Week 7- Movie Review

I chose the movie The Secret Life of Bees to review. I read the book a couple of years ago not long after it came out, but I didn't see the movie until last weekend. It's basic plot is about a 14-year-old girl who killed her mother when she was 3. Her father is abusive, and after her African American maid gets beaten by a group of white men, Lily along with Rosaleen (played by Jennifer Hudson) flee. They go to a city Lily believes her mother once lived. They end up moving in with a family of very strong, cultured African American women (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, and Sophie Okonedo). This film, obviously, is not just about gender, but also about race. In the south in the 1960s families were supposed to be very traditional. The Boatwrights were not traditional. They owned their own company, and didn't need help from really anyone to take care of all their bees. Men are shown in a very negative light- Lily's father is abusive, and I really ended up hating him. Rosaleen was beaten up by a group of white men. There are two young black men who are shown in a positive light, but the younger one gets kidnapped by a group of white men (later leading to the mentally handicapped sister's suicide), and the other young man is in love with Alicia Keys character. She struggles because she wants to appear that she does not need a man, though she eventually accepts his marriage proposal. I am not sure that the trailer for the movie accurately portrays the themes of the movie. Maybe because I read the book first I think that there are much deeper themes than just the action of the plot. The movie was great though, it is one of not very many movies that show not just white women, but also African American women in a very positive light.

On page 48 of chapter nine of Feminism is for Everybody, bell hooks makes a great point. She says, "When reformist feminist thinkers from privileged class backgrounds whose primary agenda was achieving social equality with men of their class equated work with liberation they meant high-paying careers. Their vision of work had little relevance for masses of women." For the majority of people, both men and women, high-paying salaried positions are not realistically achievable. The majority of the population do not get college educations (it's close to half, but not quite), so the majority of people (and even some who have college educations) work in "blue-collar jobs." Though gender inequality is still an aspect of these occupations, the focus of equal pay is not considered when thinking of these jobs.

I thought that another interesting, and scary, point was made in The F-Word on page 121. Rowe-Finkbeiner claims that boy children are valued more than girl children. That parents with girls are more likely to get a divorce, therefore boys have a financial advantage even from birth. I am not sure that I disagree with her, I just have had a very different experience in my life. I am the only child, and I am a girl. My mom only wanted a girl, and really only wanted one child. My parents did get divorced, but my mom remarried when I was four, and still did not have more children. My stepdad (now my dad because he adopted me) is happy only having me, and I honestly cannot imagine him as a father to a boy.

Also, when thinking about the wage gap, how conscious is the decision to pay women less? Rowe-Finkbeiner claims that it is unconscious on the part of men, but how can that be so? I talked with my mom about this. She is the president and publisher of a business newspaper in Oklahoma City. Her paper is part of a larger group of newspapers and journals across the country. They have probably reached critical mass with the number of women publishers, but the regional leaders are men. She is sure that she is paid less than men, even though her paper makes more money than any other paper. She can't prove it, but it is frustrating nonetheless.

Until next time,
Madison