there is one scene which features two women speaking: at one point, Mary speaks on the phone to Mrs. Welch, Zuzu’s teacher at school, about Zuzu. You can’t hear Mrs. Welch’s voice (in fact, she’s not even played by any actress), and their conversation is interrupted by George Bailey (who takes the phone from Mary soon after the conversation begins), but it’s at least something.
True Modern Classics (The 1990s):
Little Women (1994)
As the title might indicate, Little Women passes the Bechdel Test with resounding success in all 3 criteria. With four daughters (Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy), mother Marmee, and Great Aunt March as primary named characters, the movie revolves around women and their conversations, interests, passions, and directions.
This movie is also an adaptation of a novel written by Louisa May Alcott, the daughter of locally famous New England transcendentalists. Alcott’s backstory lends even more gender-based credibility to the already-strong lady power present in the story. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more feminist-friendly Christmas movie that the whole family can enjoy.
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
It’s a difficult call for this film, too. By strictest logic, both the 1994 adaptation and the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street fail the Bechdel test—but if our interpretation is allowed to be loose, there is one key scene in which the two main women characters speak about a critical plot point beyond Mr. Kris Kringle: faith.
Towards the end of the movie, mother Dorey (Doris, in the 1947 version) and daughter Susan have a long conversation about faith, during which they discuss Santa as an ideal figure in faith (and refer to Santa as a “him”). Speaking philosophically, perhaps this scene can be the saving grace for the movie’s chances at passing the Bechdel. But is the idea of Santa nongendered?
The Santa Clause (1994)
Alas, while this Tim Allen movie holds a few named and credited women characters, none of these women speak to each other at all. The Santa Clause fails the Bechdel Test.
Judy (an elf from the North Pole) and Laura (Tim Allen’s character’s ex-wife) are the main ladies in the cast, but unfortunately never speak to each other. Other minor women characters with few lines (and none to other women) include teacher Miss Daniels and Allen’s character’s co-worker Susan.
New Holiday Staples (2000s to today):
Love, Actually (2003)
Yikes! For a modern movie (albeit NOT a family-friendly classic), Love Actually fails the Bechdel Test in nearly every way.
Numerous women characters, yes, but few of them ever speak, and certainly about nothing more than the men they know and/or love. There is one short scene in which a mother named Karen and her daughter Daisy discuss Daisy’s role in a school play—but unfortunately, that’s it for the entire movie.
Though there is no single main character, the movie plot itself revolves entirely on the premise of heterosexual love (and in one story thread, man-man friendship), so there’s little promise of women gathering to discuss anything but man-woman romance. And here’s one little piece of trivia: a separate plot thread that was in the original script involved a love story between two women, but this was cut for final theatrical release.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Family-friendly and a little wacky, the Jim Carrey adaptation of the classic Dr. Seuss cartoon makes the cut. How the Grinch Stole Christmas passes the Bechdel Test.
There are multiple main character women, including the infallible Cindy Lou Who, her mother Betty Lou Who, and the Grinch’s lost love Martha May. For one short scene, Betty Lou and Martha May discuss their houses’ Christmas lights. While that’s small, it’s a clear pass.
The Holiday (2006)
The Holiday passes the Bechdel Test in a few different scenes—certainly not as many as you’d hope with two female leads, but these conversations give the film its pass, nonetheless.
The movie revolves around the lives of two different women (Amanda and Iris), and very nearly passes the Bechdel Test just a few minutes after the movie begins, when the two chat online about homeswapping. Only a line near the end of that conversation, “Are there any men in your town?” makes the exchange a failure.
However, Amanda has a brief (but completely man-free) back-and-forth with a lady grocery store cashier. Later in the movie, Jude Law’s character’s daughters Sophie and Olivia speak about liking Amanda—although Law’s character is present, he is silent for this exchange.
So should we cancel Christmas celebrations, because movies don’t include enough lines for lady actors? Should we stop watching our favorite classic movies because they can’t pass the Bechdel Test?
Definitely not. And if you’re about to tell me I can’t spend every weekend in December re-watching the worst of ABC Family’s rom-com Netflix holiday movies, you had better think again.
Nor is the Bechdel Test perfect. The Bechdel Test should not be the end-all, be-all of movie ratings systems. Rather, it’s the start of a conversation, if you will, in order to get more women talking about something other than a man.
What the Bechdel Test does best is spread awareness of a real and persistent problem in Hollywood. This should be an simple test to pass… so why is it that so many movies (especially holiday movies) can’t easily pass it? It’s not enough to give women good supporting roles in movies about men. Women in real life have conversations all the time that aren’t about men—why are Christmas movies so bent on pretending they don’t?
It says a lot that the only movie on this list that truly passes the Bechdel Test (without splitting hairs) is Little Women, a film where there are more than 2 women as main characters. It’s a lot easier to for women characters to talk when there are more women around to do the talking.
To read more about gender inequality in film, check out this fantastic infographic by New York Film Academy.
Kelsey Ryan is the editor of Groundswell’s magazine. She’s a linguist, fledgling Tolkien scholar, knitter, Oxford comma proponent, and firm believer in the use of stories for social good. Explore her website, or connect on Twitter: @kryanlion.