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By now, most people have heard of "the Bechdel test." To pass this famous three-part test, which measures whether female characters in a film are anything more than superficial, a movie has to (1) have at least two female characters (2) who talk to each other (3) about something other than a man. It seems like a pretty low bar, but at least 40 percent of films fail, according to BechdelTest.com, a site that crowdsources these test results. "Birdman" fails. The "Lord of the Rings" movies all fail. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" fails. Even "Toy Story" fails. And it's hard to think of a movie that doesn't pass the Reverse Bechdel test -- where two male characters don't talk to each other about something other than a woman (according to the IMDB universe, some do exist). The Bechdel test has its critics. Some films with prominent female roles, like Sandra Bullock in "Gravity," don't pass the test, while other films that are male dominated or sexist do. But, as Walter Hickey wrote for FiveThirtyEight.com in 2014, for a long time the crowd-sourced information on the Bechdel test was the best data on gender equity in film that we had. Two years later, we're amassing more data that gives a clearer look at the real role of women in film. In a new project, Hanah Anderson and Matt Daniels at Polygraph analyzed screenplays for 2,000 popular movies, and broke down the number of words spoken by male and female characters -- "arguably the largest undertaking of script analysis, ever," they say."

"We analyzed the top 50 biggest box office movies of 2013 to see if they passed the Bechdel Test, which evaluates whether a movie has two or more women in it who have a conversation about something other than a man. It's named after cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who wrote about it in her popular comic Dykes to Watch Out For. (Bechdel actually credits her friend Liz Wallace with the rule.) The three-part criteria for a movie to pass: It has to have (1) at least two women in it, who (2) talk to each other about (3) something besides a man."

"One audience reviewer deemed the movie "a complete disaster." Another was "tired of all this SJW nonsense," using the abbreviation for "social justice warrior," a pejorative term for progressives. Yet another groused that Brie Larson, the movie's star, "says I shouldn't see the movie anyway." "Captain Marvel" had not even been released yet - its opening day was a month away - but that did not stop negative remarks from piling up against the film and Ms. Larson. Much as Facebook and Twitter have had to grapple with false stories aimed at inciting violence or disrupting elections, movie review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb are often besieged by users trying to manipulate a film's box office success. Despite the trolls' concerted efforts, "Captain Marvel" slayed during its opening weekend, but not before Rotten Tomatoes, an influential site where a bad audience score can damage a film's prospects, made major changes to its rules. Most critically, it eliminated prerelease audience reviews. It also stopped displaying the percentage of moviegoers who say they "want to see" a film in favor of using the raw number of people. And it removed the "not interested" button. "

"Cinematic VR allows viewers to live entirely inside a film. They put on goggles and look at the universe around them - behind, above, anywhere they turn their gaze - and still see the world of the movie. Some in the entertainment industry view it as perhaps the greatest advance in entertainment since the addition of sound to movies nearly a century ago, involving the senses in ways they're not involved when the real world is visible next to a screen. But while investors in Hollywood and elsewhere have poured in hundreds of millions of dollars, drawing top talent and yielding a creative explosion, cinematic VR has produced little in the way of commercial success or popular acceptance."

"Apple issues guidelines for how its computers, smartphones and other devices can be used in movies and TV shows. But that information in itself can be a potential spoiler alert."

"Mass shootings -- like those at Newtown, Columbine, the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater -- and everyday street violence, like what's going on in Chicago, can be addressed immediately by legislation. But background checks and assault rifle bans will not free us from our most debilitating shackle, and that is our numbness, if not addiction, to violence, particularly in film."

"Lately, Hollywood has been taking so much shit for rampant sexism and racism. The prevailing theme: white men dominate movie roles. But it's all rhetoric and no data, which gets us nowhere in terms of having an informed discussion. How many movies are actually about men? What changes by genre, era, or box-office revenue? What circumstances generate more diversity? To begin answering these questions, we Googled our way to 8,000 screenplays and matched each character's lines to an actor. From there, we compiled the number of lines for male and female characters across roughly 2,000 films, arguably the largest undertaking of script analysis, ever."

"According to findings from the Creative Artists Agency and shift7, a company started by the former United States chief technology officer Megan Smith, the top movies from 2014 to 2017 starring women earned more than male-led films, whether they were made for less than $10 million or for $100 million or more. The research also found that films that passed the Bechdel test - which measures whether two female characters have a conversation about something other than a man - outperformed those that flunked it. "The perception that it's not good business to have female leads is not true," said Christy Haubegger, a C.A.A. agent who was part of the research team. "They're a marketing asset." "

"The global box office success of Black Panther is no surprise to UCLA sociologist Darnell Hunt. His annual report on Hollywood diversity argues that movies and TV shows with diverse casts and creators pay off for the industry's bottom line. Hunt says Black Panther, for example, "smashed all of the Hollywood myths that you can't have a black lead, that you can't have a predominantly black cast and [have] the film do well. It's an example of what can be done if the industry is true to the nature of the market. But it's too early to tell if Black Panther will change business practices or it's an outlier. We argue it demonstrates what's possible beyond standard Hollywood practices." The fifth annual diversity report is subtitled, "Five Years of Progress and Missed Opportunities," suggesting that America's increasingly diverse audience prefers diverse film and television content. The study reports that people of color bought the majority of movie tickets for the five of the top 10 films in 2016, and television shows with diverse casts did well in both ratings and social media."

