Suffragette Movie Analysis

The film, Suffragette looks at the struggles the women who fought for the right to vote went through. The film takes place in London 1912, prior to women having the right to vote. As a result, women's rights were not valued as much. Caffi states that "Every social institution should have as its sole reason for being that of assuring the happiness of the man conscious of his own individuality" (Caffi 1970). A man's happiness, needs, and desires at this time were much more valuable than a woman's. Men felt superior, even though women held jobs. The first lines of the film are "Women do not have the calmness of temperament or the balance of mind to exercise judgment in political affairs". Ultimately, stating that women were not qualified to lead …show more content…
Collectivism is when group values subordinate personal goals. The values of the group are primary. The actions portrait in the film reflect collective behavior. "collective behavior is voluntary, often spontaneous activity that is engaged in by a large number of people and typically violates dominant group norms and values" (Kendall 2002). All the women that choose to take part in the movement are voluntarily there because they see a better life in the future What the film does well is show that even within a group, people will often have to deal with personality clashes, internal contradictions, and even the ability to dedicate time. The leaders of the Suffragettes are a product of their background. They willingly go against who they are. Notably, this film acknowledged that the working class are the ones who endured the biggest hardships. Unlike the wealthy connected women, they were not able to pay police fines. As a result, they were held by the police longer or tortured. To emphasize this, wealthy women are able to give themselves to the movement more than the working class. For example, once Alice is arrested her bail is paid and she is able to go, suffering much less of the consequences. Maud, who underwent the biggest transformation from the first scene in the film to the end, was a member of the working class. Initially, she struggled to be a Suffragette, but once she became aware of the movement, …show more content…
Inspector Steed attempts to make Maud a tool. For instance, Maud is pressured by Inspector Steed to become an informant. In order to reason with her, he states "You're only fodder - for a battle none of you can win" presenting her with the opportunity to regain her life. He uses her indecisiveness to try to convey to her that the world will not change. With this intention, this became a manipulation of power. This is when a social power is manifested through control over perceptions. Rummel states that "Such power is a capability to control the situation and opportunities of a person to cause him to do something. By controlling the situation, manipulative power works through another's perception. A person only responds to what he perceived, and thus by influencing his perception one affects his interests and behavior. Controlling opportunities, limiting or expanding a person's behavior potentials, will affect his interests and dispositions" (Rummel, 1976). Maud declines this offer and comes to the realization that she was indeed a Suffragette. She chose to rebel as stated by Pankhurst "I would rather be a rebel than a slave". Maud undergoes a great transformation, which gave her great awareness. Although, her awareness came at a cost. Awareness was something Maud slowly came to terms with. She struggled with the losses she endured. In essence, those losses while painful to her were not as