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The New York Times proposed a new test that, like the feminist Bechdel test, would help watchers determine a film's level of diversity.
The Bechdel test is getting a diversity upgrade.
As part of its Sundance Film Festival review, the New York Times proposed an “Ava DuVernay test” that would help movie viewers determine whether a film could be considered diverse.
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“…In honor of the director and Sundance alumna Ava DuVernay, what might be called the DuVernay test, in which African-Americans and other minorities have fully realized lives rather than serve as scenery in White stories,” writes the Times’ Manohla Dargis.
The test is based on the Bechdel test, in which a movie is considered feminist if two female characters, who both have names, converse with each other about something other than a man.
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DuVernay herself has backed the Times’ proposal.
“Wow,” she tweeted yesterday morning. “Floored. What a lovely cinematic idea to embrace. What a thrill to be associated with it. Absolutely wonderful.”
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