Mrs. America
On the watching TV dramas front, I watched The Salisbury Poisonins, which I thought was excellent, but I didn’t want to write about it here. I gave the first episode of The Luminaries a try, but didn’t want to watch the rest of it for various reasons. Now, Mrs. America is on BBC2/iPlayer - I’m watching it on the latter.
Mrs. America Ep.1 Phyllis.
Given that the show was advertised as Cate Blanchett and company (the company being Proper Hollywood Actresses, mind), it’s apt that the first episode of this historical drama about the women’s liberation movement in the US in the 1970s concentrated on her character of Phyllis(though I really enjoyed the energy of the final scene with a group of female politicians played by heavyweight acresses who you knew would get the focus in future eps.)
Blanchett is of course a class act, playing the wife of a lawyer, mother of six, a graduate of some considerable intelligence and political talents who’s been a losing Republican candidate and has not given up her ambitions. And all the while she denies that discrimination against women is happening, but the twenty-first camera is showing otherwise. Despite real expertise in national security, she’s objectified (from the beginning) in all manner of ways. And even while she spouts stuff I don’t necessarily agree with, Blanchett makes Phyllis utterly human. I was reminded of the film Bombshell, although this plays it straighter. Certainly, this sits as an interesting precursor to that film, and also works as a companion piece to the British film Misbehaviour - the last film I saw in the cinema.
Phyllis’s nadir is a betrayal of her sister-in-law for political gain. That’s the single S-I-L who helps with the childcare that enables Phyllis to live her life. The episode also shows the racial (and economic) privilege involved. Phyllis’s home life is greatly aided by black maids, and some time is given for Shirley Chisolm, an African American political trailblazer I didn’t know of. So, I think this is going to be an informative show for me, though I'm going to have to be mindful that some of it is totally made up.
The episode ends with the ‘libbers’ jubilation about their legislative amendment getting passed, while the audience knows exactly who their future opponent is. There’s an Ocean’s Eight reunion with Sarah Paulson as the fellow conservative housewife who draws Phyllis’s attention to the Equal Rights Amendment.
It's very stylish with it’s of-the-period details - ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ felt like the perfect closing song - though I loathed the triple-fast credit sequence.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/429430.html.
Mrs. America Ep.1 Phyllis.
Given that the show was advertised as Cate Blanchett and company (the company being Proper Hollywood Actresses, mind), it’s apt that the first episode of this historical drama about the women’s liberation movement in the US in the 1970s concentrated on her character of Phyllis(though I really enjoyed the energy of the final scene with a group of female politicians played by heavyweight acresses who you knew would get the focus in future eps.)
Blanchett is of course a class act, playing the wife of a lawyer, mother of six, a graduate of some considerable intelligence and political talents who’s been a losing Republican candidate and has not given up her ambitions. And all the while she denies that discrimination against women is happening, but the twenty-first camera is showing otherwise. Despite real expertise in national security, she’s objectified (from the beginning) in all manner of ways. And even while she spouts stuff I don’t necessarily agree with, Blanchett makes Phyllis utterly human. I was reminded of the film Bombshell, although this plays it straighter. Certainly, this sits as an interesting precursor to that film, and also works as a companion piece to the British film Misbehaviour - the last film I saw in the cinema.
Phyllis’s nadir is a betrayal of her sister-in-law for political gain. That’s the single S-I-L who helps with the childcare that enables Phyllis to live her life. The episode also shows the racial (and economic) privilege involved. Phyllis’s home life is greatly aided by black maids, and some time is given for Shirley Chisolm, an African American political trailblazer I didn’t know of. So, I think this is going to be an informative show for me, though I'm going to have to be mindful that some of it is totally made up.
The episode ends with the ‘libbers’ jubilation about their legislative amendment getting passed, while the audience knows exactly who their future opponent is. There’s an Ocean’s Eight reunion with Sarah Paulson as the fellow conservative housewife who draws Phyllis’s attention to the Equal Rights Amendment.
It's very stylish with it’s of-the-period details - ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ felt like the perfect closing song - though I loathed the triple-fast credit sequence.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/429430.html.