The Mandalorian And Grogu Really Has No Excuse For This Failure

As is the way (pun intended) for Star Wars movies and TV shows, The Mandalorian and Grogu was met with mixed reception. While critics generally highlighted that the movie was fun but argued that the plot ultimately proved underwhelming, the Star Wars fanbase was torn between die hard fans who loved it and angry viewers who felt it failed to live up to what the trailers promised or the overall standard (at least, their standard) for Star Wars movies. None of those responses exactly came as a surprise.

What was slightly more surprising was that The Mandalorian and Grogu failed by a decades-old metric that not only feels like an issue that this franchise should have long outgrown but also contradicts the ethos of some of its leading cast members and the progress the galaxy far, far away had seemed to be making in recent years.

The Mandalorian And Grogu Completely Fails The Bechdel Test

The Bechdel test, created by cartoonist and author Alison Bechdel in 1985, is fairly straightforward. The “test” is used to assess a movie or TV show’s representation of women. If the movie or show has at least two named women who speak to one another about something other than a man, then it passes. That may seem like a pretty low threshold, but a jarring amount of projects fail to meet this measure.

Sadly, and shockingly, The Mandalorian and Grogu finds itself among those ranks. The most prominent woman in the movie is Sigourney Weaver’s character Colonel Ward, who is at least a high ranking official within the New Republic. However, beyond Ward, the only other significant female character in the entire movie’s cast of characters is one of the Hutt villains, who are only referred to as the Twins. This means that The Mandalorian and Grogu doesn’t even come close to passing the Bechdel test.

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Star Wars Has To Do Better

While some in the fanbase will undoubtedly push back on the idea that this issue is a failing of the movie, the truth is, there is absolutely no reason for The Mandalorian and Grogu to fail to include even two named women who speak to each other. Yes, the movie is focused on Din Djarin and Grogu, but that shouldn’t mean that it is almost entirely centered on and full of men. Any number of choices, from the bounty hunter in the flick to the New Republic characters Din interacts with, could have been women.

What’s more, it’s a bit surprising that this glaring omission suggests that those working on and starring in the movie didn’t raise this issue—or, at the very least, they raised the issue only for their concerns to be ignored. No matter which is true, though, what ultimately came about was a movie that has a shockingly uneven balance of men and women on screen.

Given that this is the first new Star Wars movie in almost seven years, this issue with The Mandalorian and Grogu certainly suggests that Star Wars needs to do better. Yes, Star Wars has long included tough women, from Princess Leia to Padmé Amidala and many others. Even so, how is it that with almost 50 years of this franchise, new Star Wars movies are still failing to adequately incorporate women in these stories?

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