'Guardians of the Galaxy' director says sequel will address Hollywood sexism by showcasing strong female characters front and center
For International Day of the Girl on Tuesday, "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn promised that the sequel he's working on will "not only pass the Bechdel test, but run over it and back up over it again and again in an eighteen-wheeler truck."
The Bechdel test measures whether a movie treats its female characters as fully developed ones, or just as props for men. For a movie to pass, it has to accomplish three things: (1) have at least two women in it, who (2) who talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man. It's a pretty low bar to clear, but somehow fewer than half of 2015's movies cleared it.
Gunn intends to address pervasive Hollywood sexism in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" by making his female characters - Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis - not only "strong," but well-developed.
"Women all over the world have been pushed to the sidelines in the interests of men, and their personhood is often forgotten or delegitimized," Gunn wrote in a Facebook post.
Gunn wants to write movies where women's stories and men's stories don't come at the expense of each other, but are instead "interwoven in a way to strengthen and optimize all of them." The first "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie also distinguished itself by being the first Marvel movie with a female writer, Nicole Perlman.
Marvel has a patchy record when it comes to passing the Bechdel Test, but the studio is improving. "Avengers: Age of Ultron," "Guardians of the Galaxy," the two "Thor" movies, and the "Captain America" and "Iron Man" sequels all pass it. The first "Iron Man" movie, "Captain America," "Ant-Man," "The Avengers," and "The Incredible Hulk" do not.
You can read Gunn's full Facebook post below:
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" will be in theaters May 5, 2017.