The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test: One Way Trip/Glory Day

An indie coming-of-age film that plays on the themes of disillusionment and injustice, One Way Trip/Glory Day is a tale of how four friends go out on a trip and wind up incarnated and in the hospital when they rescue a woman (Park Eun-Hye who is played by Lee Ji-Yeon) being beaten by her husband.

The Bechdel, Russo, and Race Test

One Way Trip/Glory Day passes the race test but it does not pass the Bechdel or Russo test.

fullsizephoto645807
Ji-Gong (Ryoo Joon-Yeol), Yong-Bi (Ji Soo) and Doo-Man (Kim Hee-Chan) head out to pick up and take out their friend Sang-Woo (Suho) who is determined to join the military.

The entire cast of One Way Trip/Glory Day is Asian and none of the characters ever mention White individuals. As such, there are many instances where non-White individuals talk to each other without mentioning anyone White so the film easily passes the race test. One Way Trip/Glory Day does not, however, pass any other diversity test like the Bechdel or Russo.

fullsizephoto678535
Doo-Man, Ji-Gong,  Sang-Woo and Yong-Bi run and hide from the police after they have defended a woman who was being attacked by her husband.

One Way Trip/Glory Day does not pass the Bechdel test because 1) there are very few women in the film 2) out of the women that are in One Way Trip/Glory Day, only one (i.e., Park Eun-Hye) has a name and 3) because women never talk to each other.

In regards to why One Way Trip/Glory Day does not pass the Russo test, none of the characters in the film are ever identified as being LGBTI.

*The Bechdel test entails three requirements:
1. It has to have at least two (named) women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

*The Vito Russo test entails three requirements:
1. The film contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and/or transgender
2. The character must not be solely or predominately defined by her sexual orientation, gender identity and/or as being intersex
3.The character must be tied into the plot in such a way that her removal would have a significant effect

***The race or people of color (POC) test has three requirements:
1. It has two people of color in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something other than a White person

****Just because a film passes the Bechdel, Russo and race test does not mean that it is not sexist, heterosexist, racist and/or cissexist, etc. The Bechdel, Russo and race test is only a bare minimum qualifier for the representation of LGBTI individuals, women and people of color in film. The failure to pass these tests also does not identify whether the central character was a woman, a person of color or a LGBTQI individual and it does not dictate the quality of the film.