The Magdalene Sisters
Natasha Juvera
Women in World History 205
Professor Reanne Eichele
20 October 2015
The Magdalene Sisters is a harrowing look at institutional cruelty, perpetrated by the Catholic Church in Ireland. In my review of the movie, The Magdalene Sisters, written and directed by Peter Mullan in 2002, powerfully illuminates contemporary Irish society’s obligation to the survivors of the nation’s Magdalen institutions. Mullan documents the culpability of the church, state, family, and community in maintaining the open secret of the laundries and the abuse of thousands of women confined therein. Cultural representations of other institutional abuses, especially related to widespread physical and sexual abuse in the …show more content…
To be a courageous woman whether in battle leading the French Army or being in an asylum deserves the same respect. After my research it seems interesting enough for me that I would recommend the Magdalene Sisters to anyone who would like to know about the history of women in Ireland, many have never even heard of them. I could not imagine that such a place as the laundry run by The Order of Magdalene Sisters could exist until I saw this film. One thing that interested me about the film was the fact that I had never even heard of the horror these women went through nor the fact that this place ever existed. The Magdalene Sisters is a work of fiction, the abuses it depicts are allegedly based on credible survivor accounts of life in the Magdalene institutions, which are said to have taken in as many as 30,000 women between their inception in the 1880s and their final closing in 1996. In fact, there are reports that, according to some survivors, the abuses depicted in The Magdalene Sisters actually fall short of the worst that really happened. The most controversial part of the film was the role of the Catholic nuns, priests, and persons of authority being presented as evil. Many get upset because they feel not all Catholic figures were seen this way. According to Josephine McCarthy, who was “a Magdalene” in the 1960’s, described her …show more content…
Accessed December 5, 2015.
James M. Smith. “The Magdalene Sisters: Evidence, Testimony…Action?
Signs, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Winter 2007), pp. 431-458 http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/508375.pdf. Inglis, Tom : Origins and legacies of Irish prudery: Sexuality and social control in modern Ireland. Eire-Ireland, 40 (3 & 4) 2005-05, pp.9-37. http://hdl.handle.net/10197/5112
McVay, Pamela. Envisioning Women in World History. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009.
"News Features." News Features. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=26355.
"Origins and Legacies of Irish Prudery: Sexuality and Social Control in Modern Ireland." ResearchGate. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/236722661_Origins_and_Legacies_of_Irish_Prudery_Sexuality_and_Social_Control_in_Modern_Ireland
. "The Magdalene Sisters Controversy (2003) | Decent Films - SDG Reviews." Decent Films. Accessed December 1, 2015. http://decentfilms.com/articles/magdalenesisters.
"The Magdalene Sisters Movie Review (2003) | Roger Ebert." All Content. Accessed December1, 2015.
Natasha Juvera
Women in World History 205
Professor Reanne Eichele
20 October 2015
The Magdalene Sisters is a harrowing look at institutional cruelty, perpetrated by the Catholic Church in Ireland. In my review of the movie, The Magdalene Sisters, written and directed by Peter Mullan in 2002, powerfully illuminates contemporary Irish society’s obligation to the survivors of the nation’s Magdalen institutions. Mullan documents the culpability of the church, state, family, and community in maintaining the open secret of the laundries and the abuse of thousands of women confined therein. Cultural representations of other institutional abuses, especially related to widespread physical and sexual abuse in the …show more content…
To be a courageous woman whether in battle leading the French Army or being in an asylum deserves the same respect. After my research it seems interesting enough for me that I would recommend the Magdalene Sisters to anyone who would like to know about the history of women in Ireland, many have never even heard of them. I could not imagine that such a place as the laundry run by The Order of Magdalene Sisters could exist until I saw this film. One thing that interested me about the film was the fact that I had never even heard of the horror these women went through nor the fact that this place ever existed. The Magdalene Sisters is a work of fiction, the abuses it depicts are allegedly based on credible survivor accounts of life in the Magdalene institutions, which are said to have taken in as many as 30,000 women between their inception in the 1880s and their final closing in 1996. In fact, there are reports that, according to some survivors, the abuses depicted in The Magdalene Sisters actually fall short of the worst that really happened. The most controversial part of the film was the role of the Catholic nuns, priests, and persons of authority being presented as evil. Many get upset because they feel not all Catholic figures were seen this way. According to Josephine McCarthy, who was “a Magdalene” in the 1960’s, described her …show more content…
Accessed December 5, 2015.
James M. Smith. “The Magdalene Sisters: Evidence, Testimony…Action?
Signs, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Winter 2007), pp. 431-458 http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/508375.pdf. Inglis, Tom : Origins and legacies of Irish prudery: Sexuality and social control in modern Ireland. Eire-Ireland, 40 (3 & 4) 2005-05, pp.9-37. http://hdl.handle.net/10197/5112
McVay, Pamela. Envisioning Women in World History. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2009.
"News Features." News Features. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=26355.
"Origins and Legacies of Irish Prudery: Sexuality and Social Control in Modern Ireland." ResearchGate. Accessed December 5, 2015. http://www.researchgate.net/publication/236722661_Origins_and_Legacies_of_Irish_Prudery_Sexuality_and_Social_Control_in_Modern_Ireland
. "The Magdalene Sisters Controversy (2003) | Decent Films - SDG Reviews." Decent Films. Accessed December 1, 2015. http://decentfilms.com/articles/magdalenesisters.
"The Magdalene Sisters Movie Review (2003) | Roger Ebert." All Content. Accessed December1, 2015.