There are roughly 400 movies that come out every year. This tweet was quickly ratio’d, attracting criticisms from multiple angles: The condescending undertones of describing Joel Kim Booster and Bowen Yang as “cute gay Asian boys,” the dubious framing of Margaret Cho as “drab,” and (of course!) the validity of judging this film using the Bechdel Test in the first place. “Do we just ignore the drab lesbian stereotypes bc cute gay Asian boys? Is this revenge for all those years of the gay boy best friend?” “So #FireIslandMovie gets an F- on the Bechdel test in a whole new way,” she wrote.
We begin with a now-deleted tweet from New York magazine podcast director Hanna Rosin, who critiqued the film for its lack of female characters. But alongside all the praise, it also inspired a legendarily controversial hot take this week on Twitter, kicking off a fresh round of discourse about the Bechdel Test. Earning largely positive reviews, the new Hulu romcom Fire Island offers a queer Asian-American twist on the classic tale of Pride and Prejudice.
