Bechdel and the City

Triggered by a listener's email to the "Mark Kermode Show" who suggested that one should be a little less harsh on "Sex and the City 2" on the grounds of it being one of the very rare current films with female leads, I wondered whether the film would actually stand up to the "Bechdel Test". And it would appear that it does.
http://bechdeltest.com/view/835/sex_and_the_city_2/

Not having seen the film myself, I had to rely on this website as well as the opinion of a friend who had but clearly there are conversations between the leads that are about something else than men. (At 150 minutes duration, I would have been more impressed if they really managed to talk about nothing else ;-) On the other hand, the test, though effective, is still fairly basic and passing it still does not make SATC2 anything but a piece of consumerist tripe.
In this context, it might be interesting to consider meta-meaning to dialogue, though. Is a conversation about shoes and dresses really just about fashion or is there a subtext about making the most of yourself, possibly in order to snag yourself the best possible man?

And is there another layer of sexism to all of this inasfar as even as a piece of consumerist tripe aimed at women and gay men, it is no worse than much of the usual Hollywood fare aimed at a hetero-male market, trying to get you to buy products or act a certain way in order to receive the attention of ladies that are "out of your league".

Brainfart: Sex and the Bechdel

Triggered by a listener's email to the "Mark Kermode Show" who suggested that one should be a little less harsh on "Sex and the City 2" on the grounds of it being one of the very rare current films with female leads, I wondered whether the film would actually stand up to the "Bechdel Test". And it would appear that it does.
http://bechdeltest.com/view/835/sex_and_the_city_2/

Not having seen the film myself, I had to rely on this website as well as the opinion of a friend who had but clearly there are conversations between the leads that are about something else than men. (At 150 minutes duration, I would have been more impressed if they really managed to talk about nothing else ;-) On the other hand, the test, though effective, is still fairly basic and passing it still does not make SATC2 anything but a piece of consumerist tripe.
In this context, it might be interesting to consider meta-meaning to dialogue, though. Is a conversation about shoes and dresses really just about fashion or is there a subtext about making the most of yourself, possibly in order to snag yourself the best possible man?

And is there another layer of sexism to all of this inasfar as even as a piece of consumerist tripe aimed at women and gay men, it is no worse than much of the usual Hollywood fare aimed at a hetero-male market, trying to get you to buy products or act a certain way in order to receive the attention of ladies that are "out of your league".