Despicable Me

The seventh-highest domestic-grossing movie of 2010 was Despicable Me, bringing in over $251 million in domestic revenue and $541 million worldwide. Wait a minute, what's that you say? I never reviewed the sixth-best movie of 2010? Yeah, that's right. I'm breaking the rules I've set for this blog by temporarily skipping Harry Potter. I've reviewed the first four HP movies so far, and the truth is, I'm ready for something besides HP. Don't worry, I'll be returning to Harry Potter to review the rest of the movies soon. In the meantime, I feel like watching a different movie. I know, I'm sorry, it's despicable of me, isn't it?

The first man with any lines is the American tourist dad, and the first woman with any lines is the American tourist mom (talking to each other).

When the kid gets away from his parents and crosses the safety barrier, two male Egyptian guards start yelling at him, "No! Stop!"

When the supervillain Gru gets back to his suburban home after the visit to Starbucks, he starts chatting with his neighbor. They talk about the neighbor's dog leaving "bombs" on Gru's lawn, easily passing the Reverse Bechdel test.

The second and third female with lines are two girl scouts girls from the orphanage, trying to sell cookies to Gru. As they leave, the older one says, "Come on Agnes," but Agnes doesn't reply on screen.

While the girls are walking home, Edith jumps in a puddle and splashes the others. The oldest girl says, "Edith, stop it," and Edith replies, "What? I'm just walking." Then they enter the orphanage and talk with Miss Hattie about getting adopted and about selling cookies. Despicable Me passes the Original Bechdel test in just over twelve minutes.

Overall, the movie is neither male- nor female-dominated. The "villains" are all male, including Gru, Dr. Nefario, Mr. Perkins and, of course, Vector. On the other hand, all three children are female, as are the two major non-villain adults-- Gru's mother and Miss Hattie at the orphanage (although in a movie where the villains are the heroes, the two non-villains are also sort of villain-y).

Iron Man 2

Iron Man 2 was the third-highest domestic-grossing film of 2010, with over $312 million in domestic revenue, and $620 million worldwide. My review of the first Iron Man can be found here.

Iron Man 2 starts out in Moscow, where an old man, Anton Vanko, is watching the newscast where Tony Stark declared to the world that he was Iron Man. Anton's son, Ivan, walks into the room and says he shouldn't be watching that. Anton says, "I'm sorry, all I can give you is my knowledge," and immediately dies. This satisfies the Reverse Bechdel test: two men talking about something other than a woman.

The first woman with any real lines is the U.S. Marshall who delivers a Congressional subpoena to Stark at the Expo. The second woman is Potts, who first appears at the Congressional hearing, but doesn't have any real lines until about twenty minutes into the movie.

Stark makes Potts the CEO of Stark Industries, and the first woman-to-woman line is from the notary, Natalie Rushman, to Potts. Since Potts doesn't audibly respond, I don't think this counts for OB-2. Stark is boxing when Rushman comes into the room, and invites her into the boxing ring. Potts protests, and Rushman says, "It's no problem." Potts replies, "I'm sorry, he's very eccentric." Since she's talking about Stark, the short exchange doesn't qualify for OB-3, and given that Stark and his male boxing partner are also present, and at least marginally involved in the conversation, it's not clear that this counts for OB-2 either. Similarly, when Christine Everheart, along with Justin Hammer, meets Stark and Potts at the bar, Everheart and Potts exchange one or two lines directly, but only as part of the larger conversation between all four characters.

The birthday party has the first real, unambiguous conversation between two women: Rushman and Potts, and even that only lasts a few lines. Potts begins to confront Natalie ("Oh don't you 'Ms. Potts' me, I know about you. Ever since you came here..."), only to have the conversation interrupted when Stark and Rhodes fall through the ceiling. It's short, but both women have at least one line, and it's not (yet) about a man, although Potts might have been about to mention Stark before they were interrupted.

In case anyone thinks the birthday conversation doesn't pass OB-3, there's another conversation between the two women in Potts' new CEO office. Rushman comes into the office and tells Potts her plane will be leaving soon, and Potts thanks her. While Stark is present, he is clearly not a part of the conversation. Indeed, Rushman makes it a point to not speak a word to him, not even in response to his direct questioning. Rushman only speaks to Stark when Potts tells her to, and even then, only after Potts has left the room.

Just like the first installment, Iron Man 2 is definitely male-dominated. On the other hand, women play a much larger role, and are generally portrayed more favorably than the men of the movie. While Stark is irresponsible to his core, Potts is the able business-woman, who only struggles to keep the company going because Stark's constant antics keep putting it in jeopardy. When Ivan takes over the drones, Justin Hammer struggles vainly to control the situation; when Rushman and Potts take control, the two women quickly figure out what needs to be done, and go about doing it. When the female Rushman and the male Hogan fight Hammer's agents, Rushman quickly and easily takes out a dozen or more while Hogan struggles to fend off just one.

I also couldn't help but notice this non-gender-related issue: When Hammer introduces his drones, he has versions for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marines... but none for the Coast Guard. Maybe Ivan just didn't know about them?

Iron Man

The third-highest domestic-grossing movie of 2010 was Iron Man 2. I saw the original Iron Man when it came out, but all I really remember is something in the desert (Iraq maybe?), he builds the suit, and then somehow there's a bigger suit that he has to fight. So, as with Toy Story, I'm going to rewatch the original before watching Iron Man 2.

This is the first real action movie and the first superhero movie to be reviewed here. Since the movie actually has the word "man" in the title, it should easily pass the Reverse Bechdel. The Original Bechdel will probably be harder to pass for the same reason. I'm about to find out.

Less than two minutes into the movie, Iron Man passes all three Reverse Bechdel tests. Tony Stark (the main character) says to a male soldier, "What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest--" to which "Forrest" responds, "We can talk, sir."

A line or two later, the movie's first woman says, "No, you intimidate them." To which the ever-classy Stark says, "Good God, you're a woman. I honestly couldn't have called that." About a minute later, she dies in the attack on Stark's convoy, so I guess she won't be any help in passing the Original Bechdel.

The second woman introduces herself as "Christine Everheart, Vanity Fair magazine." She's in Stark's bed about a minute later.

The next morning, she meets Pepper Potts, who gives Everheart her clothes back and tells her that there's a car waiting outside for her. Everheart says, "You must be the famous Pepper Potts," which Potts confirms. A little more than ten minutes into the movie, Iron Man has passed both the Original and Reverse Bechdel tests. Immediately after, the women trade some insults, referencing Tony Stark. However, the first part of the conversation, short as it is, is not about Stark, and so passes OB-3. It can even be argued that the references to Stark are more about insulting the other woman than about Stark himself, but that's not necessary for the movie to pass the Original Bechdel.

Even so, Iron Man is a heavily male-dominated movie. There are no other speaking women characters (besides perhaps one or two very minor ones at the dance), and Everheart has only two other small scenes in the movie. Potts is the only major female character, and she is Stark's assistant. On the other hand, Stark didn't defeat Obadiah-- Potts did. Granted, Stark told her how to do it, but without her help, he would have died.