Passes the Bechdel test
Spawn
1997. Directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé, written by Todd McFarlane and Alan B. McElroy and Mark A.Z. Dippé.
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 3 scenes out of 86. -
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
An assassin named Al Simmons is double-crossed and murdered by his evil boss Jason Wynn. Al makes a deal with the devil and returns to earth as Spawn to see his wife. He is ordered by the devil's minion, The Clown, to kill Wynn. Wynn has made a deal with the Clown too and is supposed to destroy the world with a deadly virus that will help start Armageddon and allow Hell to attack Heaven. Spawn must choose between Good and Evil.
- Released
- 01 Aug 1997
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 5.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 34 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Spawn 103 lines, man
- Clown 81 lines, man
- Wynn 75 lines, man
- Simmons 64 lines, man
- Terry 53 lines, man
- Wanda 38 lines, woman
- Cogliostro 37 lines, man
- Cyan 32 lines, woman
- Zack 22 lines, man
- Chapel 7 lines
Full cast, 30 people
- Michael Jai White as Al Simmons / Spawn
- Martin Sheen as Jason Wynn
- John Leguizamo as Clown / Violator
- Theresa Randle as Wanda Blake
- Nicol Williamson as Cogliostro
- D. B. Sweeney as Terry Fitzgerald
- Melinda Clarke as Jessica Priest
- Miko Hughes as Zack
- Sydni Beaudoin as Cyan
- Michael Papajohn as Glen, Zack's Dad
- Frank Welker as The Devil Malebolgia (voice)
- Tony Haney as African Liaison
- Todd McFarlane as Bum
- Robia LaMorte as XNN Reporter
- John Cothran as African Liaison
- Caroline Gibson as News Anchor
- Marc Robinson as Punk #1
- Chris Coppola as Punk #2
- Jay Caputo as Punk #3
- Darryl Warren as Security Guard
- Mike Akrawi as Foreign Dignitary #1
- Romeo Akrawi as Foreign Dignitary #2
- Jack Coleman as Doctor
- Laura Interval as Angela
- Garrison M. Singer as Anesthesiologist
- Simon Rhee as Hong Kong Military Air Base Person (uncredited)
- John Koyama as Hong Kong Military Air Base Security (uncredited)
- Al Goto as Hong Kong Military Air Base Person (uncredited)
- Roger Yuan as Korean Soldier (uncredited)
- Angelie Almendare as Diplomat's Wife (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, 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 86
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 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 8 | 5 | 23 |
| 9 to 10 | 7 | 8 |
| 11 to 12 | 1 | 22 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 15 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 13 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 2 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 13 |
| 23 to 24 | 6 | 4 |
| 25 to 26 | 8 | 15 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 4 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 4 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 14 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 26 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 2 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 26 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 4 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 36 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 15 |
| 47 to 48 | 7 | 7 |
| 49 to 50 | 16 | 9 |
| 51 to 52 | 1 | 2 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 5 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 9 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 11 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 25 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 3 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 24 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 12 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 15 |
| 69 to 70 | 1 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 1 | 3 |
| 73 to 74 | 3 | 15 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 78 | 1 | 14 |
| 79 to 80 | 5 | 27 |
| 81 to 82 | 2 | 14 |
| 83 to 84 | 7 | 10 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 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.
CYAN: Wanna Tootsie Roll? WANDA: Cyan! WANDA: What did I tell you about talking to strangers?
CYAN: You were at my birthday party. WANDA: What are you doing here?
CYAN: You better. WANDA: I always knew I'd have to give you up. WANDA: I used to worry about your soul, Al ... I'm glad I was wrong.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 14 are women's.
71 lines from women, 453 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 20 men in the cast. 3 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 538.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 141 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 11% of the words (629), men 89% (5,048). Women have 14% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
8
Two men
46
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 14% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Mark A.Z. Dippé (man)
- Written by
- Alan B. McElroy (man)
- Produced by
- Clint Goldman (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Guillermo Navarro (man)
- Edited by
- Todd Busch (man), Michael N. Knue (man)
- Music by
- Graeme Revell (man)
- Production design by
- Philip Harrison (man)
- Costumes by
- Daniel J. Lester (man)
- Cast by
- Mary Jo Slater (woman), Bruce H. Newberg (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 11 men, 21 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 19 men, 10 not listed
-
Other crew
3 women, 15 men, 9 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 10 men, 12 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 22 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sydni Beaudoin 7, Melinda Clarke 28, Theresa Randle 32
Men
Miko Hughes 11, Michael Jai White 29, Michael Papajohn 32, D. B. Sweeney 35, John Leguizamo 37, Martin Sheen 56, Nicol Williamson 60
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $40 million
- Box office
- $87.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 86 scenes and 538 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
