During Iron Jawed Angels the male and female relationships vary throughout. There is a clear yet troubled romance between Ben Weissman and Alice Paul, where the dominance of Alice Paul is never disturbed and she makes it clear where her heart really lies. This relationship demonstrates how the most of women made very large sacrifices for their cause. Also in the film is the marriage of Emily Leighton and her senator husband. Here there is at first a backlash from the senator when his wife supports Alice Paul and the movement. He takes away her allowance and basically denies her the right to take part, but when she is arrested the true essence of this relationship comes out. As stated in our text “In our society, women are socialized to care for men and to spare their feelings, but recognizing and discussing institutional inequalities between women as a group and men as a group are very different front (Kirk, Rey 5).” This relationship shows this concept and shows that the movie was not about a bunch of men-haters, but women who wanted equality, and women who understood the differences in men and women’s treatment and wanted to change it. In Mary Poppins Mrs. Banks appears as a busy suffragist supporter who, along with her children, is feeling the neglect from her top-notch banker husband. Mr. Banks carelessly write offs the movement along with many other aspects in his family life. I think this is a pretty clear depiction of what it may have been like when the movement was actually going on. Just like Senator Leighton, Mr. Banks doesn’t pay much attention but we see by the end of Iron Jawed Angels the senator does his part. Both of these movies show differing relationships whether they are supportive or harmful to the movement and the women in them. Generally marriage comes off as an institution of great loyalty and strength, in both movies the main marriage examples end strong and successful.
Overall, all types of men are shown in both of theses films. In Iron Jawed Angels there are the men who really did not want to extend the right to vote for women such as president Wilson and his staff, then there are the men who are somewhat apathetic such as Ben Weissman and the senator, but ultimately both end up supporting, and lastly there are large crowds shown multiple times, mostly comprised of angry, furious men. I think this movie did a good job showing the different roles men played in the time period and also with showing how the men had different reactions. In the last few minutes of the movie it shows the last member of the house changing his vote because of a telegram from his mother, this was extremely symbolic because it made clear how ultimately the men were swayed when they were challenged enough to think about it. In Mary Poppins, Mr. Banks doesn’t really pay attention to anything including Mrs. Banks’ heavy devotion to the cause, pretty much just illustrating another unconcerned male.
After watching both of these films I think they both took an interesting view on the suffragist movement.With Iron Jawed Angels going into depth about the struggles, ups and downs, and ultimate victory. In Mary Poppins, the somewhat ditzy mother Mrs. Banks, was extremely enthusiastic about the movement but it just did not come off as serious. Even with her song “Sister Suffragette,” the lyrics, were strong, but its hard to take them seriously as they skip around the house. Although the two films gave two different looks at the movement as a whole and both illustrated contrasting roles and relationships with men and women.
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities, 2001. Print.
"Memorable quotes for Iron Jawed Angels." The Internation Movie Database. IMDB.com Inc. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
