Passes the Bechdel test
The Color Purple
1986. Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Menno Meyjes and Alice Walker.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 16 scenes out of 159. -
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
This film follows the life of Celie, a young black girl growing up in the early 1900's. The first time we see Celie, she is 14 - and pregnant - by her father. We stay with her for the next 30 years of her tough life...
- Released
- 07 Feb 1986
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 78 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 11 Oscars. 16 wins & 31 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Celie 176 lines, woman
- Mr 123 lines, man
- Shug 73 lines, woman
- Sofia 47 lines, woman
- Nettie 24 lines, woman
- Old Mr 24 lines, man
- Harpo 21 lines, man
- Pa 21 lines, man
- Miss Millie 15 lines, woman
- Seug 10 lines
Full cast, 55 people
- Danny Glover as Albert
- Whoopi Goldberg as Celie
- Margaret Avery as Shug Avery
- Oprah Winfrey as Sofia
- Willard E. Pugh as Harpo
- Akosua Busia as Nettie
- Desreta Jackson as Young Celie
- Adolph Caesar as Old Mr.
- Rae Dawn Chong as Squeak
- Dana Ivey as Miss Millie
- Leonard Jackson as Pa
- Bennet Guillory as Grady
- John Patton Jr. as Preacher
- Carl Anderson as Reverend Samuel
- Susan Beaubian as Corrine
- James Tillis as Buster
- Phillip Strong as Mayor
- Laurence Fishburne as Swain
- Peto Kinsaka as Adam
- Lelo Masamba as Olivia
- Margaret Freeman as Odessa
- Howard Starr as Young Harpo
- Daphaine Oliver as Young Olivia
- Jadili Johnson as Young Adam
- Lillian Njoki Distefano as Young Tashi
- Donna Buie as Daisy
- Leon Rippy as Store Clerk
- John R. Hart as Mailman
- David Thomas as Road Gang Leader
- Carrie Murphy as Loretta
- Juliet Poe as Church Sister
- Katie Simon as Church Sister
- Ethel Taylor as Church Sister
- Marcus Covington as Boy
- Marcus Liles as Boo
- April Myers as Emma
- Maurice Moore as Child #1
- Lechanda Latharp as Child #2
- Drew Bundini Brown as Jook Joint Patron
- Arnold F. Turner as Jook Joint Patron
- Jeris Poindexter as Jook Joint Patron
- Hawthorne James as Jook Joint Patron
- Sonny Terry as Jook Joint Musician
- Greg Phillinganes as Jook Joint Musician
- Roy Gaines as Jook Joint Musician
- Paulinho da Costa as African Musician
- Nana Yaw Asiedu as African Musician
- Clarence Avant as African Musician
- Bayo Martin as African Musician
- Ndugu Chandler as African Musician
- Jeffrey Kwashi as African Musician
- Pete Munzhi as African Musician
- Aniijia Rae Schockley as African Musician
- Maria Howell as Church Choir Soloist (uncredited)
- Gayle King as Church-goer (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 159
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 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 6 | 25 |
| 9 to 12 | 19 | 7 |
| 13 to 16 | 34 | 6 |
| 17 to 20 | 6 | 1 |
| 21 to 24 | 7 | 4 |
| 25 to 28 | 7 | 10 |
| 29 to 32 | 6 | 6 |
| 33 to 36 | 12 | 9 |
| 37 to 40 | 20 | 14 |
| 41 to 44 | 8 | 9 |
| 45 to 48 | 14 | 14 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 56 | 27 | 4 |
| 57 to 60 | 1 | 1 |
| 61 to 64 | 5 | 7 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 6 |
| 69 to 72 | 4 | 2 |
| 73 to 76 | 3 | 3 |
| 77 to 80 | 30 | 9 |
| 81 to 84 | 9 | 4 |
| 85 to 88 | 8 | 2 |
| 89 to 92 | 16 | 1 |
| 93 to 96 | 14 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 11 | 9 |
| 101 to 104 | 15 | 1 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 0 |
| 109 to 112 | 3 | 0 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 2 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 5 | 2 |
| 125 to 128 | 30 | 18 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 19 |
| 133 to 136 | 20 | 9 |
| 137 to 140 | 8 | 1 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 0 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 153 to 156 | 4 | 0 |
| 157 to 159 | 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.
CELIE: Naw suh. CELIE: How long you had your little girl. CORRINE: Oh, she be seven mont.~s en t.~e fifteent,.~; CELIE: can·I carry her?
CELIE: Hush now. But the children ignore her and chase each other down the steps and towards the barn. . NETTIE Don't let them run over you. You go… NETTIE: You got to fight, Celie. You got to. CELIE: I don't know how to fight. All I know is how to stay alive.
NETTIE: Horse? CELIE: H ••. 0 .•. R •.. S •.. E.
CELIE: Chapter Two. For ... the next ... eight ... or ... ten ... months, Oliver ... was ... the ... victim ... of a ... sys ... sys .. . NETTIE: systematic. CELIE: For the next eight or ten months Oliver was the victim of a ... systematic course of tra .... tra ... NETTIE: treachery.
CELIE: Let her stay, please let hers-cay. I'll do anything for you, jus'C let her stay. NETTIE: What? CELIE: Write!! NETTIE: Only death can keep me from it.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 63 are women's.
364 lines from women, 211 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
10 women and 17 men in the cast. 10 women and 6 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 19 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 65% of the words (4,779), men 35% (2,532). Women have 63% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
40
Two men
2
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Steven Spielberg (man)
- Written by
- Menno Meyjes (man)
- From the novel by
- Alice Walker (woman)
- Produced by
- Steven Spielberg (man), Frank Marshall (man), Kathleen Kennedy (woman), Quincy Jones (man), Carole Isenberg (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Allen Daviau (man)
- Edited by
- Michael Kahn (man)
- Music by
- Quincy Jones (man)
- Production design by
- J. Michael Riva (man)
- Costumes by
- Aggie Guerard Rodgers (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 9 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 4 men
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
1 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Desreta Jackson 10, Akosua Busia 18, Rae Dawn Chong 24, Whoopi Goldberg 30, Oprah Winfrey 31, Margaret Avery 41, Dana Ivey 44
Men
Willard E. Pugh 26, Danny Glover 39, Adolph Caesar 52
Exhibit H: the money
It made 9.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $146 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 159 scenes and 643 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
