The Bechdel Test And The Duvernay Test, White Men And...

As evidenced by the poignancy of the Bechdel Test and the DuVernay Test, white men and their stories dominate film. The problem, of course, that arises from such a whitewashed male perspective is that the valid and worthwhile stories of other groups of people are pushed aside, often as a means of plot progression for white male protagonists. Add mental illness to the mix. On top of the silenced forced upon marginalized groups simply for not being the most privileged, the people in these groups, when afflicted by mental illness, fall victim to harsh stereotypes that further eliminate the uniqueness of their stories. Of these groups, women are of particular interest because they are not left out of cinema completely, just enough to be exemplars of a group whose voice muted by stereotypes such as that of the crazy girlfriend, the fragile wallflower, and, most importantly for the purposes of this paper, the beautiful tragedy. It is a common plotline in the mental ill woman-concerned medi a to start with a female character noted for her beauty, and often her innocence but not always, who nose dives into mental illness. Most importantly and, more often than not, most differently from mentally ill characters that are white and male, the craze becomes so overwhelming that the female character has to be forcibly silenced in the end, either by death or by being locked away. The same is true for other characters of alternate minority groups, such as Anthony in Dead Presidents, but