I Like to Watch | Mrs. America (Hulu)
Trumpism is just Reaganism minus the niceties of at least pretending to be a decent human being.
Reagan ran against Carter as the Democrats were pursuing policies that were meat-and-gravy to the GOP: crime, inflation, high gas prices, humiliation, and evacuation in the Middle East. Add to that the cultural shifts toward more inclusion and a census that predicts a waning white male influence and the table is set for another Reagan Revolution or MAGA-inspired call toward American exceptionalism.
I lived through the rise of Reaganism; I was seduced by it for a time before I started to see through the ugliness behind pushing culture back to the 1950s. Reaganism was a solid line reaction to the the loud, messy, and societally progressive noise of the leftist activists of the 60s and it seems, upon reflection, as inevitable.
Civil Rights and anti-war apostles were pivotal yet, as the 70s slowly crept into being it was the feminist movement and the the 'women's libbers' who were most motivated and thus most feared by the Good Old Boy network. Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Gloria Steinem were the front-facing members of a club that represented the equal rights of women and almost pushed through the Equal Rights Amendment. An amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing equal rights for all citizens.
Opponents claimed it was redundant as the Constitution already guaranteed in vague terms that very right but those on the losing end of America's promise wanted something more concrete.
They were fierce. They were brave. They fought the good fight.
If there's one source of joy I embrace in film and television it's superhero shit. No johnny-come-lately, I loved that stuff before I had pubic hair so the fun I have watching any show featuring super-powered characters is incomparable. A close second is historical political dramas. I love 'em.
All the President's Men. Lincoln. Primary Colors. JFK, Frost/Nixon, The Trial of the Chicago Seven. The dramatization of real people doing the work of those who battle it out on a national scale to shape the country is fascinating and, when done well, feels like a living history lesson.
I dig the streaming world. I savor the nearly unlimited options. I was, until recently, a hold out on Hulu. The ads, I suppose. Yet, the platform has on offer so much that people declare as outstanding I had to finally give in and do that one-month free trial deal.
The first series on my list was Mrs. America.
Created and co-written by Davhi Waller and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Amma Asante, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and Janicza Bravo, the series details the political movement to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and the unexpected backlash led by conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly in the 1970s.
The nine-part series premiered on April 15, 2020 to widespread critical acclaim. At the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, it received ten nominations including Outstanding Limited Series and Outstanding Writing. In January 2021, the American Film Institute named Mrs. America as one of its ten best television shows of 2020.
In terms of casting, this brilliant television show managed the acting equivalent of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team: Cate Blanchett as Schlafly, Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem, Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan, Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm, Margo Martindale as Bella Abzug. Additionally, Elizabeth Banks as Jill Ruckelshaus, a Republican feminist activist, co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and Ari Graynor as Brenda Feigen, a feminist activist and attorney, the National Legislative Vice President of NOW.
Solving the problem of having that much star wattage as well as serious talent all mashed together is the device that each episode up to the eighth is individually titled and features a main character ("Phyllis," "Bella," "Shirley," etc.). Contrary to the idea that, in order to fully portray the fight for ratification one must demonize Schlafly (truthfully, an easy target), the writers and Blanchett give her a sense of humanity and purpose in her opposition to the ERA. While she is definitely the villain of the tale, she is a wholly relatable villain and not without merit.
Blanchett gives an edge and a deep sorrow at her circumstances. Byrne is fantastic as Steinem and embodies her look as well as her peculiar brand of celebrity activism in a manner I'd yet seen. I knew about Chisholm but had forgotten that she was the first black woman to run for president and Aduba certainly deserved her Emmy for the role.
Smack dab in the middle of every scene of the STOP ERA crowd of housewives is Sarah Paulson. She is not playing anyone famous or historical. Her Alice Macray is a fictional composite of the kind of woman who would be a part of Schlafly's movement. In each episode, her presence is felt but it seemed as I watched that to have an actor as superb as Paulson in such a tangential role was a bit of a waste.
Until episode eight entitled "Houston."
Without Schlafly for the first time, the STOP ERA women are invited to the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston to defend their cause. Alice is overwhelmed by her surroundings, goes to the hotel bar where she makes friends with a woman who appears to be a bedfellow but is actually in the feminist camp. The woman gives her a pill to relax which is really LSD.
Alice is tripping and looking for food amongst an entire complex of hippies, feminists, and the enemies of her stated cause. She sees the ERA movement in a completely new light and the anguish of her blindness to being a woman fighting against the women's cause strikes her like a bolt of lightning.
I've always enjoyed Paulson in just about everything she's ever done including her role in Sorkin's poorly received Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Here, though, in the penultimate episode, she shows the very heart of the entire program. As her Alice finds the discord in the approach of her friends and, specifically Phyllis, Paulson gifts us with an insight beyond the partisan divide so prevalent then, so destructive today.
She's extraordinary.
Up til that episode I was ready to declare Mrs. America the closest to a perfect season of television I've seen since Six Feet Under or The Wire. After the episode, I can declare that Mrs. America is one of the flawless examples of how history, television, and storytelling can meet and elevate as well as educate.
I love my superhero shows and these historical figures were no question superheroes.
