Counting Torchwood, season 2
Mar. 27th, 2009 02:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethI am counting speaking characters: male or female, white or of color, and did they get dead (although the Dead count got complicated when I started counting corpses that never spoke first). Also Bechdel pass/fail.
My count is likely imperfect. I can only count what I see.
2-01 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
13 speaking characters
4 women
2 people of color
2 dead characters
one on screen death, white male
one dead before we see her, black female
Bechdel fail: no conversation between two women.
2-02 Sleeper
19 speaking characters, plus 2 silent cell 114 and probably 6 soldiers
8 women, plus one silent cell 114
2 people of color
6 dead speaking characters, plus 2 silent cell 114, probably 6 soldiers,
and possibly a baby dying just off screen
(which I think is the most outside the mass deaths in season finales)
2 dead speaking women, 1 dead silent woman
1 dead person of color
soldiers I just saw the uniforms and helmets.
Bechdel: pass. Gwen and Beth talk about being human and cryo.
2-03 To The Last Man
12 speaking characters
4 women
2 characters of color
no dead people killed on screen
Bechdel: Fail. No conversation between two women.
2-04 Meat
14 speaking characters
3 women
1 character of color
no dead people
Bechdel: Fail. No conversation between two women.
2-05 Adam
11 speaking characters + 2 speaking younger versions
3 women
2 people of color
Dead people: 3 non speaking dead women (couldn't see clearly, but Ianto claimed 3)
also Adam is... erased is more accurate than dead, but, 1 white male.
quite a lot of dead sand colored people on Boeshane flashbacks. I'd have to freeze and count.
Also Jack's Father (white male) was very dead.
Bechdel fail: No moment where two women talk.
2-06 Reset
13 speaking characters plus confusing uncountable guards
5 speaking women plus one probably female voice
3 people of color plus one invisible voice
Dead people:
3 deaths seen on screen, though one we know wears off later
2 white males and one white woman
2 non speaking deaths: 2 white male corpses
and Elin Morgan who was treated with Reset and ignored, though logically she would die too.
Bechdel: Pass! Martha and Gwen first talk about Jack, but later talk about the case. "Who would kill a student?" "Student loans company."
2-07 Dead Man Walking
14 speaking characters
8 women (!)
3 people of color.
Dead people:
1 speaking character dies, a white woman
Gwen gets reports of 12 dead, though you have to wonder how they're counting. But we mostly don't see them.
Bechdel: Fail.
We have one conversation between not two but three whole women, Gwen, Tosh, and Martha.
It's about Owen.
And not just Owen being a zombie monster, but it starts about Tosh stalking Owen to find out what he thought about her saying she loves him.
2-08 Day in the Death
11 speaking characters, probably.
I think the voice of Farrington on the radio is the same as the guy Owen meets on the stairs.
4 women
3 people of color.
Bechdel: Fail. No conversation between two women.
It stays tight with Owen's pov throughout.
2-09 Something Borrowed
17 speaking characters plus 2 Nostrovites, who speak but can't be classified cause they're shapeshifters.
8 women + 1 Nostrovite described as mother
4 people of color (though I was particularly fail in this with looking carefully and wondering if someone was 'of color' or 'has a tan' - double check my count?)
Bechdel: Pass early and repeatedly. Gwen's friends talk about Gwen, Gwen talks with her mother, lots of women talking.
as an aside I wonder about the gender balance and Bechdel pass rate in soaps, cause I know PF wrote for Coronation Street and I wonder if that influences his style. /tangent
2-10 Out Of The Rain
18 speaking characters
10 women
1 person of color
9 dead characters, or 7 dead humans and two erased film people
6 women
Bechdel: Fail. No point where two women talk to each other.
2-11 Adrift
14 speaking characters
5 women and a feminine voice
3 or 4 people of color - there's a bit where a black guy and a white guy are buying tea, but I don't know which one is speaking.
Dead people: None.
Bechdel: Pass.
Tosh and Gwen talk about the Rift, and work together, several times.
I think this is the only time in two seasons this happens.
There's two other conversations, but they're both about Owen.
2-12 Fragments
20 speaking characters, 4ish UNIT soldiers at least one speaking, and a voice from the ceiling
9 women plus the ceiling voice
4 people of color
Dead people:
3 speaking that we see, 1 white woman, 1 black man, 1 white man
3 corpses on the floor at Torchwood 1999, 2 white men and 1 white woman
Bechdel: Pass. Toshiko and the lady who kidnapped her mother talk about technology for a couple of sentences.
2-13 Exit Wounds
13 speaking characters plus a spooky voice
5 women
4 people of color (probably, I'm guessing about Nira under the red lights)
Dead people:
2 speaking characters, 1 white male and 1 asian woman.
and 3 spooky robes
lots of blood spatter and corpses at the police place
Gray is in cryo, which isn't the same as dead, cause he'll wake up like Tommy.
Bechdel: Fail
No scene with just two women talking.
And we're done for the first two seasons.
Season 2 had way more Bechdel fail than season 1.
I am aware that if I count two women talking in a team scene then there's more pass, but with the team around they're not precisely talking to each other. If there's no scenes where women talk to each other without men around then there's a weird effect where women only exist when observed by men, and I wanted to count that. The times it fails because they're talking about a bloke make it 'observed by or observing'. The times it passes tend to be very, very brief. Which adds up to irritating.
And, also, explains why it's difficult to get femslash subtext going. I mean, if women never get scenes together, we have to do all the work in the fic with no handy tensions, sexual or otherwise. And, looking at the percentages of female characters, we have quite a lot less to work with than the boyslash does.
