Fails the Bechdel test
Shrek
2001. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, written by William Steig and Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
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.
The film
When a green ogre named Shrek discovers his swamp has been 'swamped' with all sorts of fairytale creatures by the scheming Lord Farquaad, Shrek sets out with a very loud donkey by his side to 'persuade' Farquaad to give Shrek his swamp back. Instead, a deal is made. Farquaad, who wants to become the King, sends Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona, who is awaiting her true love in a tower guarded by a fire-breathing dragon. But once they head back with Fiona, it starts to become apparent that not only does Shrek, an ugly ogre, begin to fall in love with the lovely princess, but Fiona is also hiding a huge secret.
- Released
- 18 May 2001
- Genres
- Animation, Adventure, Comedy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 84 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 40 wins & 60 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Shrek 247 lines, man
- Donkey 204 lines, man
- Fiona 123 lines, woman
- Farquaad 49 lines, man
- Head Guard 16 lines, man
- Gingerbread Man 10 lines, man
- Robin Hood 10 lines, man
- Mirror 7 lines, man
- Merry Men 6 lines, man
- Old Woman 6 lines, woman
Full cast, 26 people
- Mike Myers as Shrek / Blind Mouse (voice)
- Eddie Murphy as Donkey (voice)
- Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona (voice)
- John Lithgow as Lord Farquaad (voice)
- Vincent Cassel as Monsieur Hood (voice)
- Peter Dennis as Ogre Hunter (voice)
- Clive Pearse as Ogre Hunter (voice)
- Jim Cummings as Captain of the Guards (voice)
- Bobby Block as Baby Bear (voice)
- Chris Miller as Geppetto / Magic Mirror (voice)
- Cody Cameron as Pinnochio / Three Pigs (voice)
- Kathleen Freeman as Old Woman (voice)
- Michael Galasso as Peter Pan (voice)
- Christopher Knights as Blind Mouse / Thelonious (voice)
- Simon J. Smith as Blind Mouse (voice)
- Conrad Vernon as Gingerbread Man (voice)
- Jacquie Barnbrook as Wrestling Man (voice)
- Guillaume Aretos as Merry Man (voice)
- John Bisom as Merry Man (voice)
- Matthew Gonder as Merry Man (voice)
- Calvin Remsberg as Merry Man (voice)
- Jean-Paul Vignon as Merry Man (voice)
- Val Bettin as Bishop (voice)
- Bob Bergen as Guards / Villager #4 (voice) (uncredited)
- Mickie McGowan as Duloc Woman (voice) (uncredited)
- Said Faraj as Guard (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 2
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 1 | 6 | 72 |
| 2 to 2 | 124 | 498 |
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, 19 are women's.
130 lines from women, 570 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 22 men in the cast. 2 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 20 of 724.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 152 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 17% of the words (1,270), men 83% (6,389). Women have 19% 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
Two women
0
Two men
48
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Andrew Adamson (man), Vicky Jenson (woman)
- Written by
- Ted Elliott (man), Roger S.H. Schulman (man), Joe Stillman (man), Terry Rossio (man)
- Produced by
- Aron Warner (man), John H. Williams (man), Jeffrey Katzenberg (man)
- Edited by
- Sim Evan-Jones (man)
- Music by
- John Powell (man), Harry Gregson-Williams (man)
- Production design by
- James Hegedus (man)
- Costumes by
- Isis Mussenden (woman)
- Cast by
- Leslee Feldman (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
18 women, 43 men, 33 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 13 men, 53 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 11 men, 42 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 9 men, 17 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 4 men, 13 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 10 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Cameron Diaz 28
Men
Bobby Block 9, Chris Miller 33, Vincent Cassel 34, Mike Myers 37, Eddie Murphy 40, Jim Cummings 48, John Lithgow 55, Peter Dennis 67
Exhibit G: the money
It made 8.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $60 million
- Box office
- $490 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 2 scenes and 724 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
