That the movie fails the Bechdel test is bad enough, but that it completely misses the mark on the Ulvæus test as well is utterly unforgivable.
I like your funny words, magic man. Can you explain them?
The Bechdel test is a famous test of film to measure whether a movie represents women as more than just accessories for the male cast. Specifically, the test is passed if a film features two women who have a conversation about something other than a man. Surprisingly, a lot of films fail this test.
The Ulvaeus test is a fictional test in the same vein named after Bjorn Ulvaeus, a prominent member of the band ABBA. Presumably, this test might be passed if a film contains a musical segment featuring the works of the band ABBA. This would be a clever pairing for this film, as ABBA has a song called Waterloo and the Napoleonic Wars ended with the Battle of Waterloo.
The Bechdel test is a famous test of film to measure whether a movie represents women as more than just accessories for the male cast. Specifically, the test is passed if a film features two women who have a conversation about something other than a man. Surprisingly, a lot of films fail this test.
It isn’t surprising for a few reasons.
- A lot of movies, which the test highlights, have female characters that are not really fleshed out because of sexism. They only exist for the real characters, the men!
- A lot of movies don’t have female characters because of the setting, like The Shawshank Redemption. An all men’s prison just isn’t going to have women in it. Small cast movies in similar all male settings are also not surprising to fail the test.
- Some movies are all about a main character and there aren’t scenes that don’t discuss the main character. So a conversation that doesn’t include the main character would be forced in just to meet the test.
Now, while it isn’t surprising that a lot of movies fail the test, the real purpose of the test is to show how all three types of movies are massively over represented in the number of movies made. #3 is an issue overall because of how the vast majority of main characters are men and not women. #2 is an issue overall because of how many movies there are about all male settings. It highlights the overall trend that main characters are men and the movies are all about the men, and wouldn’t be an issue if there were just as many movies about women or with casts that only include women. The Descent stands out with all characters being women because that is very rare!
So if a single movie fails the test because of the setting or small cast, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If there is a diverse cast, but the women are not fleshed out then it is an issue. If a movie could have included women, but they were too lazy to do so and to give them characterization, then it is an issue.
ok
Napoleonic Wars
How many people in history have given their name to a whole series of wars?
Alexander and uhh
Probably some Asian dudes?
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I believe they also have to be named characters.
*apparently the named part is a relatively recent phenomenon and is debatable. As far as I can tell, the original had no such requirement
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OP is one of the members of ABBA?! Is Agnetha amongst us?! 😛
The others have explained it better than I ever could, but I’d like to add that I haven’t even checked whether Napoleon fails the Bechdel test. I’m reasonably certain that the Ulvæus test is bullshit, because I just made it up.
The Bechdel test is if a movie is able to have two female characters having a conversation with one another about any topic other than a man. A surprising amount of media fails this test.
Björn Ulvaeus is a member of Swedish supergroup ABBA and one of the composers of the ABBA song Waterloo, which is about the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo.
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Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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Why do all movies have to be 2+ hours these days?
More ad breaks for eventual streaming service distribution. Two hours? Only 4-5 ad breaks. An additional 20 minutes? Boom, let’s sell more prescription drugs, or candy, or whatever.
Its because of the way they are funded.
Films are funded through venture capital, and investors are looking for the biggest profit. So modest films struggle to get funding, because investors believe size=quality.
Right? And it’s worse than that. I was going to finally sit down and watch the Across the Spider-Verse movie now that it’s on Netflix because it’s almost 2 hours and 20 minutes long and if I couldn’t take sitting there, I could at least take a break. But then someone who saw it told me it isn’t even the whole story and you have to wait for a sequel coming out who knows when which will also probably be that long. I can’t take it. At least give movies an intermission like they used to.
Without any spoilers, I felt that the spider-verse movie was enjoyable on it’s own. Where the plot ended was, at least to me, in a good enough spot where I was both extremely satisfied with the movie I just watched and excited for the next film.
I’ll bear that in mind if I do decide to sit down and watch it. I was going to do it with my daughter, but she has ADHD and both can’t handle a film that long and also has an annoying habit of saying she wants to watch the rest later and never agrees to watch it when I suggest it later multiple times. I may have to watch it secretly without her.
I know the academy like dramas but I would rather watch a satirical biopic, “weird al” style, that a 3 hour long boring history class
“history class”, the director was called out for historical inaccuracies and his reaction was “lol, I don’t give a fuck”
Not giving a fuck would be a valid attitude if the inaccuracies made a better movie. Judging by the reviews, it didn’t.
Imagine if a French director made a movie about Queen Elizabeth II but made a her a slutty party girl who fucked Prime Ministers on the side. Anglos are masters of slander.
I mean, Napoleon was a bit of a whore, it’s a fact.
Also had a thing for milfs.
Also had a thing for milfs.
Joséphine was 6 years older than Napoleon. Yet Ridley Scott managed to cast an actress 14 years younger than Joaquin Phoenix to play her role.
Sounds like my kind of guy.
So an accurate biopic on the life of Big Liz then?
I absolutely listened to that song on the way home after.
Not even a version of Waterloo by that one Hungarian lady choir?
Youre the Duke of Wellington
You’ve been fighting Nepoleon for hours since the morning.
Your mish mash of coalition forces have been doing surprisingly well, but Nepolean has finally committed his veteran troops to push your center. You’re holding well but it’s only a matter of time before it collapses.
Then, thousands of troops begin to appear in the distance
The frech begin to cheer as they think its Grouchy who has returned to reinforce the main force.
But you know better.
One of your lieutenants puts down his viewing scope and says to you “Sir, it seems our friends have arrived. Shall I make preparations?”
You nod.
The lieutenant calmly walks over to the hi-fi system, inserts a cassette and hits play. Suddenly Swedish synth-pop starts blasting from your speakers and floods the battlefield 🎵 MY MY 🎵
A faint smile breaks across your face.
