Nomovie is more quotablethan " Casablanca " ( 1942 ) . Do n’t take our word for it . Just ask theAmerican Film Institute .
On June 21 , 2005 , the organisation aired a telecasting special called " AFI ’s 100 Years … 100 Movie Quotes . " True to its title , the show ranked the 100 greatest lines in the history of American cinema up to that point . Six different quote from the classical " Casablanca " earned a position on AFI ’s list , score it the most well - represented moving-picture show in the entire special . Take that , " Citizen Kane . "
Even if you ’ve never hear " Casablanca , " you ’ve likely at least heard these illustrious lines from the film ’s Oscar - make headway screenplay :
Reading Between the Speaking Lines
ascertain those six " Casablanca " lines on screen and you might comment a certain imbalance . All of them come from exchange of duologue that let in at least one manlike character . Usually , it ’s Humphrey Bogart ’s brooding night club owner Rick Blaine . Sometimes the opportunistic Capt . Louis Renault ( Claude Rains ) chimes in . Sometimes barroom piano player Sam ( Dooley Wilson ) lends his ear .
But none of the famed lines are speak between a woman and another womanhood .
This dynamic does n’t go both way . Men talk to other men , and to women , about all sort of things in " Casablanca " — love , war , booze , you name it .
But at no level in the movie ’s 103 - minute runtime , however , do viewers hear any variety of conversation betweenonly female characters . Rick ’s former beloved interest Ilsa Lund , portrayed by Ingrid Bergman , gets some memorable quotation mark , to be sure . ( " roleplay it , Sam " is one that stands out . ) Yet her in - universe audience is never distaff ; when Ilsa opens her mouth , she’salwaystalking to a man .
" Casablanca " is thus an instance of a well - know flick that fails theBechdel Test . Created in the 1980s , the Bechdel Test has become a popular film valuation cock . It ’s also an entrance point for a much broader give-and-take about the experience and framing of women in the amusement industry , on- and off - silver screen .
The Three Requirements of the Bechdel Test
The Bechdel Test was refer after graphic novelistAlison Bechdel . In 1985 , she issue a toon title " The Rule , With Thanks to Liz Wallace " as a new entering in her long - running funny airstrip , " butch to Watch Out For . "
Later , in the 2000s , the cartoon diffuse like wildfire among online feminist residential area . Film buffs start using the three - part " rule , " which was soon rechristened as the " Bechdel Test , " to explorehow women fare at the hands of screenwriters .
A moving picture can not " fleet " the Bechdel Test , as it ’s now unremarkably defined , unless the film :
That ’s it . Does n’t voice too hard , right ? Well , you might be surprise by how many motion-picture show — from timeless classics to forward-looking blockbusters — flunk the Bechdel Test anyway .
What Movies Pass and Fail the Bechdel Test?
Andrea Pressis a prof of media study and sociology at the University of Virginia , as well as the co - author of the upcoming book " Cinema and Feminism : A Quick Immersion , " which she write with Sarah Johnson - Palomaki .
One of Press ' classes at UVA is called " Sex and Gender Go to the Movies , " a course that always open with a screening of " Casablanca . " " It has some iconic images of maleness and femininity that you see across classical Hollywood celluloid , " Press says via e-mail .
For all its merits , " Casablanca " still falls inadequate of passing the Bechdel Test . So do " King Kong " ( 1933 ) , " Citizen Kane " and scads of other picture show from theHollywood studio apartment era .
And it ’s not like this problem has ever gone forth . The AFI published a disjoined list of the top 100 American movies issue from 1916 through 2001 . Out of all those titles,70 plastic film give out the Bechdel Test .
" The Godfather , " " Star Wars : A New Hope , " " Lawrence of Arabia " and even the leaning ’s most recent entry — 2001 ’s " The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring " — all flush it .
And we continue to see new megahit that go the Bechdel Test . " Thor : Ragnarok " ( 2017 ) has both a female villain and afemale superhero , but they never have a unmediated conversation . Neither do any other cleaning woman in the film .
Other moving-picture show that put woman front and concentrate on — even as the lead characters — have this same issue .
Take " Jackie Brown , " a 1997 offense thriller that got a burn critical review from Alison Bechdel herself . " It absolutely fails the Bechdel Test but it has one of the solid distaff protagonists I ’ve ever seen in a Hollywood movie — it ’s an amazing feminist text , " Bechdel toldCosmopolitanin 2014 .
On the flipside of the coin , the 1937 classic " Stella Dallas , " with its strong mother - daughter kinship , does pass . " Some Like It Hot , " " Goodfellas , " " Mean fille , " " Mad Max : Fury Road " and 2022 ’s " Jurassic World : territorial dominion " all pass the Bechdel Test , too . " CODA , " which gain three Academy Awards in 2021 , also passes the Bechdel Test .
Is the Bechdel Test Outdated?
UVA ’s Press says she think it ’s deserving think back the cultural climate of the eighties that break parturition to Bechdel ’s sketch in the first seat .
" As I write in my book , there was a brief feminist full point that inspired a serial of feminist dramas , " she says . " ' An Unmarried Woman ' is one that number to mind . ' girl . ' ' Kramer vs. Kramer ' with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep . ' Stepford Wives , ' the original , is based on a famous feminist novel and it ’s interesting that it comes out in 1975 . But it ’s a very brief moment in Hollywood film . "
take down that all of those flicks Press mentions came out in the seventies . By the mid-80s , the " feminist drama " trend was over . " So if [ Bechdel ] is developing this mental test in 1985 , she ’s becoming frustrated that Hollywood is n’t taking feminist movement seriously , " Press explain .
Fast - forward to the present and the Bechdel Test is now a basic of mainstream cinema discourse . It ’s also faced unfavorable judgment , though , as some bookman debate that a dewy-eyed pass grade does n’t necessarily submit a picture feminist or reform-minded .
Martha Lauzen , the founder and executive director of theCenter for the Study of Women in Television and Filmat San Diego State University , made that slip in her 2014 clause " displace Beyond the Bechdel Test . "
" If the trial is taken and utilize literally , the result often make no sense , " Lauzen says in an email . " For example , a motion-picture show like ' solemnity ' with a sole female protagonist will fail but a motion picture with extremely sexualized portrayals of women , such as ' American Hustle , ' will overstep . The test sets the lowest possible bar for assessing the quality of portrayals of distaff character . It is round-eyed but only useful as a consciousness - raising tool . "
unhealthful beauty standards , throw biases against aged woman , the way some director frame stalk as a amorous gesture . All these issues deserve way more public examination . The Bechdel Test alone does n’t describe for any of them . Then again , it was n’t imagine to , per se .
" [ Alison Bechdel is ] trying to rear our consciousness of what we take about pop agency of women in Hollywood moving picture , " Press argues .
" Our children are scupper to these mental representation at a aggregative level , and they ’re exposed to them without a hatful of critical review … I think it ’s worth addressing and it ’s worth add some of these norms to light . And maybe alter the industry so it begin becoming aware of these prejudices and becoming more diverse in the style it present valet de chambre and charwoman . "
