Subjectomega12 - My Ideas Box

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A Diversity Litmus Tests Master Post

For the longest time, there have been countless discussions about what effect forms of popular media have on the collective opinions and attitudes of society. Namely, the role they play in perpetuating limiting and harmful stereotypes regarding gender, sexuality, race, neurodivergance, mental illness and disablity. From these discussions, there have been tools of critique developed by writers, critics and fans in the form of special tests to challenge these norms. Starting with:

The Bechdel test

One of the first and most well known of these litmus tests, The Bechdel Test (also known as the Bechdel-Wallace Test, The Bechdel Rule or the Mo Movie Measure) is a simple three (and later added four) rule test developed by and named after the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel. The test is mainly used to analyse the portrayal of women in media such as film. The rules are as follows:

The story must have two or more female characters

That have names

Who talk to each other

About something besides a man

While the idea was initially conceived in 1985, the test became more widely discussed in the 2000s. Since then a number of variant tests inspired by it have been introduced, such as:

The Mako Mori test

The Mako Mori Test was created by tumblr users @chaila and @spider-xan and named after the supporting character from the 2013 film Pacific Rim. Unlike the Bechdel Test, the Mako Mori Test was designed specifically to address the development of female characters in the narrative. The rules are as follows

The story must have at least one (preferably, non-white) female character

Who gets her own narrative arc

That is not about a supporting mans story

The shukla test

The Shukla test was named after and created by award winning writer, Nikesh Shukla, in a 2013 NewStatesmen.com article. As a response to the lack of ethnic diversity in one half mainstream film, and the often stereotypical and crude portrayals of people of colour in the other half. The rules are as follows:

The story must have two or more main characters who are people of colour

Who talk to each other

Without mentioning their race

The Vito Russo test

The Vito Russo test was developed by the U.S. non-governmental media monitoring organization GLAAD, and named after the organisation’s co-founder and lgbt historian, Vito Russo. The test was created to analyse how LGBTQ characters are included within media such as film. 
In order to pass the Vito Russo test, a piece of media must follow the listed criteria:

The story must contain one or more characters who are openly and/or identifiably LGBT+

Who are not solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity

And who are tied to the plot in such a way that their removal from it would have a significant effect on the narrative

The Aila Test

The Aila Test was created by tumblr user @the-aila-test and named after the character Aila from Rhymes For Young Ghouls. The test was created to exclusively address the portrail of Indigenous/Aboriginal female characters in popular media. To pass the Aila Test, the narrative must meet these requirements:

The story must have an indigenous/aboriginal woman as the main character

Who does not fall in love with a white man

And does not end up raped and/or murdered at any point in the story

The Phyrne Fisher Test

Like the Bechdel and Mako Mori Test, The Phyrne Fisher Test is a test created to analyse the portrayal of women in film. Named after the the titular character of the detective novel series by Australian author Kerry Greenwood. The following rules are:

The story must have at least one female character

Who has a traditionally masculine job,

Does not masculinise herself for the sake of the job,

And is not sexualised in the narrative

The Tauriel Test

Yet another measure of female representation in a canon. This test was named after Tauriel, a female character in The Desolation of Smaug and The Battle of the Five Armies. The criteria:

The story must have a female character

Who has a job/task important to the story

And is successful at it

The oracle test

Named after the DC comics chracter of the same name. The Oracle test was created to cirque the representation of physicaly disabled characters in media (for example, those confined to a wheelchair like the chracter Oracle) the rules:

The story must have at least one disabled character,

Who is not there to be “fixed”,

Whose narrative does not revolve around the disability

And does their job while having a disability, not in spite of it

The MacGyver Test

Inspired by the television series of the same name, this test determines the comparative shallowness and stereotypical nature of most male characters in fiction. The rules:

The story should have a male protagonist

Who solves problems in creative, intelligent and/or non-violent ways

And never resorts to violence, or only uses violence as an absolute last resort.

The Kieren Walker Test

One of the most recent additions to this series of tests, the Kieran Walker Test was created by tumblr user @chokit-pyrus. Named after the protagonist of zombie-drama In The Flesh, by Dominic Mitchell, the test was created specifically for analysing the portrayal of mentally ill and/or neurodivergant characters. As of writing this post, the rules are as follows:

The story must have at least one plot-important character who is canonically mentally ill and/or neurodivergent,

Whose experiences of said mental illness and/or neurodivergance are mostly if not fully accurate to those of real life,

Who is not demonised by the narrative

And who doesn’t get an unhappy ending or die in the end.

So answer is yes we do want an Indian Cinderella next

Writer problem no.1: Don’t use the word “said,” 5498 times.

Writer problem no.2: Also don’t sound like a walking thesaurus.

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