Ok, so I left out the roll of the princesses and other female characters in my version of Bill and Ted 3 from my original post because I didn't want to make the post run too long. I flushed them out in my head, but as I considered them to be parts of secondary plot lines left them out to focus on Bill, Ted and the juniors.
In a nut shell, the princesses are still on Earth. They spend the film using their political sway to convince General Oats, leader of Earth's armed forces and who you will remember as the head of the Military Academy that Ted's dad wanted to send him to in the original film and secondary character from the second film, from attacking the alien threat head on. They instead implore him to exercise peace and awesomeness.
How did they capture the Reaper? Yes, I should have explained that, but was in a hurry to post. And this also has to do with a female character, so it can go here. At the end of the film the Over Lord is revealed to be the Reaper's ex-girlfriend. She knows his weaknesses and how to exploit them, which was how she was able to capture him in the first place. They get back together at the end of the film. I also left this part out of the original post because I felt it may have been too silly.
There would be love interests for the Junior's; one a colonist from Mars; the other a resistance fighter. They would help form the new band at the end of the film. I left that part out, as I had not fully thought all of that out yet.
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Wow. "Asked and answered" is a bit of an understatement. Thanks, Sam!
ReplyDeleteI hate to say it Sam, but none of what you laid out guarantees that this movie passes the Bechdel Test: two female characters with names talk to each other not about teh menz. If it does, it'll maybe be courtesy of one or two scenes of tentative enough relevance that it's likely they'll be cut in editing.
ReplyDeleteWhether this sequel passes the Bechdel Test depends entirely on how the princesses' part of the movie is developed. Are they in one or two scenes just so you know what's going on; scenes in which they're talking to General Oates? If so, no, the movie doesn't pass the test. Remember there has to be a scene in which they're talking to *each other* (so, not to General Oates) about something other than Bill & Ted.
Neither having the Over Lord be the Reaper's ex-girlfriend nor inserting love interests for the two Juniors brings you any closer to passing the Bechdel Test, as their primary relevance is re: the boys. If the Over Lord is female and the resistance leader is female, and they talk to each other, that would do it.
Part of the problem is that neither of the original two movies comes remotely close to passing Bechdel, so you're starting out at a disadvantage. The other problem is that you decided both of the Juniors should be sons-- Ted Theodora Preston might work just as well as Ted Theodore Preston, but you specifically chose not to do that. Without even one female main character out of four, you're fighting an uphill battle trying to squeeze in female characters whose main purpose isn't "love interest" and who have reason to be talking to each other.
I would like to say on a different note that the detail about General Oates is awesome, and so is the idea of the Over Lord and Reaper getting back together at the end. And Sam, really, too silly for a Bill and Ted movie? I don't think there is such a thing. Every silly detail just makes it more excellent!
ReplyDeleteI was never attempting to pass the Bechdel test. As you said, there have never been big female roles in the Bill and Ted movies, and while I feel that women are often under represented in film my brief synopsis of a hypothetical film is not the place to fight that battle. I have no idea if the final product would pass the test because I was only attempting to give a general idea of the over all plot and themes.
ReplyDeleteBill Jr and Ted Jr were introduced at the end of Bill and Ted 2 and are not characters that I made up. I only choose to flush out the characters in further detail.
Maybe the problem is that you're not trying to pass the Bechdel Test. The whole point of the test is that it is SO simple and so easy to pass, which makes it all the more shocking when movies don't pass it. It's so easy that YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TRY!
ReplyDeleteHow many movies can you think of that don't pass it for men? And how many can you think of that don't pass it for women? It's ridiculous. And I don't think that just because it's a hypothetical movie you shouldn't check your subconscious sexism in it. Every time you examine something you do and realize that it marginalizes women is one more step toward changing those unintentional, absorbed patterns of sexism and marginalization of women. Changing those patterns in yourself will affect non-hypothetical future projects in film or otherwise, which is a very good thing.
And I'm not attacking you personally- this is exactly how I feel about doing things like the Bechdel Test for myself as well- because women absorb sexism and marginalization from society just as much as men do.