"Movie producer Ross Putman reads scripts for a living. He sees countless female characters introduced in over-the-top, absurd ways that usually focus only on the character's body type, age and sexual attractiveness. So Putman decided to keep track of these female character introductions by creating a Twitter account called @femscriptintros. Each tweet highlights the ridiculous (and sometimes rather depressing) ways women are being described in screenplays."

"In the lead-up to tonight's film, Generation Like, we've been asking our Facebook and Twitter communities to tell us why you use social and how it's affecting your lives. Hundreds of you have told us about the choices you're making - and why you're making them. We've asked a few writers who've thought a lot about social media to read your comments and reflect on them in the context of tonight's film. We also want to hear from you! Share your reactions below in the comments. Does Social Media Empower or Exploit? Douglas Rushkoff, Generation Like correspondent Douglas Rushkoff: Does Social Media Empower or Exploit? Generation Like correspondent Douglas Rushkoff is the author, most recently, of Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now, as well a dozen other books on media, technology and culture. He was correspondent on three previous FRONTLINE films, The Merchants of Cool (2001), The Persuaders (2004), and Digital Nation (2010). Follow him on Twitter @Rushkoff. In the lead-up to Generation Like, FRONTLINE has been asking questions about social media on social media. As I wade through the many responses, I am reminded of my own questions about these platforms when I began making this documentary. Like me, many of you are thrilled by the opportunity for connection and self-expression that social media offer.   Calum James Facebook is the best communication tool ever created. February 12 at 7:02pm   But many of you also share a sense of skepticism about what it is that social media - and the companies behind them - ask from us in return.   We all know this has something to do with our data. We create consumer profiles for the unseen companies on the other side of the screen, and enter into a relationship with them that isn't entirely clear. "Who is doing what for whom, and to what end?" The need to understand this better - and what it means for the young people using this stuff - is what set us on our journey to explor

"Movies like Boy Erased and Love, Simon show gay teens undergoing rites of passages that upend the classic Breakfast Club script."

"The release this weekend of Beyonce's sixth studio album, "Lemonade," and accompanying hour-long movie - which is as much a part of the release as the audio album - is being hailed by reviewers as her most accomplished work yet. The album has been called complicated, eclectic, powerful and edgy, and boasts an impressive list of collaborators, including Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd and Diplo."

Examples of famous embedded ads in movies

"The man who served as executive producer on such blockbusters as "Django Unchained," "Silver Linings Playbook," and "Reservoir Dogs," Weinstein is no stranger to controversy, and often gets behind films with a social conscience. It's with a similar agenda that he tells Piers Morgan of his pledge to stay away from egregious gun violence in future projects, in the process, answering critics who suggest his verbal attacks against the NRA stand in dark contrast to many of the movies he's helped make."

"Ahh, it's good to see The Bechdel Test used where it is most applicable: as a lens through which to expose a misrepresentational trend in modern film overall rather than specifically. Vocativ took nearly fifty of this year's top grossing blockbusters, sorted them by whether they failed or passed the test. Turns out movies that passed were significantly more financially successful than not."

"The print ad above, featuring the actress, is drawing praise, but also some criticism for excessive Photoshopping. It's not on the usual social-ethical grounds but because, as Emily Leaman over at Philly Magazine suggests, the ad looks more like a "pre-pubescent 12-year-old boy than the strong, broad-shouldered, post-pubscent Jennifer Lawrence we know in movies like Silver Linings Playbook and The Hunger Games.""

"Pop Secret and Deutsch Los Angeles have for the last year been coming up with innovative digital ways to change your popcorn-eating experience, via Pop Secret Labs. There was Pop Search, a browser add-on that searched the web to find the best place to watch a movie online; a Rotten Tomatoes partnership to help viewers find like-minded critics; and an app to prevent your popcorn from ever burning again. But this might top them all. Pop Dongle is a mobile phone attachment that emits the sweet-and-salty smell of popcorn as you play the brand's mobile game, Poptopia, available for iPhone and iPod Touch."

" What is the responsibility of powerful commercial media entities (including news outlets, music labels, movie studios, and fellow artists) that protect and profit off of sex offenders, and what will it take to hold the media accountable?"

"MAYBE because I have seven nieces whose dreams matter to me, maybe because I have so many female friends whose talents dazzle me, or maybe just because I think it's madness not to encourage and recognize the full potential of half of the human race, I keep looking to the movies for something better. For something more equitable. For women saving the world or saving the president or at the very least saving themselves."