By Sarah McMillin, Asst. Living and Arts Editor
The Bechdel-Wallace Film Series kicked off its first installment of the fall semester with a showing and gender-oriented discussion of “The Devil Wears Prada” on Oct. 2 in the Blough-Weis Library.
The series was started last semester by librarian Alexandrea Glenn and seeks to raise awareness of how women are represented in fiction, specifically movies. The series also aims to show a few movies a semester and discuss how they portray women and how they pass the Bechdel-Wallace test.
The Bechdel-Wallace test is a simple way to see if stories (including books, movies, television shows, etc.) promote gender equality. In order to pass the test, the piece of fiction must pass three criteria: it must have two named female characters, who talk to each other about something other than a man.
The website, bechdeltest.com, compiles a database of movies and tests if they pass the test. Of the 8,076 movies in the database, 57.6 percent of movies pass all three criteria required of the test.
At Susquehanna, each part of the film series seeks to look at the issue of gender equality through different lenses. For the first movie of the semester, the lens was women in business.
In “The Devil Wears Prada,” Anne Hathaway plays a fashion-less, sensible new graduate who lands a job working as an assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), who is a very challenging and demanding editor-in-chief of a high fashion magazine. The movie follows Hathaway’s character as she learns how to thrive in her high-stress workplace and in her own life.
Following the showing of the movie, associate professor of management Emma Fleck led a discussion about how the movie passed the Bechdel- Wallace test and how it represented women in business, specifically the fashion industry.
“I wanted something with a business spin on it,” Fleck said. “We have a major in luxury brand marketing in the business school so I thought [“The Devil Wears Prada”] was the perfect one.”
Fleck thought that “The Devil Wears Prada” was an especially appropriate movie for this topic, especially when looking at how Hathaway’s character navigates the fashion and business world.
She said, “It’s a lovely way to look at Anne Hathaway’s progression and how she feels she has to emulate this masculine style and this domineering style in order to be successful.”
Fleck also thought it interesting to look at Meryl Streep’s character who portrays a stereotyped way that women are expected to emulate in the work place. This stereotype often ends up with women being portrayed as being harsh, overbearing and masculine.
This topic hits close to home for Fleck, who is a female professor in an area that has traditionally had more males than females in it.
She said, “I have no problem with illuminating my femininity in my position. I don’t see that as a dying side. Even though I’m a business professor, I have never tried to emulate a man or masculine traits in any way.”
Fleck also discussed how every one, not just women, can continue to fight for gender equality within the workplace where it is prevalent, especially in today’s world and society.
The next showing in the series is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m. The screening will be hosted by Glenn and Elisa Perez.