Over at the top of my sidebar I added a link to the Rule from Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For. The Bechdel Test is downright mainstream by now, and I see tons of people explain and use it as a conversation opener without ever linking this comic.
Go read it if you never have. I'll wait.
I'm always a bit irritated to see people use the test without linking the comic, not because I feel credit isn't properly given--the cartoonist's name is the test name--but because it's a weaker way to get the point across. See, as good a conversation starter as the Bechdel Test might be, it pales in comparison to the comic itself. The comic itself is not effective because it sets down some sort of litmus test or even a way to analyze movies for the futures. It's effective because it puts forth in a simple punchline Hollywood's pathetic limitations when it comes to women. You react just like the characters. You laugh at the joke, then you sigh because it's true. No blog post with bullet points can get this kind of disappointment across as well as the second to the last panel.
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