Blog #2 - Hardball - Nick Lodolo

Nick Lodolo

Blog #2

The representation test, also known as the Bechdel Test, is the test I used to grade the movie Hardball.  After filling out the requirements for the test, I concluded that the movie earned a B and a total score of ten points. A majority of the points were scored under the category Women. One of the main characters is a Woman who teaches the underprivileged children. She works very hard on making sure the boys are not only safe but also progressing in the classroom and developing good morals. She knows that where these boys come from is not the best place, so she feels she can have a positive impact on them. She met with their baseball coach, and a mom of one of the boys, every week to give them a report on how the students were doing in the classroom. This shows in the category Women, that the protagonist can be a Woman and that she is more than “objects for the male gaze.” Although throughout the movie the she and the coach build a relationship, it’s not based on just her looks. Coach and the boys realize what she is about, and how much she cares about them, acting like their second mother. 

The next category in which Hardball received points in was Men. Men in this movie really only feature two main characters. Although the boys would fall under the men category, we don’t look at them as having men-like qualities. The film does avoid glorifying violent men. One of the boys on his way home was attacked in front of his apartment building. The men weren’t glorified for doing this, but were actually made to look really bad. The boys do live in a very rough neighborhood where activity like this isn’t anything new. There was a scene in the movie when coach was walking a boy all the way back to his apartment. He could see everyone sitting on the floor. He asked the boy why everyone was sitting on the floor, and without hesitation the boy responded, “Bullets.” The coach then realized that this neighborhood was no joke, and these boys lived in fear every day.   

I feel the way the movies are graded through the Bechdel Test, is a fair assessment due to the test sticking to its rules. Every movie goes through the same test and is based off of the same rubric. I like this test, because it grades to show if the movie has diversity or equal power between Men and Women. One thing I would change would be, “Is the protagonist a woman over the age of 45”. I would change this because its only asking on Women and I believe it should ask about Men too. In most movies we see Men being much older than Women, but through this test I don’t believe that should be a grading aspect. Overall, the Bechdel Test shows a good way of evaluating equality, and through this I will look for this in movies more often.