u/L8dTigress

There's no doubt that many of these female characters get the hate they do because they're women, and if they were male, people would defend them to death. Even if Charlie's actions were questionable in Season 2 of Hazbin Hotel, many people were starting to actually like Valentino in Season 2 over Charlie. FYI, people, Valentino is a rapist and an abuser!

Others are called useless or even called out for not being perfect, and even if they are redeemed, well-layered, well-written, or provide good use to the story, they're still hated on.

Now, many of us have heard of the Bechdel Test before. You know the test made by Allison Bechdel in her weekly comic, "Dykes to Watch Out For," where

• Two female characters who must have names
• They talk to each other
• They don't talk about a man or relationships.

While it is an indication of how female characters can be relatable, on the other hand, it doesn't always mean the film is feminist because, from time to time, the female characters could be talking about things such as old-fashioned gender roles, or be Southern Belles in the 1850s talking about extremely racist things related to slavery.

My personal favorite is Kelly Sue DeConnick's Sexy Lamp Test, which gives female characters more agency. Here's how the test goes.

• Can you replace a female character with an object like a sexy lamp? (A la the leg Lamp from A Christmas Story)
• Does the plot still function?

And the ending answer must be no, then you need to rewrite to make them essential to the plot. Sadly, this means two of my favorite movies don't pass the test: The Princess Bride and Toy Story 1. In The Princess Bride, Buttercup mostly does nothing but be Westley's motivation for coming back home and defeating Humperdinck. And in Toy Story, while Andy's Mom is important to the plot since she bought Andy Buzz in the first place, the gift could've been from another kid, and for the most part, another female character, Bo Peep, is literally just a doll on a lamp meant for Woody.

Compared to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, where Eowyn was critical to defeating the Witch King. Or in Legally Blonde, where even if Elle didn't talk to Vivian, she was super important in proving Brooke Windham's innocence during the trial due to her knowledge of fashion and hair care.

This has also led to my favorite subdivisions of the test called the Sexy Lamp Test with a Post-it Note. And the Flesh light with a Post-it Note test. It's the same principle as the Sexy Lamp test, except the lamp comes with a Post-it note on it. In other words, your female character is only there to provide information or provide information and be a sex related pit stop. For example, Padme from Revenge of the Sith got reduced from an important political leader to barefoot and pregnant and then died. You could literally replace her with a sexy lamp with a fetus drawn on a Post-it note, and the plot would still be the same.

Meanwhile, the Mako Mori Test is a close second for me.

• A female character is in your media
• Has her own arc and agency
• Isn't about supporting a man's story.

Because it can reveal how well-written and layered a female character can be. For example, Jessie in Toy Story 2 has her own arc during the When She Loved Me sequence, diving into her fears of being forgotten and boxed up or being abandoned. So she originally wanted to go to the museum in Japan, so she wouldn't go through being loved and abandoned and forgotten again. That's what makes her so well-written as a character.

And another one of mine is The Ellen Willis Test. Meaning, could the plot work if the genders of the characters were flipped so the characters were written as individuals, not relying on gender as a main factor of how they are written? And this works for the movie "12 Angry Men." Because even today, there are adaptations of it that feature a mixed gender cast in plays retitled 12 Angry Jurors.