Fails the Bechdel test
Into the Wild
2007. Directed by Sean Penn, written by Sean Penn and Jon Krakauer.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Based on a true story. After graduating from Emory University, Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire savings account to charity, and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters who shape his life.
- Released
- 19 Oct 2007
- Genres
- Adventure, Biography, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8 / 10
- Metascore
- 73 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 23 wins & 106 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Chris 251 lines, man
- Ron 64 lines, man
- Carine 49 lines, woman
- Wayne 41 lines, man
- Rainey 36 lines, man
- Jan 31 lines, woman
- Mads 18 lines, man
- Tracy 18 lines, woman
- Walt 14 lines, man
- Billie 13 lines, woman
Full cast, 45 people
- Emile Hirsch as Christopher McCandless / Alexander Supertramp
- Marcia Gay Harden as Billie McCandless
- William Hurt as Walt McCandless
- Jena Malone as Carine McCandless / Additional Narration (voice)
- Brian H. Dierker as Rainey
- Catherine Keener as Jan Burres
- Vince Vaughn as Wayne Westerberg
- Kristen Stewart as Tracy Tatro
- Hal Holbrook as Ronald "Ron" Franz
- Thure Lindhardt as Mads
- Signe Egholm Olsen as Sonja
- Jim Gallien as Jim Gallien
- James J. O'Neill as Graduation Reader
- Malinda McCollum as Waitress
- Paul Knauls as Building Manager
- Zach Galifianakis as Kevin
- Craig Mutsch as Wayne's Crew #1
- Jim Beidler as Wayne's Crew #2
- John Decker as Hutterite #1
- John Hofer as Hutterite #2
- Jerry Hofer as Hutterite #3
- Terry Waldner as Hutterite #4
- Robin Mathews as Gail Borah
- Candice Campos as Bar Girl
- Steven Wiig as Lee's Ferry Ranger
- Floyd Wall as Man In Phone Booth
- Bryce Walters as Christopher McCandless (age 4)
- Jim Davis as Immigration Officer
- Cheryl Francis Harrington as Social Worker
- R. D. Call as Bull
- Haley Ramm as Carine McCandless (age 11)
- Merritt Wever as Lori
- Everett 'Insane Wayne' Smith as Insane Cain
- John Jabaley as Announcer
- Leonard Knight as Leonard Knight
- Matt Contreras as Book Shopper #1
- Denise Sitton as Book Shopper #2
- Sharon Olds as Additional Narration (voice)
- Carine McCandless as Additional Narration (voice)
- J. Nathan Simmons as Tourist (uncredited)
- Parris Mosteller as Young Boy (voice) (uncredited)
- Timothy Levine as Atlanta Braves fan (uncredited)
- Haley Sweet as Bank Teller (uncredited)
- Aaron Wayne Hill as Big Wheel Boy (uncredited)
- Bart the Bear 2 as Bear
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 263
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 6 | 4 | 12 |
| 7 to 12 | 7 | 20 |
| 13 to 18 | 2 | 13 |
| 19 to 24 | 5 | 1 |
| 25 to 30 | 3 | 2 |
| 31 to 36 | 0 | 31 |
| 37 to 42 | 15 | 32 |
| 43 to 48 | 9 | 17 |
| 49 to 54 | 8 | 4 |
| 55 to 60 | 0 | 36 |
| 61 to 66 | 0 | 9 |
| 67 to 72 | 3 | 22 |
| 73 to 78 | 4 | 7 |
| 79 to 84 | 7 | 36 |
| 85 to 90 | 6 | 1 |
| 91 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 102 | 0 | 4 |
| 103 to 108 | 0 | 7 |
| 109 to 114 | 7 | 4 |
| 115 to 120 | 1 | 0 |
| 121 to 126 | 5 | 15 |
| 127 to 132 | 6 | 0 |
| 133 to 138 | 9 | 6 |
| 139 to 144 | 4 | 5 |
| 145 to 150 | 13 | 17 |
| 151 to 156 | 13 | 27 |
| 157 to 162 | 5 | 0 |
| 163 to 168 | 1 | 2 |
| 169 to 174 | 0 | 28 |
| 175 to 180 | 0 | 15 |
| 181 to 186 | 0 | 24 |
| 187 to 192 | 0 | 4 |
| 193 to 198 | 0 | 42 |
| 199 to 204 | 7 | 5 |
| 205 to 210 | 0 | 0 |
| 211 to 216 | 0 | 4 |
| 217 to 222 | 0 | 1 |
| 223 to 228 | 0 | 0 |
| 229 to 234 | 0 | 0 |
| 235 to 240 | 0 | 0 |
| 241 to 246 | 0 | 4 |
| 247 to 252 | 0 | 1 |
| 253 to 258 | 0 | 0 |
| 259 to 263 | 0 | 8 |
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, 24 are women's.
144 lines from women, 466 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 17 men in the cast. 9 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 18 of 666.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 114 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 34% of the words (3,080), men 66% (5,938). Women have 24% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
Two women
1
Two men
48
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Sean Penn (man)
- Written by
- Sean Penn (man)
- Produced by
- Sean Penn (man), Art Linson (man), Bill Pohlad (man)
- Shot by
- Éric Gautier (man)
- Edited by
- Jay Cassidy (man)
- Music by
- Michael Brook (man)
- Production design by
- Derek R. Hill (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary Claire Hannan (woman)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 11 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 6 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kristen Stewart 17, Jena Malone 22, Marcia Gay Harden 48, Catherine Keener 48
Men
Emile Hirsch 22, Thure Lindhardt 32, Vince Vaughn 37, Brian H. Dierker 52, William Hurt 57, Hal Holbrook 82
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $56.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 263 scenes and 666 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
