J. Edgar and The Iron Lady are preoccupied with taking a conservative icon and casting them as sympathetic to a liberal audience it just seems so cynical and underhanded. 
How much you consider the films portrayal of this to be problematic with regards to whether it leaves the viewer with a re-enforced image of the need for masculinity in women or whether the film presents a narrative detailing the problems she had to overcome is debatable. Theres a whiff of conspiracy in a few scenes. "[29] Thatcher's Home secretary Douglas Hurd described the dementia storyline as "ghoulish" in an interview with the Evening Standard. [25] Richard Corliss of Time named Streep's performance one of the Top 10 Movie Performances of 2011.[26]. As for the portrayal of her in a declining state, Im not to sure where I would fall on this. Everything Streep does here is a seismic act of theater. (LogOut/ Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. Its this element of the movie that made me profoundly uneasy. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. 2.Ive read a number of comments that interpret Thatchers embrace of a masculine style of politics also as an indication of her rejection of herself as a feminist icon. My most pressing thought having read it is that the film is by no means a left-wing fantasy. Move to the right! The editing is snazzy, and the movie avoids a lot of the confusion that many of these career retrospectives can produce. She doesnt have the best material to work with, but she does a nice job. You can download the paper by clicking the button above. Building a Strong Ummah: Muslim women in the twenty-first century Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief, The political role of Muslim women between traditional texts and changing realities, Women's Roles as Teachers, Leaders, and Contributors to the Waqf in Damascus, GENDER BOUNDARIES AND TRENDS IN THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN HADITH TRANSMISSION, Veil and the Male Elite - A Feminist Interpretation of Womens Rights in Islam - [By, Fatima Mernissi].pdf, SPEAKING IN GODS NAME: RE-EXAMINING GENDER IN ISLAM, Madonnas and whores or blood and gore? Perhaps The Iron Lady would have done better to explore Thatcher through the lens of a single event. With this kind of acting you dont even need silent-movie titles; her carriage says it all. Have any questions? This movie cannot be understood as anything but political, and thats part of the trouble I have in understanding my own feelings towards it. Kevin Maher of The Times said: "Streep has found the woman within the caricature. 
Hell, the most blatantly manipulative imagery of the film sees Thatcher driving to the House of Commons after being elected. The Iron Lady is a 2011 biographical drama film based on the life and career of Margaret Thatcher, a British politician who was the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the office. Denis is seen as being her rock as she first enters parliament and then runs for the leadership of the Conservative Party, culminating in her eventual premiership. I dont even think its too many bio-pics, I think its the model of them. (Well, without discussing any cabinet business, because theyve been misbehaving. "[17] At Metacritic, the film has a score of 54 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [32], The film grossed $30million in the North American market, and $85million in other markets, for a worldwide gross of $115million. 
The Vagenda was a feminist online magazine launched in January 2012; it used the tagline "Like King Lear, but for girls," taken from Grazia magazine's summary of The Iron Lady. The site's consensus reads: "Meryl Streep's performance as The Iron Lady is reliably perfect, but it's mired in bland, self-important storytelling. This is good acting. This is a problem Thatcher did have to face and to erase it would be to re-write history to an extent. I am trying to approach the role with as much zeal, fervour and attention to detail as the real Lady Thatcher possesses I can only hope my stamina will begin to approach her own. The song appears seventy-five minutes into the film, as part of the Falklands War victory celebrations. Denis' ghost leaves her as she cries that she actually is not yet ready to lose him, to which he replies "You're going to be fine on your own you always have been" before leaving forever. Have a look at our notes for contributors page! Her hair needed to be changed to give her more character, and they even attempted to coerce her to give up her pearls (yet that, as she explained, was just not going to happen). It does this, though, through a series of flashbacks she has in the present (yes, Ms. Thatcher is still alive and well, despite what the film may leave you believing) that are spurred by interactions with family members, friends, photos, and hallucinations with her long-deceased husband. