People really enjoy boiling complex topics down to simple boxes that can be checked, regardless of how inane and ineffective that system will almost always be. A concept like gender representation in genre fiction does not easily map onto a yes or no question, but that won't stop people on the internet from trying. In 1985, cartoonist and author Allison Bechdel put out an entry in her long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For entitled "The Rule." In it, a character explains that she has a unique rule she applies to films to determine whether she'll see them. Her standards require any film she'll sit through to feature at least two women having a conversation about something other than a man. This paradigm was christened the Bechdel test (more accurately known as the Bechdel-Wallace test) and has gone on to criminally overshadow the rest of Bechdel's work and remains controversial today. The Bechdel test has spawned a movement in various online forums, many of which have radically misunderstood its meaning. There are a few different sites that report upon new releases' passes and failures and endless discussion of exactly what passes the very low bar. Many proclaim it a simple and effective way of judging the representation of women in film while others think it wildly oversimplifies an extremely complex issue. Some are furious that the discussion is being had at all and others think that mandatory Bechdel tests reported on movie posters would fix the medium. A fairly common response to the Bechdel test is to try to devise a successor that will accomplish the same goal more successfully. One such attempt is the Mako Mori test. Guillermo del Toro's 2013 giant robot vs giant monster epic Pacific Rim was well-received but didn't get a ton of praise for its characters. Though a bit arch and trope-heavy, the primary cast of the film all perform admirably and establish themselves instantly as both identifiable and likable. Rinko Kikuchi stars as Mako Mori, a skilled technician and ambitious fighter who seeks to join the Kaiju-fighting Ranger unit. Mako's parents were tragically killed by a Kaiju attack when she was young, leaving her to be adopted by the Jaeger pilot that saved her life, Stacker Pentecost. Mako trained for decades to battle the giant beasts that took her family from her and eventually mastered the drift to co-pilot Gypsy Danger. Mako led the assault to bomb the Rift, avenged her bloodline upon the monsters, and became a hero through her own skill and determination. She's a solid character and fans loved her immediately, so some decided she's a great candidate to compare other characters to. The Mako Mori test was devised by Tumblr user Chalia in November 2014 as a deliberate replacement or addition to the Bechdel test. Evidently, some fans proclaimed Pacific Rim fell short of the Bechdel test and that anyone that lived by its rule should boycott the film. Chalia, incensed by the accusation, put forth Mako as an example of an ideal feminist character and the new standard by which the concept could be measured. With that in mind, the Mako Mori test requires that a work feature at least one woman with her own narrative arc that isn't devoted to supporting the arc of a man. Chalia doesn't proclaim this as the end-all and be-all, just as Bechdel never actually recommended anyone live by the Bechdel test. Both creators proclaim their work as incomplete, but in both cases, the internet took the idea and ran with it. The only significant problem with the Mako Mori test is that it's an extremely low bar. Granted, tons of works still eagerly military crawl beneath it, but it's still a small request. Demanding at least one woman have a self-supported narrative arc is also the basic standard for the existence of a meaningful character. Essentially, the test demands at least one woman who actually is a character in the narrative. Passing the Mako Mori test is an extremely low standard and says very little about a work of fiction. Conversely, failing the test would likely condemn a work's writing overall. There are almost certainly decent texts that fail the Mako Mori test, probably by solely centering on a small group of men. The Mako Mori test is a useful metric for cinema at large, but it also fails to really answer the question it's asking. The purpose of the Mako Mori test, like the Bechdel test before it, is to establish a minimum standard to judge the representation of women in media. It's more useful when applied to film as a medium than it is to apply to individual films. Representation matters and determining the quantity and quality of representation are much harder than a simple checklist. Mako Mori is more than just a bare minimum standard and creators have more to learn from them than basic character writing. MORE: Star Trek Discovery’s Non-Binary Character Is Essential Representation-Cropped.jpg)
Friday, September 9, 2022
The Mako Mori Test Explained
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