The Natalie Test

  

      Women in film; we want to see them; need them, but what roles do they get to portray?  Female roles are generally typecast by their gender, placed in categories of character that support a leading protagonist, usually male, in conveying the message and content of the cinematic story.  The Bechdel Test, “used to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are” makes this point for us.


       
           The Bechdel test states that in order to pass the test a movie “has to have at least two women in it, who talk to each other, about something besides a man.”  Surely it can’t be that hard to find movies that do this? Or can it? I decided to put the Bechdel test to the test.  Rifling through my shelves of DVD’s I rummaged through titles, placing the ones that failed behind me on the ground.  Minutes later I sat surrounded and held one movie in my hand, Alien, staring Sigourney Weaver as the female protagonist.  Vindicated that I owned a film that passed the Bechdel test, I wondered if the film would pass a more stringent one.  So I devised The Natalie Test.

Courtesy of Googleimages.com

            The Natalie Test is composed of three parts; (1) is the protagonist female, (2) who does not sacrifice herself, commit suicide, or otherwise die in the film, (3) and does she rescue a male character. Ready to tabulate my results I began sorting, carefully placing the ones that passed in a pile in front of me. Several minutes later, I sat once again surrounded by videos that did not pass.  Discouraged, I decided to take a break and watch the film Alien. 

            Alien starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the female protagonist, begins in space.  A mission to a mining planet, where the crew answers a communication sent from a planet containing a mining operation.  Obeying orders from the corporation they work for, the crew lands on the planet damaging their ship in the process.  Stranded the crew attempts to mend their ship, survive the harsh conditions of the planet and its alien inhabitants and return to earth, but everything goes wrong.  While the alien’s multiply and kill the crew one by one, Ripley’s character begins to emerge, taking the lead in the survival and rescue role of the film.

            Carefully watching, I began to put Alien to The Natalie test.  Is the protagonist female?  Yes hands down.  Does she not sacrifice herself, commit suicide or otherwise die in the film? Again a resounding yes! Does the character rescue a male? Maybe.  This question was harder to answer.  Ripley rescues her male shipmates constantly throughout the film as they are hunted and attempt to invade the freakishly dangerous alien creature that threatens to destroy them.  As the film progresses the plot thickens as Ripley discovers that the science officer Ash is conspiring with the corporation they work for to retrieve the alien and bring it to earth. But does she really rescue anyone and is it a male?

            There is no doubt Ripley’s intent is to survive, but it is also to rescue humanity from the danger of the alien life form that would destroy earth if it were to be taken there; placing Ripley firmly into a mother like role for the human population on earth.  While the concept is a form of rescue, it does not pass the Natalie test, because the test is meant to decisively discern whether a female protagonist can rescue a man without placing her into a sacrificial role.  While there are men in human population, the character cannot pass The Natalie Test unless in competition with other surviving males; the female as the rescuer.

Sadly, I watch as the crew members die, leaving Ripley as the only survivor of the greedy holocaust set upon the crew by corporation’s greed.  The female protagonist has survived, but not saved a man; or has she?  The final scene shows Ripley entering her stasis chamber in preparation to return to earth and bringing the cat, who she rescued, in with her.  The cat‘s name is Jones and I would like to think he is male, but being that everyone is referred to by their last name, one cannot be sure. And so Alien must be put in the questionable list of films for The Natalie Test. Perhaps society is not ready to view a female protagonist that saves a man, but I think that is misguided.  I for one am ready, and next time I buy a ticket, purchase a DVD  or spend two hours of my life watching a film, I am not going to settle for idea that the only thing a woman is capable of rescuing is a cat.

Sources cited:

"Action film." Wikipedia, 2010. Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_film>.

"Alien (film)." Wikipedia, 2010. Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(film)>.

"Bechdel Test Movie List." The Bechdel Test. N.p., 2010. Web. 9 Nov 2010. http://bechdeltest.com/.