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Bum-badabum-badadadadabum-dead GIRLFRIENDS!

May 29, 2020

Imagine, for a moment, that you are an NBC executive in 1969.

Your network is airing such classics as Star TrekI Dream of Jeannie, and Dragnet. A time-traveler asks you, "which of your prime-time shows do you think will be the most popular in future airings?"

You presumably take a puff of your cigarette before confidently replying, "Bonanza."

The time-traveler laughs and says, "Why not Star Trek?"

Now you laugh. "That childish stuff? No way. Bonanza's got 3 Emmys. Its endorsement deals sell all the color televisions and Chevrolet cars in this country. It's really popular in the European market. Plus it's even been in the Nielsen top 5 for 9 seasons straight. No other show has done that! Bonanza is definitely our best long-term investment."

And scene.

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Common Measures of Fictional Female Agency (FFA)

April 25, 2020

We use 3 basic tests to determine whether our subjects have any FFA.

1. The Bechdel Test

Created by cartoonist Allison Bechdel in 1985, the Bechdel Test requires that a film:

  1. has to have at least two women in it,
  2. who talk to each other,
  3. about something other than a man.

Examples are evaluated and tracked on http://bechdeltest.com/.

2. The Mako Mori Test

Named for the main female character in the 2013 movie Pacific Rim, the Mako Mori Test was created by a Tumblr user as an expansion of the Bechdel Test. To pass the Mako Mori, a film must:

  1. have at least one female character, who
  2. has an independent plot arc, and
  3. the character and/or her arc do not simply exist to support a male character's plot arc.

3. The Sexy Lamp Test

Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick invented this test as a tip for writers: “If you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.” In other words, characters should not be plot devices based on stereotypes about how women work. This is quite possibly the hardest test to pass, because of the prevalence of storytelling tropes such as the Love Triangle (with a woman as the prize), as well as stock characters like the "Mama Bear," the "Damsel in Distress," and the "Hooker with a Heart of Gold."


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Dead Girlfriends in the Time of COVID-19: Part 3

April 10, 2020

Welcome back, my friends, to my ongoing miniseries that answers the not-at-all-burning question, "Have any of our contestants in the DFGRR lost a girlfriend to an epidemic?" (Answer so far: strictly speaking, no - but we're having fun researching!) Having dealt with Joe Cartwright of Bonanza and Captain Kirk of Star Trek in our previous entries, we turn now to Sam Winchester of Supernatural

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Dead Girlfriends in the Time of COVID-19: Part 2

March 30, 2020

Dear Readers, I sure hope you're all staying safe out there. In this crisis, I'm continuing to attempt to answer the question absolutely no one has asked, "Do any DFGRR contestants lose girlfriends to epidemics or pandemics?" Moving chronologically through our contestant franchises, next up is Star Trek.

Today I'd like to educate you about Odonna, a lovely woman whom Captain Kirk encountered under mysterious circumstances in January 1969.

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Dead Girlfriends in the Time of COVID-19: Part 1

March 25, 2020

Greetings from a statewide lockdown! Like many humans are nowadays, I am practicing social distancing. All 3 of my real jobs have moved online, which is fine by me because it cut out the 3 hours per day I was spending on my commute. This, in turn, gives me more time to do other fun things, like check on my elderly neighbors and sew splash-guard masks for my local hospital.

During this time of great chaos and change, absolutely no one has asked me "Did any of your subjects ever lose a girlfriend to an epidemic, and if so, what were the circumstances?"

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Captain's Log: All My Girlfriends Are Dead

March 16, 2020

Welcome back to your favorite feminist-critique blog about macho franchises. Last post, we discussed the presence of women in the world of original-series Star Trek, both on- and off-screen. Now, we shall turn our attention to the specific subset of those women who romance Captain Kirk, and/or die trying.

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About

Male protagonists of long-running franchises tend to be unlucky in love, by which I mean their girlfriends tend to die. The Dead Fictional Girlfriends Research Report tracks and analyzes this phenomenon - its causes, its prevalence, and its implications for the world of entertainment (and beyond).

Ongoing Features