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."

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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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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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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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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February 11, 2020

Welcome back to the Dead Fictional Girlfriends Report, your one-stop shopping for analysis of deceased female love interests. Today we will discuss Contestant #2 for the title of "Protagonist with Most Dead Girlfriends": Captain James Kirk of Star Trek.

If you're at all familiar with the franchise, you're probably already picturing the scantily-clad ladies that it's famous for. Unlike the Bond movies, however, Star Trek had women involved in the show from the very beginning. And Captain Kirk is capable of interacting with women in non-sexual ways, unlike 007, who is never all-business unless he's with a Dame or a Queen. So I'd like to begin by providing some light analysis of Star Trek's life and times, before I delve into Kirk's specific stats. And we can start with...

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