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Passes the Bechdel test

The Birth of a Nation

2016. Directed by Nate Parker, written by Nate Parker and Jean McGianni Celestin.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    9 women characters. 7 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 4 scenes out of 131.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

Poster for The Birth of a Nation

The film

Set against the antebellum South, "The Birth of a Nation" follows Nat Turner (Nate Parker), a literate slave and preacher whose financially-strained owner, Samuel Turner (Armie Hammer), accepts an offer to use Nat's preaching to subdue unruly slaves. As he witnesses countless atrocities--against himself and his fellow slaves--Nat orchestrates an uprising in the hopes of leading his people to freedom.

Released
07 Oct 2016
Genres
Biography, Drama, History
Rated
R
IMDb
6.6 / 10
Metascore
69 / 100
Awards
5 wins & 33 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Nat 182 lines, man
  2. Samuel Turner 99 lines, man
  3. Cherry 47 lines, woman
  4. Elizabeth Turner 34 lines, woman
  5. Nancy 33 lines, woman
  6. Isaiah 29 lines, man
  7. Cobb 28 lines, man
  8. Hark 28 lines, man
  9. Rev. Walthall 26 lines, man
  10. Joseph Randall 18 lines, man
Full cast, 43 people
  • Nate Parker as Nat Turner
  • Armie Hammer as Samuel Turner
  • Aja Naomi King as Cherry
  • Jackie Earle Haley as Raymond Cobb
  • Penelope Ann Miller as Elizabeth Turner
  • Gabrielle Union as Esther
  • Mark Boone Junior as Reverend Zalthall
  • Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor as Nancy Turner
  • Dwight Henry as Isaac Turner
  • Esther Scott as Bridget Turner
  • Roger Guenveur Smith as Isaiah
  • Jeryl Prescott as Janice
  • Colman Domingo as Hark
  • Dominic Bogart as Hank Fowler
  • Jason Stuart as Joseph Randall
  • Katie Garfield as Catherine Turner
  • Jayson Warner Smith as Earl Fowler
  • Steve Coulter as General Childs
  • Aiden Flowers as Young John Clarke
  • Dane Davenport as John Clarke Turner
  • Chiké Okonkwo as Will
  • Tony Espinosa as Young Nat Turner
  • Kai Norris as Jasper
  • Chris Greene as Nelson
  • Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Simon
  • Justin Randell Brooke as Guiles Reese
  • Ryan Mulkay as Jesse
  • Allen Phoenix as Abner
  • Vincent Anthony as Fowler Slave
  • Bobby Batson as Little boy
  • Damon Bellmon as Turner Hideaway
  • Gregory Black as Rebel Slave
  • Alkoya Brunson as Young Hark
  • Anthony Bryant as Rebel Slave
  • Victoria Budkey as Lynch Mob
  • Sheila Cochran as General Child's Wife
  • Logan Coffey as Son
  • Kemuel Crossty as Rebel Man
  • Nicole Davis as Angel (uncredited)
  • Morgen Dukes as Kid
  • Shannon Edwards as Farmer (uncredited)
  • Brad Schmidt as Lieutenant Akers
  • Patrick Roper as Slave Buyer

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 131

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 334
4 to 601
7 to 923
10 to 1200
13 to 15833
16 to 18171
19 to 21146
22 to 2467
25 to 2705
28 to 30235
31 to 33033
34 to 361917
37 to 39412
40 to 421416
43 to 45027
46 to 48214
49 to 51015
52 to 54810
55 to 57011
58 to 60028
61 to 63415
64 to 66119
67 to 69514
70 to 72028
73 to 75010
76 to 78518
79 to 81014
82 to 8409
85 to 8723
88 to 90037
91 to 93118
94 to 9600
97 to 9904
100 to 102410
103 to 10500
106 to 108014
109 to 111010
112 to 114011
115 to 11708
118 to 1201119
121 to 123105
124 to 12602
127 to 12901
130 to 13100

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.
NANCY: Hold on. BRIDGET: Now you listen to everything Miss Elizabeth say. Keep ya head down and stay out the way, hear?
NANCY: Afternoon massa’. This here Cherry Anne. CHERRY: Massa’.
CHERRY: Missus. CATHERINE: Hello. CATHERINE: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! She’s perfect! Cherry... I bet they named you that because you’re so sweet. CATHERINE: C’mon, I want you to meet mama.
JANICE: We shol’ is sad to see you and the missus go. CATHERINE: Oh, we’ll be just down the road. After we get good and settled, we’ll be back to visit. Sundays for church and that.
NANCY: Oh, suh, I don’t know nothing about no killin- ELIZABETH TURNER: General!

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.

142 lines from women, 547 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 24 men in the cast. 7 women and 21 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 8 of 712. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 60 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 (1,366), men 83% (6,512). Women have 21% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Nate Parker (man)
Written by
Nate Parker (man)
Story by
Jean McGianni Celestin (man), Nate Parker (man)
Produced by
Aaron L. Gilbert (man), Kevin Turen (man), Jason Michael Berman (man), Nate Parker (man), Preston L. Holmes (man)
Shot by
Elliot Davis (man)
Edited by
Steven Rosenblum (man)
Music by
Henry Jackman (man)
Production design by
Geoffrey Kirkland (man)
Costumes by
Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (woman)
Cast by
Michelle Wade Byrd (woman), Mary Vernieu (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    11 women, 28 men

  • Sound

    0 women, 6 men

  • Art

    2 women, 3 men

  • Directing

    0 women, 3 men

  • Writing

    0 women, 3 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 1 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Other crew

    0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 47 on average. Men: 47 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Aja Naomi King 31, Gabrielle Union 43, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor 47, Penelope Ann Miller 52, Esther Scott 63

Men

Armie Hammer 30, Nate Parker 36, Dwight Henry 53, Jackie Earle Haley 55, Mark Boone Junior 61

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.9 times what it cost.

Budget
$8.5 million
Box office
$15.9 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 131 scenes and 712 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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