How watching a western movie shaped my perception and opinion on women struggle. How when I watched it first, years ago, I thought it’s liberating and refreshing. I was not aware that this is not intended for me, because growing up in a patriarchal society made it seem like we were fighting the same fight. That somehow, as a female audience, I would also carry with me mind expanding ideas to break barriers and charge forward bravely.
It turned out, for me at least, it’s still colonialism. The movie is great, I admire the characters, I believed in the validity of their struggles. Being rewarded a spot in a society that has its systems built for men to succeed and women’s heads were filled with “education” to roles they were born to fill. The goal is to marry well.
It tells of a struggle of an educator who will not compromise and is on a mission to expand the minds of her students, to think beyond what they were told to through art. To feel their own emotions, to consider their own value, and to acknowledge that their own existence also meant that they have to accept themselves as whole separate people. They were not defined merely by their husband, their children and their family.
Looking at the lens of our own personal history as a nation colonized by the west for hundred of years, where our identity were erased under the guise of evangelization, modernization and civilization. Watching this movie made me want to watch all the movies made by our own country to shed light in our shared struggles to liberate ourselves from a colonial mindset.
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