Movies and Denim

It's been fifteen years since some idiot decided Boxing Helena (1993) was a good idea for a movie, and some days it still feels like not much has changed. Sin City (2006). Hostel II (2007). Prom Night (2008). Drive by any theater in America these days and you're likely to find at least one movie that promotes violence against women (when they're not ignoring women entirely).

But as organizations and individuals speak out against violence against women — famous activists such as Nicole Kidman have called it the "most widespread human rights violation of our time" at a press conference for the U.N. Development Fund for Women, and this week also saw the 10th annual "Denim Day" in L.A., named based on the 1998 Italian Supreme Court decision to overturn a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans — I thought it might be worth noting some off the movies that draw attention to violence against women in the right way.

Movies that drive home the point in such a way that you finally get why some women make such a fuss about feminism. Movies that help you understand the depth and pervasiveness of the problem, if you don't, or make you want to get out and do something about it, if you do.

For many of us, the movie(s) that influence us most are ones we see when we're just coming of age. For young women twenty years ago, The Color Purple (1985) might have been that pivotal film; for young women in 2005, perhaps it was North Country, about the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States.

For women in their late teens today, it might simply be an episode of Law & Order: SVU, which effectively if depressingly portrays our culture's disturbed attitude towards women on a weekly basis.

For me, the movie was Thelma & Louise (1991). Not yet jaded enough to see it coming, I sat in the back of the movie theater at 15 blinded by rage as I watched Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis drive off that cliff. I was sleeping in my car at the time, and felt a bit vindicated that life as a strong individual woman would end up this way. Thank God I out grew my teenage ignorance...or did I really?


The movie's portrayal of the paralyzing mix of hopelessness, violence, and poverty faced by women every day was searing. I suspect many women were initially lured in to see the film because of the caliber of the actresses and the well-chiseled abs of a handsome new actor named Brad Pitt, only to leave dazed and confused, still hearing Thelma's scornful admonishment to a would-be rapist, "In the future, when a woman's crying like that, she isn't having any fun!"

Then, a few years later, I watched The Accused (1988) and must say that watching this movie would easily be the most painful and powerful two hours I sat through in a non-Erin-personally-being tortured kind of way. The Accused was the first major American movie (that I'm aware of) that directly addressed the issue of collective culpability in violence against women. It, too, became the talk of the nation, both because of its message and its stars, Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis.

The next summer, I watched Angela Bassett battle it out with Laurence Fishburne in the Ike and Tina Turner story What's Love Got to Do With It (1993). This was the summer after I graduated from High School, and really hammered home to me the true amount of abuse my mom had withstood over the years. I had just moved into my dorm when I had received a call from her then husband asking me if I could score him 100 bucks for some narcotics. Needless to say, I wonderd as to the strength of any woman who put up with that kind of abuse. This movie helped me to understand my mother, and other battered women at a much higher level. Ultimately it was enough to send me out the next day to sign up as a volunteer at a battered women's shelter.


Very recently, I also saw "Plenty" with Meryl Streep, which although it isn't set in our times, is basically about a very intelligent, outspoken woman post-WWII who is declared to be mad every time she speaks her mind, sedated and held back to fit in the role expected of her.

Another memorable movie for me was "Extremities" (1986). Although some would say I am way too young to remember this one, I watched this a couple of years ago and it really made me think. In this movie a man breaks into a house and horribly abuses a woman who then proceeds to fight back, eventually caging him in the fireplace. One of the most memorable shots in this film is of her digging up the tomato patch with plans of burying him in it. There's a fantastic performance by Farrah Fawcett, along with wonderful supporting roles by Alfrie Woodard and Diana Scarwid.
Remember November 25th. That's the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women as designated by the UN General Assembly. This date in particular was chosen because it was the day of the brutal assassination (strangled and beaten to death) of the three Mirabal Sisters by the orders of the Dominican Dictator Trujillo. This caused outrage in the public, and eventually prompted the assassination of the Dictator 6 months later.

A book as made in 1993 by Julia Alvarez, (it can be found in English), and a movie years later, in 2001, with Salma Hayek as Minerva Mirabal, and Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama in Galactica). The book/Movie is "In the Time of the Butterflies"
Ultimately, however, my all time favorite must be,"Fried Green Tomatoes". It handles the subject of violence against women in way that is smart and meaningful to women and maybe a bit reminiscent of "Extremities". The bad guy is brought to justice and the woman is not a victim for long.
Twanda! Or a Chick's version of Cheers to women, denim, and movies!