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When I first heard that Hollywood were investing so much time and money into Suffragette – the story of Maud Watts played by Carey Mulligan, a foot soldier in the war on equality and women’s rights to vote, I was genuinely shocked that it was finally happening. I could feel the excitement building inside of me; a film, about women in history, for everyone! But then the panic set in. What if they ruin this incredibly important part of history? What if like many other Hollywood feature films, they somehow manage to turn it into a love story? This panic that I suddenly felt is credit to how unfair and misogynistic the world can still be concerning the issues of women and I was not alone in my panic.
The year is 2006, with my friends I sat down for our History lesson opening our books as the teacher’s slideshow on ‘The Suffragette Movement’ flashes on screen. The next hour involved everyone learning of strong, revolutionary people in history, who just happened to be women. But by our next History lesson we were back to learning of historical moments that carried more importance in societies reflection of our past. Now in 2015 I find myself having to explain what the suffragette movement was and who they were to more people than I should expect, as most people who had a brief encounter with the suffragettes at school had long forgotten – unsurprisingly still remembering who Winston Churchill and Henry VIII were due to the extensive study we did on male historical figures.
Suffragette was more than I could have asked for, it made me angry, sad, happy and powerful. Breaking the common fantastical and damaging nature of Hollywood films, the violence was not glorified, each character had their own arch and it did not end how the audience wanted it to. It ends mid struggle leaving you burning for a resolution – and its then that it hits you; there has been no resolution. The message here? Do not let the world fool you into thinking that just because women did eventually win the vote, that it’s now fair. Coming out of the cinema last week after having watched Suffragette with more attention than I have watched anything else in a long time, I found myself bombarded with comments such as “are you going to vote now then?” “Wasn’t it that Pankhurst woman who threw herself into a horse?” “Was it good? I’m not sure if it’s my thing!” Excuse me, what? I try my absolute hardest to reign in the explosive thoughts running through my head. Flashes of the incredibly strong and undeniably human characters I had seen on screen plague me for days, I want to know more and so should you.
To those who asked me the questions they should have already known the answers to, I reply simply with this: I will vote when there is someone worth voting for. Emmeline Pankhurst was the leader of the British suffragette movement; it was Emily Wilding Davison who desperately threw herself in front of the King’s horse. And the film? It was incredible. You should watch it if only to educate yourself on our history, not just the version of history we were taught at school. To those who stand with the Suffragettes even today male or female, remember “never surrender, never give up the fight!”
Suffragette is in cinemas nationwide now.
Suffragette is in cinemas now