*sigh*
My count is likely imperfect. I can only count what I see.
2-01 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
13 speaking characters
4 women
2 people of color
2 dead characters
one on screen death, white male
one dead before we see her, black female
Bechdel fail: no conversation between two women.
2-02 Sleeper
19 speaking characters, plus 2 silent cell 114 and probably 6 soldiers
8 women, plus one silent cell 114
2 people of color
6 dead speaking characters, plus 2 silent cell 114, probably 6 soldiers,
and possibly a baby dying just off screen
(which I think is the most outside the mass deaths in season finales)
2 dead speaking women, 1 dead silent woman
1 dead person of color
soldiers I just saw the uniforms and helmets.
Bechdel: pass. Gwen and Beth talk about being human and cryo.
2-03 To The Last Man
12 speaking characters
4 women
2 characters of color
no dead people killed on screen
Bechdel: Fail. No conversation between two women.
2-04 Meat
14 speaking characters
3 women
1 character of color
no dead people
Bechdel: Fail. No conversation between two women.
2-05 Adam
11 speaking characters + 2 speaking younger versions
3 women
2 people of color
Dead people: 3 non speaking dead women (couldn't see clearly, but Ianto claimed 3)
also Adam is... erased is more accurate than dead, but, 1 white male.
quite a lot of dead sand colored people on Boeshane flashbacks. I'd have to freeze and count.
Also Jack's Father (white male) was very dead.
Bechdel fail: No moment where two women talk.
2-06 Reset
13 speaking characters plus confusing uncountable guards
5 speaking women plus one probably female voice
3 people of color plus one invisible voice
Dead people:
3 deaths seen on screen, though one we know wears off later
2 white males and one white woman
2 non speaking deaths: 2 white male corpses
and Elin Morgan who was treated with Reset and ignored, though logically she would die too.
Bechdel: Pass! Martha and Gwen first talk about Jack, but later talk about the case. "Who would kill a student?" "Student loans company."
2-07 Dead Man Walking
14 speaking characters
8 women (!)
3 people of color.
Dead people:
1 speaking character dies, a white woman
Gwen gets reports of 12 dead, though you have to wonder how they're counting. But we mostly don't see them.
Bechdel: Fail.
We have one conversation between not two but three whole women, Gwen, Tosh, and Martha.
It's about Owen.
And not just Owen being a zombie monster, but it starts about Tosh stalking Owen to find out what he thought about her saying she loves him.
2-08 Day in the Death
11 speaking characters, probably.
I think the voice of Farrington on the radio is the same as the guy Owen meets on the stairs.
4 women
3 people of color.
Bechdel: Fail. No conversation between two women.
It stays tight with Owen's pov throughout.
2-09 Something Borrowed
17 speaking characters plus 2 Nostrovites, who speak but can't be classified cause they're shapeshifters.
8 women + 1 Nostrovite described as mother
4 people of color (though I was particularly fail in this with looking carefully and wondering if someone was 'of color' or 'has a tan' - double check my count?)
Bechdel: Pass early and repeatedly. Gwen's friends talk about Gwen, Gwen talks with her mother, lots of women talking.
as an aside I wonder about the gender balance and Bechdel pass rate in soaps, cause I know PF wrote for Coronation Street and I wonder if that influences his style. /tangent
2-10 Out Of The Rain
18 speaking characters
10 women
1 person of color
9 dead characters, or 7 dead humans and two erased film people
6 women
Bechdel: Fail. No point where two women talk to each other.
2-11 Adrift
14 speaking characters
5 women and a feminine voice
3 or 4 people of color - there's a bit where a black guy and a white guy are buying tea, but I don't know which one is speaking.
Dead people: None.
Bechdel: Pass.
Tosh and Gwen talk about the Rift, and work together, several times.
I think this is the only time in two seasons this happens.
There's two other conversations, but they're both about Owen.
2-12 Fragments
20 speaking characters, 4ish UNIT soldiers at least one speaking, and a voice from the ceiling
9 women plus the ceiling voice
4 people of color
Dead people:
3 speaking that we see, 1 white woman, 1 black man, 1 white man
3 corpses on the floor at Torchwood 1999, 2 white men and 1 white woman
Bechdel: Pass. Toshiko and the lady who kidnapped her mother talk about technology for a couple of sentences.
2-13 Exit Wounds
13 speaking characters plus a spooky voice
5 women
4 people of color (probably, I'm guessing about Nira under the red lights)
Dead people:
2 speaking characters, 1 white male and 1 asian woman.
and 3 spooky robes
lots of blood spatter and corpses at the police place
Gray is in cryo, which isn't the same as dead, cause he'll wake up like Tommy.
Bechdel: Fail
No scene with just two women talking.
And we're done for the first two seasons.
Season 2 had way more Bechdel fail than season 1.
I am aware that if I count two women talking in a team scene then there's more pass, but with the team around they're not precisely talking to each other. If there's no scenes where women talk to each other without men around then there's a weird effect where women only exist when observed by men, and I wanted to count that. The times it fails because they're talking about a bloke make it 'observed by or observing'. The times it passes tend to be very, very brief. Which adds up to irritating.
And, also, explains why it's difficult to get femslash subtext going. I mean, if women never get scenes together, we have to do all the work in the fic with no handy tensions, sexual or otherwise. And, looking at the percentages of female characters, we have quite a lot less to work with than the boyslash does.
*sigh*