For starters, one of the commentators is Dana Feliciano, a woman who rails against higher education for girls. Her rationale? While studying to become a doctor, Feliciano was supposedly coerced into having an abortion by feministically minded classmates. After watching a film about human fetal development in a med school class, she realized that she had made the wrong decision, and her conscience told to quit school in order to be a Godly woman. To be perfectly honest, I respect Ms. Feliciano's position; in fact, I agree with her in that I could never have an abortion. If I create anything, including a child, I feel that I must complete the project. However, I also believe that it is extreme to be totally against college educations for young women. Feliciano claims that college is unecessary for girls. I beg to differ-- college is absolutely essential in this day and age. (Then again, I'm probably a bit biased here, given my occupation.)
Secondly, anti-feminist "heroine" Phyllis Schlafly and cohort F. Carolyn Graglia argue that feminists are woefully unhappy beings. This is absolutely not true! On the contrary, I wake up joyous every morning, do not have a chip on my shoulder, and try to put a positive spin on all of life's lovely little curveballs. More importantly (drumroll, please...), I actually like men and am searching for the right one for me.
Another bone I have to pick with this documentary is that it features a former military cadet, "Jane Doe," who discusses the horrors of being female in the U.S. Army. The message here is that it is ungodly for women to serve in the military. The fact of the matter is that if we were really following God's ways, we wouldn't need armed forces at all, because there would be no war. (The Bible is quite explicit about this. See Isaiah 2:4 and Matthew 5:9 for references.) Unfortunately, this is not the case, and women are currently serving in the military alongside their male counterparts. These women in uniform are just as deserving of our honor and respect as men in uniform are. Also in this segment, narrator Emily Gunn, wife of filmmaker Colin, tells viewers that women in the military cost lives. Uh, no, honey, greedy, power-hungry, and predominately male leaders who start pre-emptive wars for personal gain cost lives.
In addition, many of the commentators, especially Jennie Chancey, Stacy McDonald (two of the most irritating people imaginable, only they're for real), Carmon Friedrich, and Kathleen Smith rhapsodize housework and claim that women should forego jobs and educations in favor of the joys of household tasks. Okay, let me make it official in writing: This will never, ever happen in the Ashleyverse! There is no way in Hades that I would betray my academic bent in exchange for life as a servant in my own home. I mean, I scrubbed my toilet and have done several loads of laundry this week, but that doesn't change the fact that we are in the midst of two wars and an economic recession. In other words, my moral conscience is beckoning me out into the world in order to try to solve its problems-- with heavy-duty emphasis on the "try" part. In one segment, Friedrich-- who not surprisingly homeschools her ten children-- even goes so far as to say that young ladies should submit to their earthly fathers' protection. I'm sorry, but I feel that I owe it to my daddy to go out into the "real world" and make my mark on it. The most irksome aspect of this whole philosophy is that it is basically a list of "don'ts" for girls and women. It's my view, to borrow a great slogan I heard someplace, that well-behaved women rarely make history. Call me crazy, but that's how my Christian parents raised me.
My final gripe about TMROW concerns the quality, or rather, lack thereof, of its editing. The main issue here is that the movie is simply edited very poorly in places. For example, one of the commentators is University of Edinburgh (Scotland) English professor and historian Sharon Adams. During the main feature, Dr. Adams talks about John Knox, author of the essay from whose title the film's title is derived, in a way that seems to suggest that she supports Knox's view that women should be subservient to men, not hold political office, and are basically walking baby receptacles. (Note: Feminists are the so-called "monstrous regiment." Hmm...) In the bonus features section, however, there is another interview with Dr. Adams in which she clearly states that in 16th-century Europe, bearing many children was a survivalist, utilitarian practice. Thus, the filmmakers, the Gunn Brothers, wind up contradicting themselves and presenting a rather badly researched documentary. This ultimately destroys the movement's already questionable credibility.
So, there you have it, folks, my uncensored opinion of yet another documentary. Believe it or not, I have even more to say about Monstrous Regiment and will do so sometime in the coming weeks. Right now, I must return to thinking happy thoughts.
No comments:
Post a Comment