Because here at EFIHR we believe in gender equality, and that women are, you know, humans and all that, the Bechdel test comes up every now and again. If you are unaware of it the Bechdel test states that a film may only pass if it has at least two women in it who talk to each other about something besides a man. It seems like a pretty simple thing to pass, but it says something of the state of gender equality in Hollywood film that more films fail the test than pass. You can head over to http://www.bechdeltest.com if you are interested. Anyway, I move that an additional caveat is added to the test, an addendum if you will. The Bechdel test first amendment will henceforth read: The film in question has to have at least two women in it who talk to each other about something besides a man, and it can’t be exactly like The Hunger Games. This will be known as the Hungry Bechdel test. Divergent passes the Bechdel test with ease. Katniss, or whatever the main character is called, is indeed a female, and though she comes close to ballsing it all up when she goes all gross out lovestruck over some good looking guy, let’s call him Gale, she does do a lot of talking about all sorts of other fun things with some other people who also appear to be female. The thing is though, I am not really sure an uplifting call to young women to find and express themselves, and reject the oppressive society within which they were raised, really counts, if you just basically took a film which already exists and replace a fairly brilliant plot thread involving complicated, and often quite confused sets of feelings towards members of the opposite sex, with a straight forward and predictable love story. In fact, I am not sure it counts at all. Divergent does pass the Bechdel test, but it resolutely fails the Hungry Bechdel test. This doesn’t really detract from the fact that it is a pretty entertaining movie and you could do a lot worse than watch it when you are stuck for something that looks good, bumbles along nicely, but is not too heavy. If you enjoyed the Hunger Games then this will certainly keep you going until the next instalment, unfortunately its all the worse for it.