Post a Comment On: A Nod to Nothing

Pooteewheet and I are currently watching Iron Jawed Angels on Ming's inadvertent recommendation via Netflix. If it were Tall Brad who had recommended it, I'd assume it was for the autoerotic bathtub scene where Hilary Swank's toes literally curl over the thought of Washington Post reporter Patrick Dempsey, but Ming is more likely to point me at naked old ladies in movies as proof of their artistry (although maybe he has something for Hilary Swank, after all, he liked The Core - if he liked Million Dollar Baby, I guess I'll have my proof), so that's probably not the case. Although it's sexed up a bit for a topic like women's suffrage, doesn't follow history exactly, and is given a very modern soundtrack (female artists), the first hour has been enjoyable. There's a lot of actual history in it and, like most things I only know a bit about, it's encouraged me to go read some history about the historical figures (I did have a women's study class at Hamline as graduate student, but it's been a while). Reading the history of Alice Paul at Wiki, I image the second half of the movie isn't going to be nearly as light hearted as the first half.

Here's some wiki links to information about Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, the two main characters in the movie (and in history).

I have to apologize to Pooteewheet as I got the name of one of the historical players wrong. I was thinking the Carrie in question in the movie was Carry Nation, but it's Carrie Chapman Catt - very different people. Carrie Nation was the one more concerned with temperence and came earlier - although they do make a reference to her in Iron Jawed Angels, as well as noting (via Patrick Dempsey) that the suffrage movement was on-and-off associated with the Temperence movement.