Toy Story 2

The number one movie of 2010 was Toy Story 3. But I hadn't seen a Toy Story since the second one was in theaters more than a decade ago, so before watching the third movie, I set out to rewatch the first two. My test of the first can be seen here. Below, I'll test Toy Story 2.

Four-and-a-half minutes into the movie,Toy Story 2 passes all three levels of the Reverse Bechdel test. Buzz Lightyear and Rex are talking to each other about a video game, and Rex's inability to play because of his small arms.

Little Bo Peep is first seen at the 5:40 mark, and less than half a minute later, Mrs. Potato Head is first seen.

OB-2 is harder. Fifteen minutes into the movie, a little girl at the yard sale picks up Woody and asks her mom if they can keep him. The mom says that Woody is broken, and tosses him on a nearby table. Neither character is named, nor seen again, but they are both female, and they do talk to each other, even if they do talk about a man (at least, a toy man). Indeed, most of the female characters of the movie don't talk to each other at all. Mrs. Potato Head only talks to Mr. Potato Head, and Jessie and Little Bo Peep never talk to each other, even though it would be natural for them to after Jessie joined the rest of Andy's toys.

In Al's Toy Barn, at the Barbie party, there are three partying Barbies who say things like, "What a great party!" and "How low can you go?" However, all of them are speaking to other Barbies who do not themselves speak, so I don't think this counts for OB-3. Ultimately, Toy Story 2 does not pass the third level of the Original Bechdel test.

Like the original Toy Story, the sequel is male-dominated. Of course, since Andy himself is male, it's no surprise that most of his toys are male-oriented. On the other hand, the five toys who go to rescue Woody from Al's Toy Barn are all male, and the movie makes a point of the two female toys (Little Bo Peep and Mrs. Potato Head) staying home while the men go out to rescue Woody. Once again, Andy's mother is shown multiple times, but his father is never seen.

Toy Story

The number one movie of 2010 was Toy Story 3. But I haven't seen a Toy Story since the second one was in theaters more than a decade ago. I remember Woody and Buzz and the dinosaur, but I probably need a refresher. So before testing Toy Story 3, I'm going to watch the one that started it all.

Less than a minute into the movie, and I'm already having a sort of existential crisis. Can toys possibly count as men or women for the purposes of the test? They're kid's toys, so I assume they don't have the plumbing. (Although I do vaguely remember Woody gettin' it on in Toy Story 2.) I suppose they would count. Woody is obviously supposed to be a toy-man, and Little Bo Peep is a toy-woman. Can a toy potato count as a man, even if it's Mr. Potato Head? Does a screaming baby girl count as a female? These are the truly important issues of our times...

Since the second and third levels of the test are all about talking, I think it's fair to say that a character with intelligible lines counts, and one without intelligible lines doesn't count. Of course, Andy is the first male and his mom is the first female of the movie.

Toy Story passes RB-1 at the 3:30 mark, when Woody wakes up for the first time.

Whether Ham counts as a man or just as a pig, Woody talks to the green army man at the 4:15 mark, asking about Slinky the dog. In less than five minutes, Toy Story passes all three levels of the Reverse Bechdel, before even passing one level of the Original Bechdel.

Less than a minute later, Little Bo Peep, the second woman, has her first lines. Her first lines are flirting with Woody, and we see where Woody gets his name from. Wait, no we don't, this is a kid's movie.

Sid's sister, Hannah, calls out for their mom at about the 39-minute mark, but I don't think this counts since the mom doesn't audibly respond. However, seven minutes later, immediately after Buzz's failed flying attempt, Hannah and her mom have a three-line conversation. Hannah asks where her doll is, and the mom says, "What dear, what was that?" Then Hannah finds the broken Buzz Lightyear and says, "Never mind!" It's not much, and Hannah's mom is off-screen for the conversation, but it technically fulfills the requirements for both OB-2 and OB-3.

While Toy Story passes both the Original Bechdel and Reverse Bechdel tests, it is still a predominantly male movie. All the main characters are male: Woody, Buzz, Andy, Sid. All the toys that have lines, except Little Bo Peep, are male (or at least speak with male voices). Little Bo Peep has no substantive dialog, and is mostly just one more thing that Buzz is stealing from Woody in the first part of the movie. The most well-developed female character is Hannah, Sid's sister, who interacts directly with Sid, Buzz and Woody (although she thought that Woody was her mother). Andy's mother also has quite a few lines, but she's mostly just a human for Andy to talk to.

Speaking of Andy's mother, where was his father? Or Sid and Hannah's father, for that matter? Of the two families shown in the movie, both seem to be single-parent, missing the father.

Introducing the Reverse Bechdel Blog

The Bechdel test is simple. Watch a movie, and answer these questions.

Is there more than one woman in the movie?

Do they talk to each other?

Do they talk about something other than a man?

Now this seems pretty straightforward. Couldn't you answer yes for all three questions for just about every movie? Well, the claim is that a surprising number of movies don't pass the test. With a moment's reflection, some are obvious. You wouldn't expect many women in an all-male prison. So just how many movies really don't pass the test?

On the one hand, I love watching movies. On the same hand, I also love collecting weird statistics. I could watch a bunch of movies and pass it off as some kind of scientific something-or-other! On the other hand, these people beat me to it, and they've been at it for awhile. They have about 1800 movies in their database, plus a nifty form to let visitors submit movies.

But I'm not going to let that get in the way of my latest excuse to watch more movies! What could I do that wouldn't just be copying them? Well, if you've seen the name of the blog, you've probably figured out my solution. I'm going to watch a bunch of movies, and as I watch them, I'm going to ask the three questions above to see if it passes the Bechdel test. But I also ask the three questions below, to see if it passes the Reverse Bechdel test.

Is there more than one man in the movie?

Do they talk to each other?

Do they talk about something other than a woman?

I'll focus on recent, popular movies, and update whenever I get a chance to spend a few hours watching and grading a movie. I view this as something of a scientific experiment to compare the most popular movies.

And so it begins…