Iron Jawed Angels: 2004 film analysis

Iron Jawed Angels

SOCIOLOGY

The movie Iron jawed angels was as a result of a pivotal chapter that came out as inspirational in the American history. In this movie that is directed by Katja von Garnier (a German director), Alice Paul Hillary Swank. Alice Paul is an American feminist who considers taking risks in her life as a means of fighting for the citizenship of women and moreover, women right to vote. Alice Paul brings into existence the National Woman's Party. She further proceeds to write the first equal rights amendment that was to be presented before the congress (Garnier, 2004).

For the Americans, the right to vote is so taken for granted that is has become very difficult to believe it was unavailable to the country's women until 1920s. Furthermore, this only came to be after some thorough fight. Nonetheless, the film excels at depicting the real sacrifices of the women involved, especially in the harrowing prison scenes, as well as in showing the development of nonviolent protest techniques that were later used successfully in other political movements. Iron Jawed Angels vibrantly brings to life a neglected period of America's civil rights struggle without making it seem like a history lesson (Elizabeth, 2004).

Discussion

Of the "Iron Jawed Angels," I am impressed most by Alice Paul and I absolutely admire several aspects of her character. She strongly believed that all human beings have equal rights and all the citizens deserved a voice. Therefore she discovered something that she truly believes in and pursued it with absolute resolution despite the incessant challenges of the physical attacks and verbal abuse. To have a dream or a passion is an important thing in the world it needs a strong will to face incredible odds against the achievement of that dream. The unwavering determination and diligence of Alice Paul was a true inspiration to me. Alice Paul also had focus which indeed fuelled her resilience. What is also interesting is the fact that despite the numerous discouragements and abuses that she received from the people of her time, she could not let anyone gets into her way. More so, she went further and gave fliers to the same strangers who were against it. This kind of character is rare in many societies because most people tend to follow the masses and even grovel to those in power.

The women of Iron jaw had various characteristics that indeed set them apart from other women of their time. For instance they had more passion for a cause which superseded the passion for romance of other relationship engagements. This is portrayed through the fledging romance given to Alice with Ben Weiss-man (Patrick Dempsey). Alice does not spare much energy to the love affair focusing unwaveringly on the fight and eventually the relationship does not go anywhere. Most women of their time would have preferred to lead a normal life of pursuing romance and eventually settling down. They are also strong intelligent and fierce of which is evident in the first part of the movie. Alice and Lucy are seen in the as giggling girls who are sure of their sense of fashion than of themselves. When they are sent to prison everything changes and their strong character is portrayed through their tolerance of the hard conditions.

Sacrifice and utter dedication to their cause can be witnessed by considering how the women risked their lives for what they believed in. Inez Milholland who is also referred to as "the woman on the horse," did not want to go to cross country speaking tour because she knew she was ill and feared that she could not make it. She was able to change her mind after encouragement by Paul. She decided to risk her life and not allow her infirmity keep her from protesting how her stance on women's rights. She however dies after collapsing when she was speaking. This is peculiar to the women of Iron Jawed Angels that set them apart from the women of their times.

The women suffragists had a unique method of demonstrating so as to create change. Several methods were introduced by the Iron Jawed Angels of which are similar to those ones of women suffragists in Britain. They involved parades, demonstrations, picketing, hunger strikes and mass meetings of which were used along with high press coverage. They picketed the White House clamoring for the right of the women to vote. They continued with this form of non-violence protest even after the onset of the First World War while facing assaults from the crowds who accused them of barricading the sidewalks. All the principals of mass action through nonviolent means were being applied by the women suffragists where violence was met with peacefulness; creating enormous publicity; applying economic or political pressure and use of arguments which was had an impact on the conscience of their adversaries and the general public. The suffrage issue was kept at the forefront of the national consciousness by the militant's campaign and this can be considered as an important factor for the change of position by President Wilson and the eventual 19th Amendment passage.

This form of protesting was necessary because of its unique nature it generated a lot of publicity of which was important in their favor because could not physically fight their adversaries but impact their conscience. Also since the authorities were powerful compared to the women suffragists, use of violence wouldn't have yielded much as they would have been subjugated easily. Therefore other methods wouldn't have been as effective.