Pop Culture: Femininity or Feminism?
A throwback to the binging-on-series days
Written by: Sourima Chakraborty
Following are a few thoughts from the initial days of quarantine, written as a response to the 2020 miniseries, Mrs. America:
The word ‘Feminism’ has been tossed around quite casually in our times. One can say that it is almost on the path to become a cliché. Most people have grown weary of its banality, and seem to think it is often misused or irrelevant. Now, one cannot argue for or against these previous statements with conviction, as there are as many opinions as there are people, and myriads of ways each might feel about the subject. In Mrs. America, we find this turmoil brilliantly portrayed by the real-life characters of Phyllis Schlafly, Gloria Steinhem, Bella Azbug, and other contemporary activists of the 1970s’ feminist movement in the States. This biographical drama translates into nothing but a debate at every level of existence, which starts with gender disparity and eventually grows to encompass the seemingly delicate, widely (yet never enough) talked about issues of our times, such as religion, racism, homosexuality, and brings them under a common umbrella of the human condition.
The portrayal of the self-contradictions of Mrs. Schlafly’s character has been executed with just the right amount of exquisiteness and grace. Her movement against the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment was ultimately an act of independent expression, even though, outwardly, her ideologies were in line with the 10,000 years of ingrained patriarchy, or as was said, ‘the last gasp of patriarchy’. But apparently, that was a misnomer. It is not difficult to see that the waning breath of patriarchy still exists today in the most subtle and also the most assertive of ways, as do other forms of intolerance towards ideological differences. Even today, the battle rages on.
As we follow Gloria Steinhem tap dancing her way through the political chaos, perhaps, she teaches us the most important lesson of all. A revolution to change the world has to be founded on love, instead of hatred. A bond based on mutual hatred is as easily formed, as it is broken. When hostility and contempt is widespread, the mere act of loving becomes a rebellion. In a society that thrives on divisions, a protestation can be as simple as complimenting a colleague who looks pretty in a lavender dress. Or, expressing gratitude in the simplest of ways, in spite of all our differences. Unanimity can be realized with just a guitar, singing a Woody Guthrie song at the top of our lungs. What is a revolution worth, if its fire does not fuel a dying heart? Nonetheless, at the end of the day, we are all left with an existential question: do we really need to change the world, or do we just need to make the existing one more inhabitable?
