Fails the Bechdel test
The Thing
1982. Directed by John Carpenter, written by Bill Lancaster and John W. Campbell Jr..
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
A US research station, Antarctica, early-winter 1982. The base is suddenly buzzed by a helicopter from the nearby Norwegian research station. They are trying to kill a dog that has escaped from their base. After the destruction of the Norwegian chopper the members of the US team fly to the Norwegian base, only to discover them all dead or missing. They do find the remains of a strange creature the Norwegians burned. The Americans take it to their base and deduce that it is an alien life form. After a while it is apparent that the alien can take over and assimilate into other life forms, including humans, and can spread like a virus. This means that anyone at the base could be inhabited by The Thing, and tensions escalate.
- Released
- 25 Jun 1982
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 57 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Macready 213 lines, man
- Childs 104 lines, man
- Garry 64 lines, man
- Dr. Copper 56 lines, man
- Nauls 53 lines, man
- Palmer 47 lines, man
- Blair 46 lines, man
- Norris 35 lines, man
- Sanchez 28 lines, man
- Clark 26 lines, man
Full cast, 21 people
- Kurt Russell as MacReady
- Wilford Brimley as Blair
- T.K. Carter as Nauls
- David Clennon as Palmer
- Keith David as Childs
- Richard Dysart as Dr. Copper
- Charles Hallahan as Norris
- Peter Maloney as Bennings
- Richard Masur as Clark
- Donald Moffat as Garry
- Joel Polis as Fuchs
- Thomas G. Waites as Windows
- Norbert Weisser as Norwegian
- Larry Franco as Norwegian Passenger with Rifle
- Nate Irwin as Helicopter Pilot
- William Zeman as Pilot
- John Carpenter as Norwegian (video footage) (uncredited)
- Adrienne Barbeau as Computer (voice) (uncredited)
- Jed as Dog Thing (uncredited)
- Bill Lancaster as Norwegian (uncredited)
- Dick Warlock as Norwegian (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 176
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 8 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 32 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 17 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 21 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 3 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 7 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 4 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 19 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 7 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 2 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 3 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 3 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 14 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 14 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 7 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 21 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 51 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 7 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 25 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 6 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 43 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 79 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 4 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 9 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 9 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 11 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 15 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 3 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 31 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 13 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 14 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 9 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 58 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 66 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 14 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 4 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 7 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 15 |
| 169 to 172 | 0 | 9 |
| 173 to 176 | 0 | 16 |
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, 0 are women's.
0 lines from women, 705 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
1 women and 19 men in the cast. 0 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
No woman speaks.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 711 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 0% of the words (0), men 100% (6,024).
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
0
Two men
73
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 7% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Carpenter (man)
- Written by
- Bill Lancaster (man)
- From the novel by
- John W. Campbell Jr. (man)
- Produced by
- David Foster (man), Lawrence Turman (man)
- Shot by
- Dean Cundey (man)
- Edited by
- Todd C. Ramsay (man)
- Music by
- Ennio Morricone (man)
- Production design by
- John J. Lloyd (man)
- Cast by
- Anita Dann (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 26 men, 19 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 10 men, 12 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 15 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 8 men, 11 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Men
T.K. Carter 25, Keith David 26, Kurt Russell 31, Richard Masur 33, Charles Hallahan 38, David Clennon 39, Peter Maloney 40, Wilford Brimley 47, Donald Moffat 51, Richard Dysart 53
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $19.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 176 scenes and 711 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
