Passes the Bechdel test

Carrie

Name: Carrie
Released: 1976

1976. Directed by Brian De Palma, written by Stephen King and Lawrence D. Cohen.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
15 women characters. 9 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 18 scenes out of 94.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

The film

It's nearing the end of the school year. High school senior Carrie White is a social outcast, largely due to being unwise to the ways of the world based on her upbringing. Her mother, Margaret White, is a religious fanatic, her extreme views primarily targeted against sex, which she believes is a sin. She even believes natural associated processes such as menstruation are a sin, about which she has refused to mention to Carrie. Mrs. White's beliefs were taken to that extreme largely because of her own failed marriage and her husband Ralph long ago having run off with another woman. The only adult authority figure who tries to help Carrie with her life is her phys ed teacher, Miss Collins, who is nonetheless warned not to get too close to go against how Mrs. White chooses to raise Carrie, Mrs. White whose beliefs are well known in the community. An impromptu event that happens among Carrie's phys ed classmates against her leads to her classmates being punished. One of those students, self absorbed Chris Hargensen, vows revenge against Carrie for that punishment, the method of the revenge associated to the phys ed class incident. Another student however, the popular Sue Snell, begins to feel sorry for Carrie. In wanting to help her get out of her shell, Sue asks her boyfriend, the equally popular Tommy Ross, to take Carrie to the senior prom instead of her. This move does not sit well with Mrs. White, who in her extreme view believes Carrie will fall prey to sin. All these competing issues lead to Carrie deciding on an impulse to use a newfound skill to free herself from the figurative chains that have long been placed around her, with tragic consequences.

Released: 16 Nov 1976
Genres: Horror
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 86 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. 6 wins & 9 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Carrie 176 lines, woman
Tommy 109 lines, man
Margaret 85 lines, woman
Collins 76 lines, woman
Sue 58 lines, woman
Chris 55 lines, woman
Billy 31 lines, man
Morton 22 lines, man
Eleanor 21 lines, woman
Stella 14 lines, woman

Full cast, 31 people

Sissy Spacek as Carrie
Piper Laurie as Margaret White
Amy Irving as Sue Snell
William Katt as Tommy Ross
John Travolta as Billy Nolan
Nancy Allen as Chris Hargenson
Betty Buckley as Miss Collins
P. J. Soles as Norma
Priscilla Pointer as Mrs. Snell
Sydney Lassick as Mr. Fromm
Stefan Gierasch as Mr. Morton
Michael Talbott as Freddy
Doug Cox as The Beak
Harry Gold as George
Noelle North as Frieda
Cindy Daly as Cora
Deirdre Berthrong as Rhonda
Anson Downes as Ernest
Rory Stevens as Kenny
Edie McClurg as Helen
Cameron De Palma as Boy on Bicycle
Sharon Benson as Ruth Gogan (uncredited)
Terry Bolo as Trudy Bourne (uncredited)
Jean Glaudé as Afro Guy (uncredited)
Katie Irving as Katie O'Shea / The Balladeer (uncredited)
Cynthia Schuler Larsen as Alice Litten (uncredited)
Dan Protheroe as Bassist - Vance or Towers (prom band) (uncredited)
James Saad as Drummer & Percussionist - Vance or Towers (prom band) (uncredited)
Janie Squire as Julia McDermitt (uncredited)
Mike Towers as Vance or Towers (prom band) (uncredited)
Glen Vance as Vance or Towers (prom band) (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 94

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

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 2	27	0
3 to 4	4	0
5 to 6	1	12
7 to 8	29	0
9 to 10	12	21
11 to 12	24	0
13 to 14	5	0
15 to 16	6	0
17 to 18	28	0
19 to 20	18	25
21 to 22	5	0
23 to 24	27	0
25 to 26	1	0
27 to 28	0	0
29 to 30	0	0
31 to 32	36	2
33 to 34	3	5
35 to 36	5	3
37 to 38	10	9
39 to 40	1	1
41 to 42	6	12
43 to 44	19	3
45 to 46	41	16
47 to 48	11	0
49 to 50	53	7
51 to 52	15	0
53 to 54	29	5
55 to 56	0	0
57 to 58	0	0
59 to 60	58	36
61 to 62	7	10
63 to 64	4	12
65 to 66	0	0
67 to 68	4	4
69 to 70	2	7
71 to 72	2	1
73 to 74	1	1
75 to 76	0	0
77 to 78	1	2
79 to 80	3	0
81 to 82	1	0
83 to 84	1	0
85 to 86	15	0
87 to 88	0	0
89 to 90	0	0
91 to 92	0	0
93 to 94	3	0

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

STELLA: Hiya, Carrie. Gee you gave me a fright. How long have you been there? CARRIE: What are those? STELLA: Those are my breasts, honey. CARRIE: I wish I had some.

MARGARET: Carrie! CARRIE: Yes, Momma. MARGARET: You come straight home from school. CARRIE: I always do, Momma.

COLLINS: Okay, now. This is game point. RHONDA: Twenty Twenty. CHRIS: You eat shit!

COLLINS: What are you waiting for, Carrie? Bell in five minutes. CARRIE: Oh uh? CHRIS: Peer-iod! Peer-iod!

SUE: For God's sakes, Carrie, you got your period. Clean yourself up! SUE: You're bleeding! You dumb pudding, you're bleeding! NORMA: She thinks they're for lipstick.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 73 are women's.

518 lines from women, 194 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

15 women and 13 men in the cast. 9 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 729. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 12 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 73% of the words (3,733), men 27% (1,362).

Exhibit E: 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

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Brian De Palma (man)
Written by: Lawrence D. Cohen (man)
From the novel by: Stephen King (man)
Produced by: Paul Monash (man)
Shot by: Mario Tosi (man)
Edited by: Paul Hirsch (man)
Music by: Pino Donaggio (man)
Costumes by: Rosanna Norton (woman)
Cast by: Harriet B. Helberg (woman)

The crew, department by department

Camera

0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
Other crew

4 women, 2 men
Sound

0 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
Art

0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
Directing

1 women, 4 men
Costume & Make-Up

1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
Production

2 women, 2 men
Editing

0 women, 2 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 32 on average. Men: 34 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Amy Irving 23, Sissy Spacek 26, Nancy Allen 26, P. J. Soles 26, Betty Buckley 29, Piper Laurie 44, Priscilla Pointer 52

Men

John Travolta 22, William Katt 25, Sydney Lassick 54

Exhibit H: the money

It made 18.8 times what it cost.

Budget: $1.8 million
Box office: $33.8 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 94 scenes and 729 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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