Passes the Bechdel test
The Little Mermaid
1989. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, written by John Musker and Ron Clements and Hans Christian Andersen.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
16 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 1. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
In Disney's beguiling animated romp, rebellious 16-year-old mermaid Ariel is fascinated with life on land. On one of her visits to the surface, which are forbidden by her controlling father, King Triton, she falls for a human prince. Determined to be with her new love, Ariel makes a dangerous deal with the sea witch Ursula to become human for three days. But when plans go awry for the star-crossed lovers, the king must make the ultimate sacrifice for his daughter.
- Released
- 15 Nov 1989
- Genres
- Animation, Adventure, Family
- Rated
- G
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 88 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 16 wins & 9 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ariel 66 lines, woman
- Triton 41 lines, man
- Sebastian 39 lines, man
- Eric 34 lines, man
- Flounder 29 lines, man
- Scuttle 25 lines, man
- Ursula 25 lines, woman
- Grimsby 22 lines, man
- Sebastion 13 lines
- Carlotta 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 43 people
- Jodi Benson as Ariel (voice)
- Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian (voice)
- Pat Carroll as Ursula (voice)
- Christopher Daniel Barnes as Eric (voice)
- Kenneth Mars as Triton (voice)
- Buddy Hackett as Scuttle (voice)
- Jason Marin as Flounder (voice)
- René Auberjonois as Louis (voice)
- Paddi Edwards as Flotsam & Jetsam (voice)
- Ben Wright as Grimsby (voice)
- Edie McClurg as Carlotta (voice)
- Will Ryan as Seahorse (voice)
- Sherry Lynn as Additional Voices (voice)
- Mickie McGowan as Additional Voices (voice)
- Nancy Cartwright as Additional Voices (voice)
- Frank Welker as Max (voice) (uncredited)
- Hamilton Camp as Additional Voices (voice)
- Debbie Shapiro Gravitte as Additional Voices (voice)
- Robert Weil as Additional Voices (voice)
- Ed Gilbert as Additional Voices (voice)
- Charlie Adler as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jack Angel as Additional Voices (voice)
- Susan Boyd as Additional Voices (voice)
- Steve Bulen as Additional Voices (voice)
- Philip L. Clarke as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jennifer Darling as Additional Voices (voice)
- Trevor Allan Davies as Additional Voices (voice)
- Gail Farrell as Additional Voices (voice)
- Donny Gerrard as Additional Voices (voice)
- Willie J. Greene Jr. as Additional Voices (voice)
- Linda Harmon as Additional Voices (voice)
- Walter S. Harrah as Additional Voices (voice)
- Phillip Ingram as Additional Voices (voice)
- Luana Jackman as Additional Voices (voice)
- William A. Kanady as Additional Voices (voice)
- Edie Lehmann Boddicker as Additional Voices (voice)
- Anne Lockhart as Additional Voices (voice)
- Melissa MacKay as Additional Voices (voice)
- Guy Maeda as Additional Voices (voice)
- Lynn Dolin Mann as Additional Voices (voice)
- Arnold Markussen as Additional Voices (voice)
- Bobbi Page as Additional Voices (voice)
- Gerrit Graham as Additional Voices (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
URSULA: Now! Do we have a deal? Ha! It's done then. ARIEL: No . . . Oh, No!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 37 are women's.
114 lines from women, 198 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
16 women and 19 men in the cast. 6 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 13 of 330.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 27 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 31% of the words (1,295), men 69% (2,910). Women have 37% 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
9
Two men
25
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Musker (man), Ron Clements (man)
- Written by
- John Musker (man), Ron Clements (man)
- Produced by
- Howard Ashman (man), John Musker (man)
- Edited by
- Mark A. Hester (man)
- Music by
- Alan Menken (man)
- Cast by
- Susan Edelman (woman), Mary V. Buck (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
13 women, 9 men, 60 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 20 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 15 men, 8 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 9 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 49 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jodi Benson 28, Paddi Edwards 57, Pat Carroll 62
Men
Jason Marin 15, Christopher Daniel Barnes 17, Samuel E. Wright 42, René Auberjonois 49, Kenneth Mars 54, Buddy Hackett 65, Ben Wright 74
Exhibit H: the money
It made 5.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $40 million
- Box office
- $211 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 330 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
