Mrs. America
Aug. 1st, 2020 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessMrs. America 1.4 Betty
I am enjoying how sympathetic this show is to all these complicated women, and allowing space for the tensions among the pros and antis. We got to see more of Betty, but it felt right that we ended on Gloria, who had been bugging the former as the pretty, popular new leader of the movement/sorority, bugging her more than her husband’s new, younger wife? And who was ultimately right about how to deal with their opponent? Those who wanted to deny Phyllis oxygen or Betty for taking her on, and nearly winning the debate, until Phyllis used the weapon her husband had shown her.
And the issue of race got to boil over, with the word ‘tokenism’ being introduced aptly to the mix (allowing the modern viewership to nod sagely and murmur, ‘Ah, you don’t know about intersectionality yet’). And by referring to Betty’s past experiences of anti-Semitism we were reminded that race isn’t, er, black and white. So, we got to see black women creating their own feminist movement and even in the one big scene, showing the various complexities involved.
Meanwhile, what was going on with the controlling husband at the wedding, as Catholic Phyllis realised her son was gay from the eys he was making at soldier boy, after earlier showing some really scary parenting methods and getting away with it.
Betty really wasn’t able to help herself, and yet she had flashes of glory, and was also deserving of the compliment as a mother, it seemed. Meanwhile, Gloria was treated vilely, but learned to be kind – cue an excellent music cue. Rose Byrne is doing something really clever with that down-turned mouth, and although Blanchett is still, you know, Blanchett, all the actresses are clearly relishing getting into these really complicated women, with many working on them for longer than they would in film roles.
(I am looking forward to when we get to focus on Elizabeth Banks’s intriguing Jill.)
I am enjoying how sympathetic this show is to all these complicated women, and allowing space for the tensions among the pros and antis. We got to see more of Betty, but it felt right that we ended on Gloria, who had been bugging the former as the pretty, popular new leader of the movement/sorority, bugging her more than her husband’s new, younger wife? And who was ultimately right about how to deal with their opponent? Those who wanted to deny Phyllis oxygen or Betty for taking her on, and nearly winning the debate, until Phyllis used the weapon her husband had shown her.
And the issue of race got to boil over, with the word ‘tokenism’ being introduced aptly to the mix (allowing the modern viewership to nod sagely and murmur, ‘Ah, you don’t know about intersectionality yet’). And by referring to Betty’s past experiences of anti-Semitism we were reminded that race isn’t, er, black and white. So, we got to see black women creating their own feminist movement and even in the one big scene, showing the various complexities involved.
Meanwhile, what was going on with the controlling husband at the wedding, as Catholic Phyllis realised her son was gay from the eys he was making at soldier boy, after earlier showing some really scary parenting methods and getting away with it.
Betty really wasn’t able to help herself, and yet she had flashes of glory, and was also deserving of the compliment as a mother, it seemed. Meanwhile, Gloria was treated vilely, but learned to be kind – cue an excellent music cue. Rose Byrne is doing something really clever with that down-turned mouth, and although Blanchett is still, you know, Blanchett, all the actresses are clearly relishing getting into these really complicated women, with many working on them for longer than they would in film roles.
(I am looking forward to when we get to focus on Elizabeth Banks’s intriguing Jill.)
