Women's Studies Essay on the 2015 movie Suffragette, but about things that weren't in Suffragette

Suffragette movie essay question

Hi!
I'm to write an essay on whether or not the 2015 film Suffragette is intersectional, and how this contributes to a greater narrative of historical misrepresentation. My argument is that Suffragette is certainly not intersectional. There isn't a single black person in the movie. Not just among the characters featured in the film, but like, at all. Not even as an extra. Following suit there were no characters differently abled, LGBT, etc. Just white women. So my problem then becomes this: how do I write a paper about a movie talking about things the movie doesn't talk about? While not 'wandering' as it were?

Confused,
Kenny

I think that you should look at intersectionality in this film as it applies to all women, regardless of skin color, race, gender, or other social beliefs or requirements. Intersectionality is not limited to women of color. It covers everything in a social landscape. While I have not see this movie, I believe that, from the title alone, this is a female empowerment film that shows how women overcame the male mindset that women do not deserve the right to vote. Now remember, ALL women did not have the right to vote at the time, that includes women of color. Look, just because the women of color were not represented in the film does not mean that historically they were ignored. So you can discuss the film from that angle. Explain that although not represented in the film, the historical accomplishment represented in the movie had a direct effect on the right of Black women to vote. Remember though, that the issue isn't just about the lack of black women in the movie, it is the overall lack of international representation. So all women, from Black to Indian should have been represented in the film. This also means that the LGBTQ community, though underground at the time, also gained representation in the vote simply because the heterosexual women gained that right. You can talk about how the straight women called the shots, so to speak.

Talk about how the movie promoted rights for women regardless of all things that we consider important today. Those were not important factors back then because very few knew about the existence of and the need for intersectionality. They did not need to have specific representation of each intersection of the female society because the right to vote was not limited to only White women nor was it specifically given to only heterosexual women. This was a time when women's rights were across the board, regardless of everything we consider important to have specifically represented today.