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 52% and an average score of 5.70/10, based on 234 reviews. In fact, during Thatcher's time in Parliament, the total number of female MPs ranged between 19 and 41. Its an impossible and thankless task, and it means that the characterisation and depth suffers as a result of the scope and breadth of the project. Jim Broadbent continues to play the role of the befuddled older manalmost perfectly, and he adds an element of pathos to a rather one-dimensional Dennis. The stage from which one can most perceptively assess Thatchers legacy or the reach of her conservatism is probably not a film about Thatcher herself. Some called the movie a travesty, some merely raised eyebrows, and others mused on the subjectivity and potential bias of the filmmakers. [8], Campbell also noted that while Thatcher thought the House of Commons was dominated by a patronising male environment,[8] and that the film showed the representation from her point of view,[8] it did not encourage her to maintain the upper middle class image she used early in her political career as the film suggests and that Thatcher did in fact exploit the fact that she was raised by a grocer in a small Lincolnshire town and had a very ordinary background when she was running for leader of the Conservative Party. [34] The teaser trailer features Clint Mansell's theme tune for the science-fiction film Moon.[34]. Does this just contribute to the hurdles women have to leap in order to attain office? Its rare for a film to be criticised as bias by both the right and the left so if both sides are finding some fault in it there must implicitly be something both sides will get out of it. But what they want to say about Thatcher is blurry. Even the editorial collective of this blog had differing opinions on the film and how it portrayed Thatcher. In an interview with the BBC, then Prime Minister David Cameron described Streep's performance as "great" and "fantastic" but opined that the filmmakers should have waited before making the movie and focused more on Thatcher's time in office rather than her personal life and struggles with dementia. Xan Brooks, a film critic for the Guardian, writes in an early review for the film, Theres little sense of the outside world, the human cost, or the ripple effect of divisive government policies. It might as well be titled Maggie the Mother. Receiving a briefing on the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands, she sits in her Queen Anne chair staring down the assembled military officers like a parent awaiting a school report from a naughty child. However, it is the portrayal of Thatchers dementia that elicited my strongest feelings and the greatest variance in interpretation. Its more than Thatchers appearance that seems to benefit from the invisible hand of male influence, though. Thatcher dresses and grooms herself (but not without help) to be a model of femininity, yet as the filmmakers show the effort was in many cases a political decision and a role she was comfortable with in appearance only. In the UK, many are still very bitter for the policies she implemented and I think that would be the case regardless of sex. "I Simply Am Not There": The Existential Horror of Eighties Excess in "American Psycho" Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Case of Mr. Pelham (Review). As a result, we get Pop Psychology 101, with Margaret Thatcher in the hot seat. She gives Thatcher a wonderful sort of strength, and you never really feel like youre watching Streep doing an impersonation. 
Its pitiful. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. "[12], NPR commentator Robert Seigel and Thatcher biographer John Campbell accused writer Abi Morgan and star Meryl Streep of having the most say in the film's production and dictating some historical inaccuracies, such as the film's photography showing no other woman serving in the House of Commons during the time Thatcher was serving,[8] with the hopes of presenting a different image of Thatcher to the film's American audience. Its a parade float atop which Streep can pose and impose. The withering is withered. We see her at the kitchen sink washing out that cursed teacup. We get cheap jabs about the price of milk, but we also get a rather simplistic exploration of gender roles. Consider, for example, the way The Queen explored its subjects through the lens of Dianas death, or the way that Frost/Nixon tried to capture something of the former Presidents soul in one last title bout. I think a film about Thatcher that presents a somewhat idealised portrayal of her time in power would be reject without some kind of humanising portrayal of the person behind the politics. The Iron Lady isnt a psychological odyssey in paranoia. [8], It is suggested in the film that Thatcher had said goodbye to her friend Airey Neave only a few moments before his assassination by the Irish National Liberation Army, and had to be held back from the scene by security officers. ", "Meryl Streep Attends Parliament for Thatcher Research", "Meryl Streep movie Iron Lady to be screened in Manchester town hall", "Image of Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher Unveiled", "Women MPs and parliamentary candidates since 1945 UK Political Info", "Margaret Thatcher had deep misgivings over reunification of Germany, National Archives reveal", "Margaret Thatcher's Family Are 'Appalled' at Meryl Streep Film", "The Iron Lady and Margaret Thatcher's Dementia: Why This Despicable Film Makes Voyeurs of Us All', "Meryl Streep Film The Iron Lady Wows British Critics", "The Top 10 Everything of 2011 Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady", "David Cameron: 'I wish 'The Iron Lady' hadn't been made yet', "British Prime Minister David Cameron criticizes 'Iron Lady', "The Iron Lady: Baroness Thatcher will not see film of her life", "Nominees and Winners for the 84th Academy Awards", Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act (1960), Vote of no confidence in the Callaghan ministry (1979), Statecraft: Strategies for a Changing World, 1993 reviews of the British honours system, 1995 Conservative Party leadership election, More Than a Game: The Story of Cricket's Early Years, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Iron_Lady_(film)&oldid=1098927985, Films featuring a Best Actress Academy Award-winning performance, Films featuring a Best Drama Actress Golden Globe-winning performance, Films that won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from March 2013, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards, Emma Dewhurst as Beatrice Roberts, Margaret's mother, Victoria Bewick as Muriel Roberts, Margaret's sister, This page was last edited on 18 July 2022, at 04:50. But when Streep isnt singing, so to speak, shes vamping. [5] The film was directed by Phyllida Lloyd and written by Abi Morgan. have the courage to condemn your subjects for their political beliefs, or (b.) He plays a mocking imaginary companion to her struggles with dementia. Giving the American Secretary of State a bit of a talking to, she asks, Shall I play mother? She scolds Geoffrey Howe on a typo of the word committee like a mother correcting homework, and then sends the cabinet out of the room without any supper. "[22], Despite the film's mixed reviews, Streep's performance in the title role garnered much critical acclaim. Check out this trailer based pieces from the book Game Change. Margaret Thatcher is a complex character. Whatever you may think of Thatcher, she deserved more nuance and complexity than The Iron Lady affords her. But shes not asking as a hostess, shes asking as a leader. Too much of the movie is junked up with the symbolism of her politics. Non-Review Review: Dracula Prince ofDarkness, 291. Hey Charlie! So must the film get rid of the domineering and powerful version of Thatcher to finally make her sympathetic or a complex character? Streep's portrayal ultimately won her the Academy Award for Best Actress (her 17th nomination and third award overall), as well as several other awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Motion Picture Drama. Some friends and fellow students I spoke with felt that the portrayal of Thatchers mental decline was in effect humanising a woman demonised by the media, party politics, and in many ways herself, which led another friend to ask why we feel compelled to render her sympathetic? While the portrayal of Thatcher in her old age is unarguably problematic whilst she is still alive, it isnt the first time a real life person has been exagerrated for the purposes of a movie. Anthony Head is the quiet and timid number two man while Richard E. Grant is the cynical political contender. The only confusion I ever faced was when I mistook Heads character for John Major, and that was cleared up the first time he was mentioned by name. I wanted to address a few points to clarify my thoughts as well as extend some of yours, and because its nearing my bedtime, I shall put them in list format: 1. Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer. The other decided to do some research beforehand and came away with a very negative image of her. Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Motion Picture Drama, BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, "The Iron Lady (2012) - Financial Information", "Iron Lady Set to Follow the Queen on Screen", "Meryl Streep Takes on Her Toughest Role: The Iron Lady", "Meryl Streep Playing Margaret Thatcher What's Not to Like? The special features in the DVD include Making The Iron Lady, Bonus Featurettes, Recreating the Young Margaret Thatcher, Battle in the House of Commons, Costume Design: Pearls and Power Suits, Denis: The Man Behind the Woman.