A New York magazine podcaster has apologized after landing in hot water for giving the new Hulu film “Fire Island” “an F- on the Bechdel test.”
Starring Joel Kim Booster, Bowen Yang and Margaret Cho, the Andrew Ahn-directed film puts a different spin on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” The film follows a group of gay men spending a week on Fire Island, the queer hotspot off the coast of Long Island, New York.
But Hanna Rosin pointed out what she says “Fire Island” gets wrong. In a now-deleted tweet, the podcaster wrote: “So @hulu #FireIslandMovie gets an F- on the Bechdel test in a whole new way. 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?”
I deleted a tweet that many of you rightly pointed out was offensive. I’ve read your responses and I hear you. My tweet was careless and thoughtless. Truly. The movie was telling a story about queer AAPI men, whose experiences don’t show up enough in movies or anywhere else 1/3 pic.twitter.com/FEI0sDqXJe
— Hanna Rosin (@HannaRosin) June 7, 2022
Created by and named after the cartoonist Alison Bechdel, the test measures “how well women are represented in cinema – it requires that at least two named female characters have conversations with one another about something besides men,” as explained by Filmmaking Lifestyle.
Twitter users, including Cho, called Rosin out on her criticism:
I didn’t realize I was drab.
I don’t identify as drab.
Bitch I’m fab! ❤️ https://t.co/p8aBdmZywq— Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) June 7, 2022
you don’t have to tweet everything you think. you can instead think about the ways in which you center yourself in situations because you feel entitlement and examine how you can become a better person.
— esther tseng 鄭怜欣 (@estarLA) June 7, 2022
“How come this film about Asian gay men (a group never centered in a mainstream movie before) is not also about MEEEE?!?”
— Emily ✨ ABOLISH POLICE 🖤✨ (@emilyrm) June 6, 2022
This goes so far beyond bad and deeply out of touch that it spirals into cruelty and racism. This is the worst thing I’ve read on here today, and on a day when people are retweeting Matt Walsh all day long, that speaks volumes.
— Simon Curtis (@simoncurtis) June 7, 2022
I think it’s pretty cool that there’s finally a movie centering gay Asian men and their experiences. Maybe that should be the takeaway?
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️⚧️🇺🇦 (@cmclymer) June 7, 2022
Meanwhile, the creator of the Bechdel test herself approved of the structure of “Fire Island” in a tweet on Tuesday:
Okay, I just added a corollary to the Bechdel test: Two men talking to each other about the female protagonist of an Alice Munro story in a screenplay structured on a Jane Austen novel = pass. #FireIsland #BechdelTest
— Alison Bechdel (@AlisonBechdel) June 8, 2022
Rosin has since deleted and apologized for the tweet:
The last thing I want to do is pit members of my community against each other. I sincerely apologize to those who were hurt by my words.
— Hanna Rosin (@HannaRosin) June 7, 2022
“Fire Island” is now streaming on Hulu.
Featured Image via Hulu
