What to Watch: Mrs America
Cate Blanchett in Mrs America. Via Twitter
Is there anything Cate Blanchett can’t do? The Oscar winner is willing to go as far as it takes in pursuit of her craft – including forgoing her personal, feminist beliefs – to star in and executively produce Mrs America, a gripping television drama that deconstructs the second-wave-feminist movement in the US. Blanchett has always been vocal about her stance on gender equality, so to see her play Phyllis Schlafly, the anti-feminist who led a grassroots campaign to derail the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), just means she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty.
The plot
Like the standard Hollywood blockbuster, it’s glitzy and glamourous (the sets and their people have all been painstakingly recreated to resemble the disco-drenched early 1970s), only this time, it focuses on the women who fought for equal rights for men and women in the American constitution – as well as those who opposed them. The nine-part dramatisation tells the story of the political movement to pass the ERA; essentially a mix of legendary real-life women, the fight for gender equality, with some on point production standards and costume design. What could be better?
The cast
Blanchett lights up the screen as Phyllis Schlafly, a right-wing conservative lawyer and organiser who campaigned against the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment, arguing that it would disadvantage housewives and force women into the military. Her suits are as sharp as her icy glances – it’s a role she plays well – she’s more than just a simple on-screen villain here.
Rose Byrne in Mrs America. Via Twitter
Bridesmaids actress, the marvellous and underrated Rose Byrne, takes on the role Schlafly’s nemesis and subsequent feminist movement icon, Gloria Steinem (right down to the spectacles), while Orange Is the New Black star Uzo Aduba plays Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president during the 1972 presidential run. Two brilliant women who found a formidable foe in Phyllis Schlafly.
Her conservative pals, played by Melanie Lynskey, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and the always excellent Sarah Paulson, also feature with political organiser Bella Abzug (played by Margot Martindale), token conservative Jill Ruckelshaus (played by Elizabeth Banks) and feminist pioneer Betty Friedan (played by Tracey Ullman) all who round off a superb cast.
Why watch it
It remains relevant to the battle womenkind are still facing. Especially in light of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s experience with Ted Yoho this week (and her impeccable response) and Trump’s 2020 America, sadly means it’s never too late to go back over the fights once hard-won and gotten. It’s important to remember there will always be those willing to rise up and fight, no matter the odds. Beneath the infusion of optimism it, at times presents, is an odd sense of foreboding too; 50 years on the ERA remains un-passed. When we start to watch, we know how it ends, but as ever, it’s the journey – that still goes on today – that remains captivating and endures.
Mrs America airs on Wednesdays on BBC2 at 9pm
Jennifer McShane, July 2020.
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