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Fails the Bechdel test

Arctic Blue

1993. Directed by Peter Masterson, written by Ross LaManna.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

  1. No 1. At least two women
    Fewer than two women characters.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

Poster for Arctic Blue

The film

An environmentalist gets involved in transporting an accused killer (Ben) from an isolated Alaskan town to the authorities. Ben is determined to escape, and his fellow trappers are ready to help.

Genres
Action, Thriller
Rated
R
IMDb
5.1 / 10
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Corbett 162 lines, man
  2. Eric 161 lines, man
  3. Anne Marie 62 lines, woman
  4. Wilder 40 lines, man
  5. Lemalle 38 lines, man
  6. Viking Bob 35 lines, man
  7. Neff 28 lines, man
  8. Mitchell 25 lines, man
  9. Meyerling 24 lines, man
  10. Kenai 19 lines, man
Full cast, 16 people
  • Rutger Hauer as Ben Corbett
  • Dylan Walsh as Eric Desmond
  • Rya Kihlstedt as Anne Marie
  • Richard Bradford as Wilder
  • Kevin Cooney as Meyerling
  • Johnny Cuthbert as Lemalle
  • John 'Bear' Curtis as Mitchell
  • Stephen E. Miller as Arthur Neff
  • Bill Croft as 'Viking' Bob Corbett
  • Michael Lawrenchuk as Earl Kenai
  • Gunargie O'Sullivan as Dixie
  • J. B. Bivens as Sportsman #1
  • Michael St. John Smith as Sportsman #2
  • Ron Chartier as Sportsman #3
  • Dan Shea as Pilot
  • Sacha Moiseiwitsch as Whore

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 223

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 528
6 to 1002
11 to 1519
16 to 2018
21 to 25040
26 to 30632
31 to 35033
36 to 40816
41 to 45510
46 to 50018
51 to 55011
56 to 601326
61 to 6501
66 to 7001
71 to 7500
76 to 8001
81 to 8501
86 to 90010
91 to 95014
96 to 10009
101 to 105012
106 to 110717
111 to 115231
116 to 12009
121 to 125121
126 to 13003
131 to 135010
136 to 140017
141 to 145017
146 to 150012
151 to 155021
156 to 160011
161 to 16509
166 to 170829
171 to 17507
176 to 180011
181 to 18517
186 to 19047
191 to 19510
196 to 20001
201 to 20502
206 to 210215
211 to 215220
216 to 22006
221 to 22301

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 10 are women's.

64 lines from women, 546 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

1 women and 12 men in the cast. 1 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 621. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 111 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 8% of the words (562), men 92% (6,515). Women have 10% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Exhibit E: behind the camera

None of the 8 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Peter Masterson (man)
Written by
Ross LaManna (man)
Produced by
Rick Stevenson (man)
Shot by
Thomas Burstyn (man)
Edited by
George Appleby (gender not listed)
Music by
Peter Rodgers Melnick (man)
Production design by
Richard Wilcox (gender not listed)
Cast by
Stuart Aikins (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed

  • Sound

    1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 2 men

  • Other crew

    0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 22 on average. Men: 43 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Rya Kihlstedt 22

Men

Dylan Walsh 29, Michael Lawrenchuk 36, John 'Bear' Curtis 44, Kevin Cooney 47, Rutger Hauer 48, Richard Bradford 55

Exhibit G: the money

What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.

Budget
$6 million
Box office
Not listed

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 223 scenes and 621 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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