Claws out in TV battle to be Mrs America

It’s a pure fluke that the programmes under review this week all begin with the letter M!

I’ve been catching up on the TV drama series Mrs America (BBC Two) which came to an end last Thursday. It was an absorbing dramatisation of the culture war between radical feminists and activist conservatives over the Equal Rights Amendment in the USA in the 1970’s.

While I found the show, predictably, much more favourable to the leftist side, it wasn’t quite as biased as I expected, with both sides humanised, and major flaws shown on both sides. Neither side is happy with the portrayal – some from the conservative side complain about the way their home life is portrayed, feminists accuse the show of promoting the ‘catfight theory of history’.

Leading conservative campaigner Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett) was portrayed as a tough campaigner, politically astute, a loving family woman, perhaps imperious and patronising at times and sometimes insensitive to her friends.

Negatives

These negatives became more pronounced as the nine-episode series developed, but as with all such dramatisations of history the average viewer has no way of knowing whether this truly represents the actual person, so there’s always the strong possibility of deep and hurtful injustice.

On the other side Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne), is a young feminist activist, flaky at times (politically and personally), unsure of herself, a gung-ho advocate for abortion, though a flashback seems to show her pushed into having an abortion when she was a vulnerable young woman.

Principles struggle with pragmatism as she tries to get the Democrats to support abortion – in the wheeling and dealing prior to a key vote at a convention she wants ‘right-to-lifers’ not be allowed to speak – she doesn’t want to hear anyone calling abortion ‘murder’ just before a vote. The pro-life position isn’t articulated as strongly as the pro-choice argument – the humanity of the unborn and the human rights argument against abortion barely feature.

The race issue surfaces, mainly through efforts to get a black woman, Shirley Chisholm on the presidential ticket, which leads to more splits among the feminists – again principles vs pragmatism. At one of Schlafly’s meeting she is uneasy at the racist talk of one of her supporters and quickly ushers her off stage. The other side however is quite enthusiastic about throwing around unfounded slurs about involvement of the Ku Klux Klan in her movement.

Most of the focus is on the feminist activists. They are given more attention, are seen as heroes, especially in the last episode, though it’s warts and all – in these ranks there is considerable in-fighting and disloyalty, and personal lives are characterised by broken marriages, threesomes, sleeping around and more.

And yet we see at times that women on both sides of the polarised debates have common concerns – all have to put up with chauvinistic men, two-faced politicians, and family problems. In one episode we see both Schlafly and one of the feminists hugging their daughters in times of difficulties. And yet they seem to be from different planets, with gaps in age, attitude, dress sense, politics and temperament.

In one pre-debate meeting in a washroom Schlafly and radical feminist Betty Friedan (Tracey Ullman) trade smart remarks, yet in a couples debate Schlafly and her husband have a friendly chat with the opposing couple.

Content wise this is a show for adults. An anti-marriage play is particularly crude, and there’s a bizarre sequence when a ‘Mass’ said by a feminist nun is attended by a conservative woman, Alice (a fictional composite character) who has had too much to drink. Same-sex relationships are portrayed rather frankly.

As drama it is riveting, with brilliant performances all round, but, apart from names, facts and looks, how much is historically true? For the uninformed the drama may become the history.

Welcome

In the real Mass that was on RTE One last Sunday the camera stayed on Bishop Dermot Farrell of Ossory rather than the musicians during the key parts of the Offertory, the Bishop thanked RTE staff for their “gracious welcome and professionalism” and bid a nice farewell to cameraman Tommy Kavanagh who was retiring.

Finally, the Muppets returned last week. The new series Muppets Now (Disney+) was passable entertainment, but not that funny, though I did like the chaotic sketch with the Swedish Chef. The main human guest star was actor and drag queen Ru Paul. Oh how things have changed.

Pick of the Week

Mass

RTÉ News Now, Monday, August 10, 10.30 am, continuing daily

Daily Mass live streamed and now available on RTÉ Player.

In Step with Newman

EWTN, Tuesday, August 11, 7 pm, Wednesday, August 12, 8 am

A visual tour of places associated with the Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman, including a visit to his private chapel and personal library in the Birmingham Oratory.