Fails the Bechdel test

Where the Wild Things Are

Name: Where the Wild Things Are
Released: 2009

2009. Directed by Spike Jonze, written by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers and Maurice Sendak.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 3 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

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

The film

A young boy named Max has an active imagination, and he will throw fits if others don't go along with what he wants. Max - following an incident with Claire (his sister) and her friends, and following a tantrum which he throws as a result of his Mother paying more attention to her boyfriend than to him - runs away from home. Wearing his wolf costume at the time, Max not only runs away physically, but runs toward a world in his imagination. This world, an ocean away, is inhabited by large wild beasts, including one named Carol who is much like Max himself in temperament. Instead of eating Max like they normally would with creatures of his type, the wild things befriend Max after he proclaims himself a king who can magically solve all their problems.

Released: 16 Oct 2009
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Family
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.7 / 10
Metascore: 71 / 100
Awards: 7 wins & 54 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Max 169 lines, man
Carol 153 lines, man
Judith 89 lines, woman
Ira 69 lines, man
Douglas 61 lines, man
Alexander 43 lines, man
Mom 29 lines, woman
K.W 11 lines
Max - 10 lines, man
Carol - 4 lines, man

Full cast, 32 people

Max Records as Max
Catherine Keener as Mom
James Gandolfini as Carol (voice)
Lauren Ambrose as KW (voice)
Catherine O'Hara as Judith (voice)
Forest Whitaker as Ira (voice)
Chris Cooper as Douglas (voice)
Paul Dano as Alexander (voice)
Spike Jonze as Bob (voice) / Terry (voice)
Pepita Emmerichs as Claire
Mark Ruffalo as The Boyfriend
Max Pfeifer as Claire's Friend
Madeleine Greaves as Claire's Friend
Joshua Jay as Claire's Friend
Ryan Corr as Claire's Friend
Steve Mouzakis as Teacher
Michael Berry Jr. as The Bull (voice)
Vincent Crowley as Carol Suit Performer
Sonny Gerasimowicz as Alexander Suit Performer
Nick Farnell as Judith Suit Performer
Sam Longley as Ira Suit Performer
Angus Sampson as The Bull Suit Performer
Mark McCracken as The Bull Additional Suit Performer
John Leary as Douglas Suit Performer
Alice Parkinson as KW Suit Performer
Garon Michael as KW Additional Suit Performer
James Epinfaniou as Additional Max Performer
Joshua Evans as Additional Max Performer
Tess Grimshaw Lloyd as Additional Max Performer
Lucas Haynes as Additional Max Performer
Nathan Veal as Additional Max Performer
Kalia Prescott as Max's Classmate (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 60

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 2	0	0
3 to 4	0	4
5 to 6	0	2
7 to 8	6	3
9 to 10	5	6
11 to 12	1	5
13 to 14	1	0
15 to 16	16	9
17 to 18	33	125
19 to 20	11	83
21 to 22	0	13
23 to 24	0	15
25 to 26	3	24
27 to 28	2	22
29 to 30	10	2
31 to 32	0	9
33 to 34	1	22
35 to 36	7	40
37 to 38	18	44
39 to 40	0	9
41 to 42	0	7
43 to 44	6	62
45 to 46	0	1
47 to 48	0	7
49 to 50	2	8
51 to 52	0	2
53 to 54	0	0
55 to 56	0	0
57 to 58	0	0
59 to 60	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, 19 are women's.

122 lines from women, 524 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

6 women and 19 men in the cast. 3 women and 10 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 12 of 663. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 48 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 18% of the words (1,040), men 82% (4,653). Women have 19% 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 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Spike Jonze (man)
Written by: Spike Jonze (man), Dave Eggers (man)
Produced by: Tom Hanks (man), John B. Carls (gender not listed), Gary Goetzman (man), Vincent Landay (man), Maurice Sendak (man)
Shot by: Lance Acord (man)
Edited by: James Haygood (man), Eric Zumbrunnen (man)
Music by: Carter Burwell (man), Karen O (woman)
Production design by: K.K. Barrett (man)
Costumes by: Casey Storm (man)
Cast by: Justine Arteta (woman), Kim Davis-Wagner (woman)