[39]. Kimberly Killenis an MSc student studying Gender, Media, and Culture. How long did it take you to realise I was gone? he asks after he retreats to South Africa. [27][28] The film also won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. The film repeatedly portrays Margaret as surrounded by weak men, including a predatory Michael Heseltine (played by a predatory Richard E. Grant), who literally circles her like a lion at one point. It isnt as if her tenure in 10 Downing Street was uneventful, nor her political career beforehand. The film also won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and the BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair. Im sad to say that, once I watched the movie, my expectations were neither shattered nor was I pleasantly surprised. A whole movie of this would have made The Iron Lady Streeps Mommie Dearest. But the camp here is far less triumphant. Thatcher is portrayed primarily by Meryl Streep,[6] and, in her formative and early political years, by Alexandra Roach. Regarding your point that Margaret Thatcher is not the first person still living to be portrayed in a movie favorably/or not so, I agree. [29][30][31] Former Conservative Party chairman Norman Fowler was more critical of the film and stated "She [Thatcher] was never, in my experience, the half-hysterical, over-emotional, over-acting woman portrayed by Meryl Streep. In my day, people wanted to do something, she suggests at one point. Not included on the soundtrack album or listings although credited among the eight songs at the end of the film is "I'm in Love with Margaret Thatcher" by Burnley punk band Notsensibles, which was re-released as a single due to the publicity. In no way would I hope the film would gloss over the exceedingly problematic bits of Thatchers politics. Either (a.) No Kennedy biopic will ever portray him choosing between his kids and the Presidency. There was her rise to power, the Falklands War, the miners, the bombing of the Grand, and even the palace coup against her. As she arrives in the bristling metropolis of London, she tidies away the toys from the car, locking them up in the glove compartment. Here that invitation is the closest Streeps come to camp. Theyre not shaking down an icon for something that explains who she was. (LogOut/ During this period, a slew of male colleagues and professionals instruct her on how to lower her voice to speak more like a man and less like a shrieking woman. Filming began in the UK on 31 December 2010, and the film was released in late 2011. We learn she has won a place at Oxford University, revealing her struggle, as a young lower-middle-class woman, attempting to break into a snobbish male-dominated Conservative Party and find a seat in the House of Commons, along with businessman Denis Thatcher's marriage proposal to her. indira iron lady comeback alike zara years tellyfeed Wesley Morris can be reached at wmorris@globe.com. Its interesting that Major is a complete non-entity here, which is probably worth a cheap joke or two. In the UK at least, I think it is certainly the case that for a woman to succeed in the male-dominated spheres of business, politics, etc, they will have to adopt the characteristics typically associated with masculinity. (Unlike, for example, the gossip you hear about other power couples.), I have had no interest in this film. Theres a wonderful film to be made about Thatcher. Its the ultimate backhanded compliment: the only way to make Maggi sympathetic is to paint her as a failed mother with a mental illness; J. Edgar is completely irredeemable unless hes in the closet. One saw the film having done no prior research as to the history and came away with a very positive image of Thatcher. She was phenomenal in her embodiment of the scripted character and I use the term character to attest to the fictional embodiment of an actual human being and her portrayal of a woman suffering from dementia was absolutely heartbreaking. Roles for women in the so-called Islamic State, Precedent & Perception: Muslim Records that Contradict Narrative on Women, Women Rights in Islam-A Reflexive Study Women Rights in Islam-A Reflexive Study in the Light of Islamic Injunctions and Teachings, Refutation of the Accusations and Doubts Regarding the Prophet's Dealings with Women, Women in Islam A DISCOURSE IN RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS.pdf, Women in IslamWhat the Quran and Sunnah say (Vol 40 - No1- Year 2022), , Gender discourse in Kitab al-Tabaqat al-Kubra: deconstructing Ibn Sa'd's portrayal of the model Muslim woman, Feminist Muslim (Re)interpretations of Early Islam, "A'isha bint Abi Bakr and Her Contributions to the Formation of the Islamic Tradition", Political Participation of women: Contemporary perspective of Gender and Islam, An historical perspective on Islamic modesty and its implications for female employment, Exploring The Scholarly Contribution of Female Successor Amrah bint Abd al-Ramn In Narration of Prophetic Tradition, Muslim Women as Religious Scholars: A Historical Survey, Women in the Workplace: shariah and Contemporary Perspectives, The Mujahidaat: Tracing the Early Female Warriors of Islam, A CRITIQUE OF CERTAIN ASPECTS OF ISLAMIC PERSONAL LAW IN NIGERIA: RE-EXAMINING THE JURISPRUDENCE OF WOMENS RIGHTS, Introduction to Translation of Sahih Muslim, Relations, Narrations, and Judgments: The Scholarly Networks and Contributions of an Early Female Muslim Jurist, THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD A UNIVERSAL EXEMPLAR FOR BUILDING A MUSLIM HOME, Sisters