The "name" concept is simply there to avoid a pass given to female characters who talk, but whose characterization and role in the narrative is so lacking and unimportant to the film that they aren't named.
Molly Weasley was never named in the film to my recollection, but anyone watching the films know who she is.
The naming concept is ludicrously applied here because Petunia Padma or Professor Trelawney aren't explicitly named, with no regard to the context of these characters being part of a series where their names have been introduced and mentioned numerous times, making naming them all over again redundant when viewed as a continuous narrative. The spirit of the test is to demonstrate that women contribute strongly to narratives without being subject to active narrative by men first. The problem with those using this task is that focus on the letter of the test, but not the spirit of it. You can argue that the defense of the castle is mostly an attempt to buy Harry Potter time to complete his mission, but the confrontation between Molly Weasley and Bellatrix is about Molly's desire to protect her child, Ginny, and not about any of the males in her family, a direct attempt to fight Voldemort, or even to support Harry. The exchange between Lily Potter and her sister Petunia is an exchange meant to display Lily's blossoming power and how it causes a wedge between her and Petunia, who rejects her out of jealousy and calls her a freak. McGonagall defends the castle with her own power and her own agency. Several female characters (with names, even if not stated in this movie) demonstrate their agency and outside of reinforcement of the main character. If "he test is checking here for whether female characters have their own agency and significance to the film or whether their only role is to reinforce the role of a male character," then HP:7-II would definitely pass.
This is, after all, a series written by a woman who straight-up invented a middle initial in order to hide her lack of a Y chromosome from potential adolescent male customers, and who has retained that obfuscating pen name long after gaining the clout needed to cast it off. Compare any of these movies to the deeply flawed yet unabashedly female-centric "The Golden Compass", and see the extent of the disparity. You all know this.īut, as with many Bechdel Test ratings, this one has touched a nerve, in that it shows women - yes, even Increasingly One-Note Hermione - for the supporting/minor Potter players that they are.
Quoth Victor: "The test is checking here for whether female characters have their own agency and significance to the film or whether their only role is to reinforce the role of a male character."Īs a fan of the first four books/movies who's often annoyed that the rest of the series nearly always gets the free pass that it does, I must confess to some entertainment at reading certain above comments vainly attempting to will this movie into a Pass.