If you watched last year’s Oscars, you’ll know that Seth
MacFarlane earned a rather harsh reputation for his treatment of women. His song “We Saw Your Boobs” earned the
ire of actresses such as Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Fonda, and Geena Davis for his
disrespectful treatment of women.
I tended to side with the actresses in that regard-this sort of juvenile
humor may attract ratings, but it takes away from the celebration of artistry,
and for all those people who say “he was just kidding” and “take a joke,” I say
I can (clearly, I own American Dad DVD’s,
so I’m not completely against MacFarlane), but shouldn’t the Oscars be able to
do better than sexist jokes about women?
I will say I was definitely relieved that MacFarlane would not be taking
on next year’s ceremony.
So I thought taking on one of his shows was a great
installment for our series. It’s
worth noting that this is not a full season, it’s a “Volume” (for some reason
MacFarlane puts his series in volumes as if they are a Disney Channel show
rather than the customary one season per purchase (he makes considerably more
money this way, I’m assuming, since you have to buy multiple DVD’s to own a
full season).
I am aware that MacFarlane’s flagship series, Family Guy, would probably be a more
appropriate place to start, especially if we’re making a direct comparison to The Simpsons, but I don’t own it and
haven’t had the opportunity to rent any of the DVD’s. American Dad,
though, has a fairly similar format. This series also has six principle characters, with two of
them also being women (Francine and Hayley). So, again, theoretically we should have a greater percentage
of passes considering that Francine and Hayley (whose storylines oftentimes
revolve around feminist or socially-conscious issues) are in nearly every episode, but let’s find out!
As a reminder, these are the criteria for passing the Bechdel
Test:
- The show needs to have two named female characters.
- The two characters need to talk to each other.
- The conversation needs to last thirty seconds and be about something other than a man. This thirty second rule is something that has been added specifically at the Many Rantings of John to ensure that a simple “hello”/”hello back” conversation doesn’t get a show an accidental pass.
Phantom of the
Telethon (#5.7)
For our first installment, Hayley and Francine both show up,
but they barely share a scene (and are discussing Stan or Roger when they
are). So this is a big FAIL.
Chimdale (#5.8)
Another FAIL,
though taking a step in the right direction, Hayley and Francine at least talk
to each other, but never for longer than thirty seconds. I would feel a little bit bad about this
(cartoon characters typically have shorter conversations than their live action
counterparts), but Roger, Stan, and Steve regularly pass the reverse-Bechdel in
the episode, so I don’t feel awful.
Stan Time (#5.9)
We got closer this time than the last two, with two women
having a conversation with each other about something technically other than a
man, though it is a FAIL as only one
is named during the show (online I checked and the other one has a name, but as
it’s not in the confines of the episode or the aired episodes' canon of the
series, so I’m not counting it).
This is probably for the best, as the women are essentially talking
cheap porn movie dialogue and sleazy double entendres, so it wouldn’t really be
in the spirit of the Bechdel Test even if it had passed.
Family Affair (#5.10)
Once again, we have a FAIL,
with only a 10-second exchange between Hayley and Francine in this episode that
centers around Roger. I’m starting
to think this may be our first season that doesn’t have any Bechdel passes…
Live and Let Fry
(#5.11)
Francine has a secondary role throughout this episode, which
is prominently focusing on Stan and Steve, so yet another FAIL, with Linda and Christy getting extremely brief appearances in
the episode.
Roy Rogers McFreely
(#5.12)
Francine and Hayley both try to convince Stan to be nicer to
Roger in this episode, but it’s about Roger so we get a failure. Linda is a member of the homeowners’
association, but she’s the only woman on it so we don’t get a Bechdel from her
either.
Jack’s Back (#5.13)
In an episode that focuses on three generations of Smith
men, there’s little room for the ladies, so we get another FAIL.
Bar Mitzvah Hustle
(#5.14)
Debbie, Steve’s Goth girlfriend, gets a prominent role in
this episode, and I like the way that she breaks up the series of interchangeable
beautiful cheerleader types the geeky guy usually pursues, but she never
actually talks to another woman, so it’s a FAIL.
Wife Insurance
(#5.15)
We do get a mild hit on the Bechdel Test here, with Meg (the
family dentist and Stan’s backup wife) and Francine discussing dentistry, but
it clocks in at only six seconds, so we get another FAIL.
Delorean Story-An
(#5.16)
So far this was the closest one of the bunch, as Stan and
Steve are out of the house and initially Hayley, Francine, and Roger seemed to be
going on an adventure together, but in the end the women interact with Roger,
not with each other, so another FAIL.
Every Which Way But
Lose (#5.17)
For the first time in our run, we have a Bechdel Test PASS! The show has Hayley and Francine discussing Francine’s
longtime pie-baking feud with a woman she’s never met named Carlotta (who turns out to be Hayley under a pseudonym), giving us our first absolute pass.
Weiner of Our
Discontent (#5.18)
A week after we get our first pass, apparently there is no
sign of a streak, as the episode features almost exclusively Stan and Roger (Hayley
and Francine do have a scene together, but that’s about it, and Francine only
discusses Stan and Roger in the episode). FAIL
Daddy Queerest
(#5.19)
Once again, the show comes up with a FAIL, this time with Hayley and Francine sharing almost no screen
time, with Hayley discussing Steve’s drinking habits with Roger and Francine
pretending to be Terry’s girlfriend.
Stan’s Night Out
(#5.20)
In the only episode of the series where Steve doesn’t
appear, you’d think that this would be a shoo-in, as the women nearly outnumber
the men, but Francine is largely relegated to the background as Stan goes out
with the boys (and meets with some prostitutes, who do not talk to each other
enough to hit a Bechdel Test, though at least one gets a name that I can’t
recall right now-if they’d have passed, I would have looked it up). Roger is dressed as a woman for
most of the episodes, but is still Roger so I can’t count it, and so we close
with a FAIL.
Final Scorecard
Bechdel Test: 1/14
(7%)
Bechdel Grade: F
Even though I knew going into this season that I was
probably going to have a superbly low score, in the end I’m still a bit stunned
that only one episode passed the test (and for the record, almost every episode
passed the reverse Bechdel). I
know that a man is the title character, but Francine and Hayley appear in
almost every episode of the series (possibly every episode of this
season)-shouldn’t that inherently make them pass? I’m not going to get on too high of a soapbox about
MacFarlane, but I do think it’s interesting how relatively minor his female
side characters are in comparison to his male side characters. I know this is significantly modeled after The Simpsons (Marge doesn’t enjoy the
bond with a fellow woman that Homer does with Lenny, Carl, Barney, and Moe, not to mention Ned Flanders),
but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a rich tapestry of female supporting
characters on the show. With both American Dad and Family Guy, there are a rich tapestry of supporting male characters
(everyone from Director Bullock to Quagmire, Joe, and Cleveland to Greg and
Terry), but there’s an incredible dearth of significant female supporting
players in the series. Honestly,
in both shows the only side female characters that appears as frequently as
Edna, Agnes, LuAnn, Sherri/Terri, Ms. Hoover, and Lindsey Nagel are Bonnie
Swanson, who is a pretty regular character, and Diane/Joyce (depending on the
season) who appear on the news and almost always play second banana to Tom
Tucker. So the next time fan boys
rush to defend MacFarlane, I think they should wonder exactly how much
credibility he’s built up on women’s issues to be making the sorts of cuts that
he does.
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