Fails the Bechdel test

The Lion King

Name: The Lion King
Released: 1994

1994. Directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff, written by Irene Mecchi and Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
8 women characters. 10 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

The film

A young lion prince is cast out of his pride by his cruel uncle, who claims he killed his father. While the uncle rules with an iron paw, the prince grows up beyond the Savannah, living by a philosophy: No worries for the rest of your days. But when his past comes to haunt him, the young prince must decide his fate: Will he remain an outcast or face his demons and become what he needs to be?

Released: 24 Jun 1994
Genres: Animation, Adventure, Drama
Rated: G
IMDb: 8.5 / 10
Metascore: 88 / 100
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. 43 wins & 35 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Simba 98 lines, man
Timon 51 lines, man
Scar 42 lines, man
Nala 34 lines, woman
Mufasa 29 lines, man
Pumbaa 25 lines, man
Zazu 21 lines, man
Shenzi 13 lines, woman
Banzai 11 lines, man
Rafiki 6 lines, man

Full cast, 27 people

Matthew Broderick as Simba (voice)
Moira Kelly as Nala (voice)
Jeremy Irons as Scar (voice)
Nathan Lane as Timon (voice)
Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa (voice)
James Earl Jones as Mufasa (voice)
Robert Guillaume as Rafiki (voice)
Rowan Atkinson as Zazu (voice)
Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi (voice)
Cheech Marin as Banzai (voice)
Jim Cummings as Ed (voice)
Jonathan Taylor Thomas as Young Simba (voice)
Niketa Calame-Harris as Young Nala (voice)
Madge Sinclair as Sarabi (voice)
Zoe Leader as Sarafina (voice)
Frank Welker as Lions Roars (voice) (uncredited)
Cathy Cavadini as Additional Voices (voice)
Judi Durand as Additional Voices (voice)
Daamen J. Krall as Additional Voices (voice)
David McCharen as Additional Voices (voice)
Mary Linda Phillips as Additional Voices (voice)
Phil Proctor as Additional Voices (voice)
David J. Randolph as Additional Voices (voice)
Brian Tochi as Fighting Hyena (voice) (uncredited)
Roger Allers as Laughing Hyena (voice) (uncredited)
Rob Minkoff as Laughing Hyena (voice) (uncredited)
Jason Weaver as Young Simba (singing voice) (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 38

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	0	0
2 to 2	0	0
3 to 3	0	0
4 to 4	0	0
5 to 5	0	1
6 to 6	0	12
7 to 7	0	0
8 to 8	0	4
9 to 9	5	39
10 to 10	4	11
11 to 11	1	3
12 to 12	10	30
13 to 13	7	18
14 to 14	0	0
15 to 15	0	9
16 to 16	0	1
17 to 17	0	12
18 to 18	1	1
19 to 19	0	2
20 to 20	0	7
21 to 21	0	22
22 to 22	0	10
23 to 23	0	7
24 to 24	0	0
25 to 25	0	0
26 to 26	0	0
27 to 27	0	3
28 to 28	12	40
29 to 29	8	9
30 to 30	0	7
31 to 31	0	2
32 to 32	0	6
33 to 33	5	12
34 to 34	5	25
35 to 35	1	8
36 to 36	0	3
37 to 37	0	4
38 to 38	0	0

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, 16 are women's.

59 lines from women, 308 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

8 women and 19 men in the cast. 10 women and 25 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 60 of 420. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 66 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 13% of the words (626), men 87% (4,017). Women have 16% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 27 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Roger Allers (man), Rob Minkoff (man)
Written by: Jonathan Roberts (man), Linda Woolverton (woman), Irene Mecchi (woman)
Story by: Rick Maki (man), Lorna Cook (woman), Francis Glebas (man), Barry Johnson (man), Gary Trousdale (man), Tom Sito (man) and 11 more
Produced by: Don Hahn (man)
Edited by: Ivan Bilancio (man)
Music by: Hans Zimmer (man)
Production design by: Chris Sanders (man)
Cast by: Brian Chavanne (gender not listed)