Native Bechdel Test: Brilliant!

Okay, first off, for those who don't know, the Bechdel Test is a test, thought up by Alison Bechdel in the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. In it, one character comes up with their criteria for watching a movie: 1. It must have two or more female characters, 2. who have at least one conversation, 3. about something other than a man or men. While not the end-all-be-all of strong female character litmus tests, it is a good way of ensuring that your women characters are independent and well-represented.

Now then, on to the focus of this blog post. I was on the website Tumblr recently and I came across this post by a user called wolfpangs, who's come up with that they refer to as the "NDN Bechdel Test". It goes like this: "1. Is there an NDN (Native American) in this work of fiction? 2. Is this set in the 20th or 21st century? 3. Is the NDN character just a regular person livin' life (as opposed to serving the protagonist as a spiritual advisor)?"

I gotta say, I loved it immediately. There could probably be a couple changes (like if there is no Native character), but other than that, I think this might be a great idea to ending common cliches when it comes to depiction of Native Americans.

If you've read my blog you've probably noticed my review of "People of the Longhouse" by the Gear family, where I praise them for their (violently) accurate depiction of Native tribal life. I have also written short stories about the Native character Ritchie Metoxen, whose main focus in life is to be a hockey player.

Now, like the original Bechdel Test, this is likely not the end-all-be-all of depictions of Native Americans. But, it's a great start. If you look at a lot of depictions of Native characters (outside of Native-produced media) they usually fall under the "mystical" Indian or "noble savage". Think Pocahontas.

I hate those depictions.

In their attempts to positively portray Native Americans, writers end up perpetrating another stereotype. If you're going to positively portray a Native character, do like I did and just show them to be a normal, every day average Joe more worried about their grades than whether or not their spirit advisee is succeeding.

So, props to wolfpangs for coming up with this idea. I think more authors and scriptwriters should take this into account when writing Native characters--or any other ethnic character, too! The best way to write any character is just to show them living life as we all do! What's so hard about that?