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Passes the Bechdel test

Pariah

2011. Directed by Dee Rees, written by Dee Rees.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    17 women characters. 14 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 28 scenes out of 92.
  3. 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.

Poster for Pariah

The film

A Brooklyn teenager juggles conflicting identities and risks friendship, heartbreak and family in a desperate search for sexual expression.

Released
31 Oct 2012
Genres
Drama
Rated
R
IMDb
7.2 / 10
Metascore
79 / 100
Awards
14 wins & 30 nominations
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Alike 284 lines, woman
  2. Audrey 146 lines, woman
  3. Laura 132 lines, woman
  4. Arthur 123 lines, man
  5. Bina 83 lines, woman
  6. Sharonda 42 lines, woman
  7. Mrs. Singletary 20 lines, woman
  8. Mack 16 lines, man
  9. Mika 15 lines, woman
  10. Sock 15 lines, man
Full cast, 32 people
  • Adepero Oduye as Alike
  • Pernell Walker as Laura
  • Aasha Davis as Bina
  • Charles Parnell as Arthur
  • Sahra Mellesse as Sharonda
  • Kim Wayans as Audrey
  • Shamika Cotton as Candace
  • Raymond Anthony Thomas as Mack
  • Afton Williamson as Mika
  • Zabryna Guevara as Mrs. Alvarado
  • Kim Sykes as Mrs. Singletary
  • Rob Morgan as Sock
  • Nina Daniels as Gina (AKA Butch Woman)
  • Jeremie Harris as Bina's Boyfriend
  • Chanté Lewis as Fast Girl #1
  • Olithea Anglin as Fast Girl #2
  • Joey Auzenne as Math Teacher
  • Jason DarkChocolate Dyer as Cute Boy
  • Loren Lillian as Laura's Girl
  • Kymbali Craig as Pier Girl #1
  • Alaina Dunn as Pier Girl #2
  • Andrea Smith as Pier Girl #3
  • Ozzie Stewart as Laura's Mother
  • Natalie Carter as Rowdy Co-Worker #1
  • Donei Hall as Rowdy Co-Worker #2
  • Tamar-kali as Tamar-kali
  • Thom Loubet as Guitarist
  • Jerome Jordan as Guitarist
  • Mark Robohm as Drummer
  • Jeremiah Hosea as Bass
  • Maine Anders as Go Go Dancer
  • Stephanie Andujar as Pier Girl (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 92

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 250
3 to 460
5 to 6120
7 to 8270
9 to 10120
11 to 12230
13 to 1400
15 to 1602
17 to 1810
19 to 20220
21 to 22454
23 to 24230
25 to 26451
27 to 28660
29 to 30160
31 to 3200
33 to 344420
35 to 36350
37 to 38280
39 to 40938
41 to 42190
43 to 44390
45 to 46110
47 to 4850
49 to 5060
51 to 52450
53 to 54150
55 to 562324
57 to 58170
59 to 60411
61 to 621515
63 to 6460
65 to 66200
67 to 68110
69 to 70280
71 to 7260
73 to 7400
75 to 763621
77 to 78130
79 to 8000
81 to 8210
83 to 8443
85 to 861913
87 to 8820
89 to 9025
91 to 9240

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.
ALIKE: Stop! Chill!! LAURA: Whatchu' come here for?! ALIKE: Excuse me. Sorry. Excuse me. Oof, sorry ladies. ALIKE: Shit!
ALIKE: Hi. ALIKE: Umm... Hey! How are you?! CUTE GIRL: What?! ALIKE: Umm...sorry. I was just sayin' Umm...hi.
ALIKE: C'mon, we're late. LAURA: Huh? ALIKE: I gotta go! LAURA: Hold on a minute.
SHARONDA: You late. ALIKE: Be quiet. SHARONDA: Where you been this late? ALIKE: Movies.
AUDREY: Nice to know you still live here. AUDREY: What're you doing home so late, anyway? ALIKE: Lost track of time. AUDREY: You know what time your curfew is. Where were you?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 83 are women's.

770 lines from women, 157 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

17 women and 5 men in the cast. 14 women and 4 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 944. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 15 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 80% of the words (5,346), men 20% (1,320). Women have 83% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.

Conversations between two named characters

Exhibit F: behind the camera

7 of the 9 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 81% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Dee Rees (woman)
Written by
Dee Rees (woman)
Produced by
Nekisa Cooper (woman)
Shot by
Bradford Young (man)
Edited by
Mako Kamitsuna (woman)
Music by
Tamar-kali (woman)
Production design by
Inbal Weinberg (woman)
Costumes by
Eniola Dawodu (gender not listed)
Cast by
Eyde Belasco (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    6 women, 2 men, 8 not listed

  • Art

    3 women, 0 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 0 men

  • Editing

    1 women, 0 men

  • Sound

    1 women, 0 men

  • Writing

    1 women, 0 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 36 on average. Men: 51 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Afton Williamson 27, Pernell Walker 31, Adepero Oduye 33, Aasha Davis 37, Zabryna Guevara 39, Kim Wayans 50

Men

Charles Parnell 47, Raymond Anthony Thomas 55

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.5 times what it cost.

Budget
$500,000
Box office
$769,552

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 92 scenes and 944 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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