in Islams quest for the reinterpretation of the Quran and Hadith: An analysis of their views on equality, women judges, and polygamy, The Discource of Dress Code in Islamic Law, Jhilite and Muslim women: Questions of continuity and communal identity, Women in Different 'Societal' Roles and Responsibilities: An Investigation through Islamic Connotations and Teachings, [Chris Jones-Pauly, Abir Dajani Tuqan] Women Under(Book ZZ org), PROPHET AND PHILOSOPHER MOHAMMED: A PRECURSOR OF FEMINISM, The economic rights of women under islamic law the obstacles and challenges in contemporary nigeria, Appraisal of Muslim Women's Law against the backdrop of Maqasid al-Shari'a, Women leadership: Participation in Congregational Prayers, The Inheritance of Humayra - the role of the female Mufti (Muftiyya), Sahih muslim, volume 1__the Hadith of Bukhari. Must it show her wistfulness for such soft subjects and memories such as The King and I, dancing with her husband, and days with her children? She utters a lot of the famous lines, or versions of them: The Falkland Islands belong to Britain, and I want them back!. As the battle for political representation in the highest offices that many feminists are still fighting, I cant help but wonder if representations that play on stereotypes of women in leadership roles end up reifying certain tropes for the audience, especially when we are already used to seeing men in power and assume they can do the job? What do you think of the film? The Iron Lady has a lot going for it, but it never seems to rise to meet its ambitions. She wants us to watch her sack another part. Shes certainly a divisive political figure, but I think that her detractors and her supporters would both admit that the woman isnt a two-dimensional pop psychology case. [8], Thatcher's staunch opposition to the 1990 reunification of Germany is not mentioned. Contact us: subslikescript(doggysign)gmail.com |. If you wish to submit a post to Engenderings, you can contact us at gender.studies.blog@lse.ac.uk. Towards the end, M.T. begs him not leave, claiming she cant do it without him. I can understand the resentment of those in favour of Thatcher towards her portrayal in her old age but the film certainly presents an idealised image of her time in power and her political motives. Margaret Thatcher is an undeniably controversial figure who still arouses heightened passions in the UK. Despite the film's mixed reception, Streep's performance was widely acclaimed, and considered to be one of the greatest of her career. So we know Lloyd and Morgan dont intend to flatter her. For some, the movie may have been a travesty, but for me, it was a tragedy. Not even that, why does she have to sacrifice family for power because shes a woman? Now his ghost joins her to comment on her successes and failures, sometimes to her annoyance, generally to her comfort until ultimately, as the clothes are sent to the charity shop, Denis departs from Margaret's life forever. Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: Falklands War, film, Iron Lady, John Major, margaret thatcher, Movie, non-review review, oliver stone, Phyllida Lloyd, review, Richard E. Grant, thatcher, The Iron lady |. However, the ultimate portrayal of her as stubborn, shrill, a bad mother, and, near the end of her careere, touched by a slight case of megalomania leave little room for audience identification. In this post, LSE MSc Gender, Media, & Culture student Kimberly Killen explores her reaction to the film The Iron Lady. I find that approach far too calculated and cynical. Her struggles to fit in as a "Lady Member" of the House, and as Education Secretary in Edward Heath's Cabinet are also shown, as are her friendship with Airey Neave, her decision to stand for Leader of the Conservative Party, her eventual victory, including her voice coaching and image change. She received her 17th Oscar nomination for her portrayal and ultimately won the award for the third time, 29 years after her second Oscar win. 4. This was just a mess of a movie, and I bet it will cost Meryl the Oscar. They definitely echoed some of the issues I tried to work through in my drafts of writing this. Instead, the film tries to cram everythinginto a little over one hundred minutes. [16], The Iron Lady received mixed reviews from critics, although there was strong praise for Streep's performance. Its loosely feminist, although thats a term most feminists would object to seeing used anywhere near Thatchers name. Further flashbacks examine historical events during her time as Prime Minister, after winning the 1979 general election, including the rising unemployment related to her monetarist policies and the tight 1981 budget (over the misgivings of "wet" members of her Cabinet Ian Gilmour, Francis Pym, Michael Heseltine, and Jim Prior), the 1981 Brixton riot, the 19841985 UK miners' strike, and the bombing in Brighton of the Grand Hotel during the 1984 Conservative Party Conference, when she and her husband were almost killed.
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