The Rule
August 16th, 2005 | Oddments
This is Cathy writing, not Alison, despite what the author tag says.
Julie from Portland, OR, kindly emailed us to let us know that lefty blogs like Pandagon have been discussing the Mo Movie Measure a film-going concept that originated in an early DTWOF strip, circa 1985. We were excited to hear that someone still remembers this 20-year-old chestnut.
But alas, the principle is misnamed. It appears in “The Rule,” a strip found on page 22 of the original DTWOF collection. Mo actually doesn’t appear in DTWOF until two years later. Her first strip can be found half-way through More DTWOF. Alison would also like to add that she can’t claim credit for the actual “rule.” She stole it from a friend, Liz Wallace, whose name is on the marquee in the comic strip, reprinted below.
21 Responses to “The Rule”
August 16th, 2005 at 7:05 pm
I quote this strip often, actually. It’s a great concept.
August 16th, 2005 at 7:55 pm
I took the meme to college, where my friends now say, “That movie didn’t pass the Alison Bechdel test.” I guess we should change the name….
August 16th, 2005 at 8:07 pm
I’ve used this rule several times, including on the feminist film community I co-moderate on LiveJournal, where I just posted a link to this explanation. Thanks!
August 16th, 2005 at 10:13 pm
oh gosh, yeah. it’s frequently referenced on several social email mailing lists i’m on. we call it “‘the dykes to watch out for’ test”
August 17th, 2005 at 12:31 am
I use the idea all the time too… It works fairly well for books as well as movies.
August 17th, 2005 at 6:19 am
I’ve heard this one before, but haven’t had the discipline to follow it. Inga Musico refers to this rule in Cunt too (though this may be where she got it from). I’ve seen some variations which are saying that the female characters in question must have names - that makes it even more difficult.
August 18th, 2005 at 11:48 am
Humor can teach us so many things. Sometimes it just doesn’t seem to teach fast enough.
August 18th, 2005 at 11:26 pm
Well, glad to see this here. It’s too bad we can’t call it the MMM anymore. We had a lot of fun with it over at Pandagon.
– Karl the Idiot
August 20th, 2005 at 1:49 am
I’m fairly sure they’ll be able to see “Serenity” (the Firefly movie) when it comes on the end of September. There’s four women in it, with lots to talk about besides men!
August 25th, 2005 at 11:55 am
I haven’t seen a film this year that meets that standard. The last one that did was probably a Miyazaki film.
–MC
August 27th, 2005 at 11:34 am
Well, I remember enjoying this strip and it’s still true. I can’t think of many films that might pass the test even now?
By the way, it can’t only be me who sees a strong resemblance of the protagonists to Lois and Ginger?
August 30th, 2005 at 6:22 pm
This post has been removed by the author.
August 30th, 2005 at 6:23 pm
I would have said Ginger and Mo, but yeah I see a resemblance.
September 2nd, 2005 at 12:05 am
Yes! Yes! Yes! I heard this quoted around the time it originally came out, and have started discussions with/about it many times, though I didn’t know until recently that it was from a DTWoF strip.
My life is complete now.
September 3rd, 2005 at 12:13 am
How do you apply the rule if you haven’t already seen the movie?
September 4th, 2005 at 4:31 pm
I was thinking “That’s definitely Ginger, but who’s her date?”
September 6th, 2005 at 5:09 am
I’ve used this rule since reading it. I have two kids now, and it’s even harder to find kids movies that meet the test than to find qualifying big person movies. However, it’s suprising that sometimes a movie that has all the frou-frou of an anti-feminist movie actually ends up meeting the test in spades (and being loved by my 5 year old daughter). If you watch movies without having heard this rule, you would be perpetually confused I think. j
October 17th, 2005 at 1:00 am
I just got here via Alas, a blog. They are talking about Serenity - and this rule in particular (as well as many other interesting things). So then I came here - and here’s this post! In other news, I [heart] DTWOF and have exchanged various favorites with my sisters for years. So HI! *wave*
mgan
December 31st, 2005 at 1:43 am
Actually, though Serenity is often cited as a movie with strong female characters, I’m not sure it passes the MMM. Unlike the TV series, I can’t think of a scene in the movie that featured the women talking to each other.
There’s no banter at the dinner table. There’s no Kaylee and River playing jacks. Zoe never talks to River or Kaylee. Oh, wait - River talks back to her nameless teacher.
As to Anonymous who asked How do you apply the rule if you haven’t already seen the movie?
Good question. Do the reviews mention more than one female character? Do the credits show more than one woman? Does more than one woman get listed on the poster? Does the trailer show more than one woman?
January 21st, 2006 at 10:18 pm
Sounds like what we need are feminist movie reviews. YEAH!
July 25th, 2008 at 8:12 am
How many sexist rom com idiot fests feature women talking about shopping and careers. thats doesnt make them feminist. although this is an intersting rule