Emmeline Pankhurst was a courageous and principled woman, who suffered unimaginable indignity and scorn, at the hands of many; great and small, male and female.
She fought tirelessly for "universal suffrage" and the rights of women to be treated as equals in society, and under the law. Mrs Pankhurst understood, in the way that only a true warrior does, when to take up the sword and when to lay it down; the very men for whom she fought bravely, and alas some of the women, treated her appallingly, even to the point of stoning her in the street.
Unfortunately, the film Suffragette, has wasted its opportunity to tribute this magnificent woman from the past, and all who strove to assist with, and eventually realise many of her dreams, and those of the WSPU.
For some reason best known to her, the director has taken a clichéd view of the struggle, through modern "feminist" eyes wearing rose tinted lenses. The period setting and the overall view of society in the time is captured reasonably well, but the heart beat and the soul of the magnificent yet ordinary women of the WSPU has been missed almost entirely.
The movement, and its central players, have been lampooned, degraded and exaggerated for years; Emmeline Pankhurst's wonderful auto biography In My Own Words, was both banned and ridiculed.
Suffragette should have been an opportunity to create a clean and truthful view of Mrs Pankhurst, her husband Richard, her daughters, and all the courageous women who stood by her, marched, fought for, and even died for, the great cause. Sadly, it misses the mark, for the want of a beating heart and a soul, so essential to the historical tapestry.
She fought tirelessly for "universal suffrage" and the rights of women to be treated as equals in society, and under the law. Mrs Pankhurst understood, in the way that only a true warrior does, when to take up the sword and when to lay it down; the very men for whom she fought bravely, and alas some of the women, treated her appallingly, even to the point of stoning her in the street.
Unfortunately, the film Suffragette, has wasted its opportunity to tribute this magnificent woman from the past, and all who strove to assist with, and eventually realise many of her dreams, and those of the WSPU.
For some reason best known to her, the director has taken a clichéd view of the struggle, through modern "feminist" eyes wearing rose tinted lenses. The period setting and the overall view of society in the time is captured reasonably well, but the heart beat and the soul of the magnificent yet ordinary women of the WSPU has been missed almost entirely.
The movement, and its central players, have been lampooned, degraded and exaggerated for years; Emmeline Pankhurst's wonderful auto biography In My Own Words, was both banned and ridiculed.
Suffragette should have been an opportunity to create a clean and truthful view of Mrs Pankhurst, her husband Richard, her daughters, and all the courageous women who stood by her, marched, fought for, and even died for, the great cause. Sadly, it misses the mark, for the want of a beating heart and a soul, so essential to the historical tapestry.