hello you vegans,
media portrayals are how most people learn about things and form opinions of them. Since vegans are such a small portion of the population, it is much more likely that someone has seen a vegan portrayed in a movie or television show, than actually know one.
So on to the bechdel test. If you don't already know its a test for representation of women in film. A film passes the bechdel test if it has two named women characters, who speak to each other about something other than a man. Im not comparing the paucity of women in film to vegans, just trying to make a point about media representations.
So, what is a positive portrayal of a vegan in a movie or television show?
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The character must have traits other than just "vegan"
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The character must be portrayed in a generally positive light, or at least not be weak, or whiny.
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The character must stay a vegan. In other words they must not at any point consume or use animal products.
Can anyone think of any other rules they would like to add? Would you like to change any that I’ve written here.
I cannot think of any vegans on film or tv that pass these three simple rules. Apu from the Simpsons fails Rule 2, as he is not a positive portrayal
Todd the Vegan from Scott Pilgrim fails Rule 3 because he partakes in bowl of chicken parmesan
Phoebe from f.r.i.e.n.d.s. fails Rule 3 because she eats meat when she is pregnant.
Moonknight from marvel fails Rule 3 because he eats a steak
What do you all think?
The Bechdel test isn't meant to ward off stereotyping or provide a positive portrayal of women. It is supposed to highlight the portrayal of women in film by pointing out an obscenely low bar for female representation that many works still fail to clear. It doesn't inherently say anything about the movie itself, there are deeply problematic works that clear it and deep, thoughtful and empowering works that dont.
With regards to veganism I propose this therefore: A vegan characters must be of some importance to the plot, and they mustn't ever deliberately consume or induce others to consume animals products. I can legitimately only think of Beast Boy from the old Teen Titans cartoon and Shaggy from Scooby Doo that clear this hurdle .
That said I liked Todd
We all love Todd, and the vegan police who deveganize him.
The aspects of the Bechdel test that I wanted are hard to put into a vegan context, but I will try. The third part of the Bechdel test, that the women must speak to each other about something other than a man . This is more than just having female characters they must have some personality beyond man-accessory . This is my reasoning that vegan characters should have some kind of character requirements or something.
Otherwise a all too common portrayal of a vegan as "crazy vegan" would pass this test.
Like all of the vegan or vegetarian characters in how I met your mother
Since when is Shaggy vegan? He famously makes and eats ridiculously sized ham and cheese sandwiches.
Shaggy has been inconsistently portrayed as vegan (explicitly) in cartoons since 2002. It depends on the writer, but it has been something the cartoon producers have sorta kept in mind. It was to entice Casey Kasem back into voicing the role. Apparently he was vegan and at one point refused to voice Shaggy for a Burger King commercial.
Cool, only Scooby doo I've seen is from before then, which would explain it.
apu from the simpsons is a vegan that passes all the tests. he even stocks vegan hotdogs and tells people they have meat in them as to dissuade them from eating meat.
They almost never show the people in movies actually eating. It's obviously because the characters are vegan and won't eat all the non vegan products on the table.
Dina from superstore is probably one of the closest I can think of. However she also breaks rule 3 in an episode but its supposed to be her doing it to draw attention away from something else, and she clearly hates it and immediately goes to throw up.
I think vegans breaking vegan edge is like a character being pregnant. How often is a character pregnant who doesn't go into labour? Almost never.
Characters are all too often vegan ONLY so that later they can do something not vegan, and subvert expectations
Beast boy, from teen titans, is sometimes vegan. Though he does fail rule 3, in that he does, in some portrayals, eat dairy/eggs.
Does he make the eggs and milk himself by turning into the respective animals?
That would still be vegan
