Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon—sometimes called Bacon's Law, or the Oracle of Bacon—is an ancient parlor game in which mortal players engage in a perilous battle of trying to connect the cinematic appearances of various human celebrities to the filmography of the One True Kevin Bacon in less than six steps.
For example:
- Kate MacCluggage was in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret with Jim France
- Jim France was in Selma with Dylan Baker
- Dylan Baker was in Planes, Trains and Automobiles with…Kevin Bacon!
Or:
- Marilyn Monroe was in Let's Make It Legal with Robert Wagner
- Robert Wagner was in Wild Things with…Kevin Bacon!
Or:
- Alan Moore was in Army of One with Cameron Bowen
- Cameron Bowen was in Mystic River with…Kevin Bacon!
See? It's a miracle of science—one that has confounded mathematicians and philosophers alike for eons. How does it work? they wonder. Why is Kevin Bacon such a central connection to the entire universe?
Now one intrepid researcher has crunched the numbers. In a recent installment of the Stat Signifiant newsletter, Californian data scientist Daniel Parris has attempted to unravel the great mystery of the Oracle of Bacon—largely by graphing the film roles of pretty much everyone ever. Parris finds:
When we calculate our centrality metric for every actor in the film industry, our top scorers are prolific performers who have appeared in numerous ensemble projects (which is not surprising at all).
[…]
Kevin Bacon is #64 in our extended rankings—he is central but not the most central. There is an argument that this is the right amount of connectedness for optimal Bacon gameplay. Picking the game's titular figure comes with a Goldilocks problem: you want someone well-connected but not too well-connected so as to allow for some strategy. Or at least that's how I'm choosing to interpret this data point.
#64?! Fascinating. In fact, the most connective movies are typically ensemble-driven action films—a genre that isn't really Kevin Bacon's forte.
What Parris ultimately finds is that Bacon's connectivity has more to do with his role as a supporting actor—one billed fourth, or lower—than as a leading man. This data analysis also reveals the true identity of Hollywood's even higher oracles, but I'll let you click through to find your own truth.
Previously:
• Kevin Bacon likes those degrees of separation
