Applied to a film about gay men, it has, perhaps, slightly less relevance in this case.
Bechdel came up with the test in 1985 it measures representation by running a film by three simple criteria: whether a movie has at least two women in it, who, two, talk to each other, about, three, something besides a man. In fact, she awarded it an F- and criticised its “ drab lesbian stereotypes”. An American writer and podcast producer tweeted that she thought Fire Island, a movie centred on two gay Asian men and based loosely on Pride and Prejudice, did not pass the Bechdel test. It started with the kind of nightmare online scenario that brings me out in a cold sweat. The cartoonist Alison Bechdel, whose graphic novels are the kind of graphic novels that make people who do not read graphic novels take them seriously, found herself in the news, in an odd offshoot of an ill-considered tweet about a film streaming on Disney+. Alison Bechdel: moving the goalposts was a wise decisionĪlison Bechdel: a graphic rethink. An A-list movie star pivoting to a format made famous by Derek Acorah and Yvette Fielding was not on my Pride checklist this year, but I will happily wave the flag for it. Even though I don’t believe in mediums and spiritualists, I love the idea of a paranormal romp in a queer space, particularly if everyone is wearing Chersace T-shirts and socks. She posted a video/casting callout, looking for experts “who will lead the pack on this super gay ghost-hunting adventure”. She has teamed up with the producers of Queer Eye to executive-produce a new ghost-hunting show, fulfilling a promise made in the New Yorker last year, when she talked of developing “a paranormal romp in a queer space”. And in the only Pride merch tie-in I can enjoy, apart from that Royal Mint 50p, Cher has collaborated with Versace, releasing a £280 “Chersace” T-shirt in rainbow colours, with matching socks that cost £80.īut the ultimate has to be Kristen Stewart’s casting call for LGBTQ+ paranormal experts on Instagram last week. Joe Lycett will host a Big Pride Party in Birmingham for Channel 4, to celebrate Pride’s 50th year. “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess,” she wrote on Instagram. This year, the drip-feed of Pride-adjacent news has been less crudely commercial than usual, or less “hi, gay!”, to quote comedian Meg Stalter, whose videos are in danger of becoming an annual balm (please watch Stalter’s first “ Corporations this month” video and this year’s sequel, both of which made me cry with laughter), than Rebel Wilson announcing that she is dating a woman.