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Do Queer Films Like Fire Island Need to Pass the Bechdel Test?
Do Queer Films Like Fire Island Need to Pass the Bechdel Test?
A claim that the new gay rom-com hit Fire Island fails what's become a white feminist measure has spurred a debate on Twitter.
A firestorm is brewing on Twitter over the new and widely beloved queer rom-com Fire Island. The film, which is inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, follows a group of gay Asian friends who gather for what could be their last annual week of love and laughter together on the titular isle. It features the likes of Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang, and Margaret Cho, and is being hailed for centering queer Asian individuals -- but, as it turns out, not by everyone.
A surprising criticism was leveled at the groundbreaking film by New York Magazine's Hanna Rosin. "So @hulu #FireIslandMovie gets an F- on the Bechdel test in a whole new way. Do we just ignore the drab lesbian stereotypes bc cute gay Asian boys? Is this revenge for all those years of the gay boy best friend?" she recently tweeted.
For those unfamiliar with the Bechdel-Wallace test (the author's preferred name), it began as a joke in Alison Bechdel's comic Dykes to Watch Out For as criticism for male-dominated films and the lack of female representation in mainstream cinema. To pass the test, a film must meet the following criteria as outlined in the comic: It must have at least two women in it, and they must talk with each other about something besides a man.
Fire Island doesn't meet those requirements, but that raises the question: Should it really have to? Is applying this metric to a film that focuses on the experiences of a marginalized group like queer Asians even fair, or is this "call out" an example of peak white feminism? Twitter's had some thoughts.
\u201c@HannaRosin @hulu Hanna this is tiresome because it\u2019s not a good faith application of the Bechdel test, or rather, FI fails rather intentionally.\nYou know that, so it feels like this is mostly for the reaction, because surely you\u2019re aware that gay Asian men are rarely/never centered this way.\u201d— Emerson Collins (@Emerson Collins) 1654564498
\u201c@HannaRosin @hulu This goes so far beyond bad and deeply out of touch that it spirals into cruelty and racism. This is the worst thing I\u2019ve read on here today, and on a day when people are retweeting Matt Walsh all day long, that speaks volumes.\u201d— Simon Curtis (@Simon Curtis) 1654571234
\u201c@HannaRosin @hulu \u201cHow come this film about Asian gay men (a group never centered in a mainstream movie before) is not also about MEEEE?!?\u201d\u201d— \ud83e\udeb4 E m i l y \ud83d\udda4\u2728 (@\ud83e\udeb4 E m i l y \ud83d\udda4\u2728) 1654543099
\u201c@HannaRosin @hulu Yes. The representation of gay Asian men in this movie is but a thin veneer under which a nefarious plot to slander lesbians is lurking.\u201d— eunice chantilly's tacky barrette (@eunice chantilly's tacky barrette) 1654569644
\u201c@HannaRosin @hulu You really should heed the adage "silence is golden". Not all opinions should be shared on the bird app.\u201d— \ud83e\udd87 Erica/TC Underground \ud83e\udd87 (@\ud83e\udd87 Erica/TC Underground \ud83e\udd87) 1654559781
\u201c@HannaRosin @hulu you don't have to tweet everything you think. you can instead think about the ways in which you center yourself in situations because you feel entitlement and examine how you can become a better person.\u201d— esther tseng \u912d\u601c\u6b23 (@esther tseng \u912d\u601c\u6b23) 1654567510
\u201c@HannaRosin @hulu Love the bechdel test and absolutely find it useful, but how many movies have two gay Asian men talk to each other about\u2026 anything? This is a gross take (why are you calling men in their 30s \u201cboys\u201d?) and ill-advised misapplication of the test. There\u2019s a time and place, ma\u2019am.\u201d— JM Sudsina (@JM Sudsina) 1654567523
\u201c@HannaRosin @hulu\u201d— Harrison Lee (@Harrison Lee) 1654562604
Fire Island star Cho also weighed in on the debate, specifically taking issue with Rosin's description of her character being "the drab lesbian stereotype."
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize I was drab. \nI don\u2019t identify as drab. \nBitch I\u2019m fab! \u2764\ufe0f\u201d— Margaret Cho (@Margaret Cho) 1654564031
Update:
It appears that the debate has ended as Bechdel herself has weighed in and declared Fire Island offically passes thet test.
\u201cOkay, I just added a corollary to the Bechdel test: Two men talking to each other about the female protagonist of an Alice Munro story in a screenplay structured on a Jane Austen novel = pass. #FireIsland #BechdelTest\u201d— Alison Bechdel (@Alison Bechdel) 1654648109
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