The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo vs. The Bechdel Test

In previous blog I mentioned that I'm trying to watch less TV and fewer movies, and the easiest way to limit yourself to things that pass The Bechdel Test.  About 50% of movies fail The Bechdel Test, which requires just 3 things: 1) at least 2 (named) female characters, 2) that two female characters have a conversation, 3) that the conversation is not about a man.

This weekend I watched "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," which I'd read a lot about but hadn't seen, nor have I read the book.  I had no illusions that it was going to be some feminist fantasy, just because I'm sure a movie with multiple graphic rape scenes and a bunch of dead women is never going to fit my understanding of a feminist fantasy.  I've debated reading the books too, but after some reviews and this movie decided against it, partially because the graphicness of the violence is apparently waaay toned down from the book, which freaks me out.  But for me the movie was worth it for Noomi Rapace's Lisbeth Salander, who I will crush on it in a minute.

First, though, as I watched I kept wondering if the movie actually passed The Bechdel Test.  There are multiple female characters, but do they ever talk to each other?  Lisbeth and her girlfriend get to lie in bed (hot!) but exchange about two sentences total.  Mmm.  Many of the major female characters never interact.  Lisbeth talks to a female nurse (but does she has a name?) about her mom, and talks to her mother, but most of that conversation is about men and being the victim of male violence.  Other than her mother asking if Lisbeth has children, really their conversation is about men.

Okay, how could a movie be touted in the mainstream press as a feminist flick and so dubiously teeter on this really simple test of male dominance?  But apparently, it's not that uncommon.  There's even some complaint that The Bechdel Test is "overlooking" feminist films because (*mocking voice*) sometimes environments are so male dominated that only one really badass chick can be special enough to get in!  Like in "Tomb Raider"!  That's not the movie's fault--it's just reflecting society! (*end mocking voice*).  This is silly because 1) in fiction, we get to make up reality a bit, so we can easily make up one where two women with names exchange three full sentences, and 2) having only one really special character from a marginalized and otherwise invisible group is not empowering; it's tokenizing.

Which brings us to my newest crush on a fictional character: Lisbeth Salander.  By now we're all familiar with my affection for small, tough, body-modified, butch/androgynous queer women (see: basically half my posts), so obviously I'm going to melt for a bi/queer, pierced, tattooed, punk-goth hacker with a photographic memory and a vengeful approach to misogynists, a grrrl who saves the day, solves crime, and is entirely convincing in her violence.  Plus leather jacket, motorcycle, and did you see the muscles in her arms?  Yes, I love her.  I wish she would wander freely through fictional media of all kinds.

But she is a token, and she doesn't have to be.  She's a token because her story depends on too many cliches: that the only catalyst for woman's violent avenging is that she herself is sexually assaulted; that one badass loner chick who's so special and tough gets to do what the boys do (throw punches, break the rules, be independent) but other women are more likely than not only victims; that hot, fierce rebel grrrls are little, young, white, and bi in the way that has them sleeping with the less-than-foxy male hero; and that there has a be a straight white male hero for there to be a story like this.

Lisbeth wouldn't be a token if she were the central character, not sharing main character status with the middle-aged male journalist who, honestly, doesn't really do much.  Lisbeth cracks the case; Lisbeth does the rescue, but she's not the one who gets the credit, and she has to share the spotlight with the guy.  She also sleeps with him for no apparent reason.  If the gender were reversed, if the ass-kicking punk were a guy and the journalist were a woman, can you even imagine someone referring to the rescuing punk dude as the journalist's "sidekick," as Lisbeth is so frequently billed?  Wouldn't it be obvious that the star, the hero, were the punk, and the journalist was playing second fiddle?

(Also worrisome is the American remake that's in progress, in which features model-skinny version of Lisbeth.  Not even going to touch that topic).

So I have some questions for you, dear reader.  1) Can you imagine a blockbuster flick with suspense and/or action and a female lead--not a male/female duo or a guy only?  One that's not science fiction?  2) Just because I'm curious, is anyone else struggling to imagine a straight heroine who's fierce, powerful, and sexual without being a video game-style cartoon of sexiness?  I mean, Lisbeth gets to be tough and hot and wear jeans, and I think (maybe incorrectly) that part of the reason is because she's queer.  I doubt a straight female character would be portrayed like Lisbeth, but I don't know.  More importantly, 3) Do you use The Bechdel Test?  Does it bug you that so many mainstream movies fail to include women in serious, non-tokenizing ways?