Revolutionary

So today I watched a movie called Revolutionary Road. I was on a plane coming home from Italy and I had 3 hours left so I figured I might as well fill it with an insightful film that would relax me and just let me ponder life for a few hours until I arrived home. Well I was, SO WRONG.

Keep in mind that I’m not clueless. I was fully aware that this was a drama directed by Sam Mendes, so it wasn’t exactly going to be a feel good flick. But I had no idea how much anger it would fuel inside me! First of all, the movie is set in 1955 Suburbia; and I having been a city girl my entire life, I am utterly fascinated by the quiet lives that families lead in these peaceful towns.

But I wasn’t angry over the fact it took place in the suburbs. The anger spurred when I realized the main focus of the film was about how a young couple who had once dreamed of such great things, conformed into this organized, boring life. The character that really spurred the anger inside me however, was April, Kate Winslet’s character. This woman is the quintessential housewife struggling just before the mass wave of feminism in the 1960s/1970s.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot…But April basically feels what so many unhappy housewives of that time felt: Hopeless, Suffocated, Unappreciated, etc. And with good reason! Nobody showed any interest in her opinions or dreams other than what she would be making for dinner! I’d like to point out that I’m not ranting about housewives or stay at home moms in general, that would be incredibly ignorant and hypocritical because my mother is a stay at home mom, and I have nothing but the upmost respect for housewives. I’m ranting about the women who are left without a choice in the matter. The women who are given this hope that they can possibly do something with their lives that they want to do, but instead learn that they are not taken seriously in the real world, they should be seen, not heard. It’s disgusting. Anyway, you just got a glimpse of the anger it spurred.

But I think feeling that anger is good. I remember when I was talking to Gloria Steinem last year I asked her what really kept her going against all the opposition against feminism, and she answered that it was that anger! She said that anger is what fuels the passion and the power in women everywhere to stand up against oppression. Personally, I think that feminism has come so far in society, but we have so much farther to go. Its time for girls to get angry!

- Colleen, 14, New York City