Passes the Bechdel test

Dear White People

Name: Dear White People
Released: 2014

2014. Directed by Justin Simien, written by Justin Simien.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 97.
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

A social satire that follows the stories of four Black students at an Ivy League college where controversy breaks out over a popular but offensive blackface party thrown by white students. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the film explores racial identity in acutely-not-post-racial America while weaving a universal story of forging one's unique path in the world.

Released: 04 Dec 2014
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.1 / 10
Metascore: 79 / 100
Awards: 13 wins & 28 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Sam 157 lines, woman
Troy 122 lines, man
Lionel 99 lines, man
Coco 82 lines, woman
Kurt 65 lines, man
Dean Fairbanks 63 lines, man
Reggie 51 lines, man
Gabe 45 lines, man
George 43 lines, man
Helmut 35 lines, man

Full cast, 27 people

Tyler James Williams as Lionel Higgins
Tessa Thompson as Samantha White
Kyle Gallner as Kurt Fletcher
Teyonah Parris as Colandrea 'Coco' Conners
Brandon P Bell as Troy Fairbanks
Brittany Curran as Sophie Fletcher
Justin Dobies as Gabe
Marque Richardson as Reggie
Malcolm Barrett as Helmut West
Dennis Haysbert as Dean Fairbanks
Peter Syvertsen as President Fletcher
Brandon Alter as George
Kate Gaulke as Annie
Brian James as Martin
Keith Myers as Black Mitch
Bryan Daniel Porter as Gordon
Terry Hempleman as Professor Bodkin
Naomi Ko as Sungmi
Ashley Blaine Featherson-Jenkins as Curls
Jemar Michael as Smoothe
Courtney Sauls as Wild
Casey Millard as Box Office Assistant
Avery Bilz as Sophomore
Michelle Wong as Newscaster
Craig Stepp as Newscaster
Baratunde Thurston as Newscaster
Nia Jervier as Coco's Friend

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 97

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 3	2	1
4 to 6	3	3
7 to 9	22	31
10 to 12	15	13
13 to 15	4	38
16 to 18	27	23
19 to 21	12	4
22 to 24	7	7
25 to 27	14	39
28 to 30	2	33
31 to 33	0	8
34 to 36	3	10
37 to 39	6	27
40 to 42	11	21
43 to 45	9	29
46 to 48	19	35
49 to 51	0	8
52 to 54	11	32
55 to 57	20	29
58 to 60	8	7
61 to 63	3	3
64 to 66	1	9
67 to 69	2	17
70 to 72	0	52
73 to 75	0	1
76 to 78	1	10
79 to 81	2	3
82 to 84	6	12
85 to 87	3	19
88 to 90	6	11
91 to 93	5	25
94 to 96	22	21
97 to 97	0	13

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.

SAM: Oofta is as Oofta does. SAM: Just because we're colored don't mean we run on colored people time. COCO: Boycotting hot combs don't make you an expert on "colored people" boo.

SAM: You call me the minute there's an update. Love you too mom. CURLS: There is one other sister in my Relativity class, I'll be damned if our professor doesn't call me Laretta every God damn time.

CURLS: Means to an end, sister. COCO: The talented tenth always has to bust its ass a little bit harder, but I don't see the benefit in blaming white folks for everything. CURLS: Who's blaming?

SAM: Dear White People, stop dancing. COCO: The fuck? COCO: Muffins. I hate to do it, but Imma have to get real Black with you. So the other day, a girl had the nerve to fix her mouth and ask me if my… COCO: First of all if you're going to fix your mouth to ask me something like that, say it right please? It's weave. Noun. Present tense. Second o…

SAM: Dear White People using Instagram. You have an iPhone and go on hikes. I get it. COCO: Ugh.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 29 are women's.

246 lines from women, 594 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

7 women and 12 men in the cast. 3 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 12 of 940. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 73 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 35% of the words (3,360), men 65% (6,286). Women have 29% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.

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

5 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Justin Simien (man)
Written by: Justin Simien (man)
Produced by: Justin Simien (man), Lena Waithe (woman), Ann Le (gender not listed), Angel Lopez (man), Julia Lebedev (woman), Effie T. Brown (woman)
Shot by: Topher Osborn (man)
Edited by: Phillip J. Bartell (man)
Music by: Kathryn Bostic (woman)
Production design by: Bruton Jones (man)
Costumes by: Toye Adedipe (gender not listed)
Cast by: Kim Taylor-Coleman (woman)