fragile power

Jadon 2022-03-28 08:01:02

A few years ago, I read Chai Jing's article called "The Great Fragility", about the fragile side behind three amazing people, MJ, Oprah, and Princess Diana. Psychology says that humans are attracted to people who are capable but occasionally show small flaws. I think this is what this article means. We pursue the bright side of the great man, but the fragility behind it will arouse our sympathetic understanding and resonance, and on the contrary, it can win people's hearts.
I was also reminded of a vulnerable woman named Rosa Parks, whom Congress called the mother of the modern civil rights movement. In 1955, people of color still lived very hard, and even the bus separated people of color from white people. Rosa, who was tired after get off work, sat in the color area, but because the white seat was full, the driver asked Rosa to Standing up to make way for the white man, Rosa refused, preferring to be arrested than to have her rights violated. This event directly contributed to the black civil rights movement. But Rosa's temperament is not as tough and sturdy as everyone imagines. She is really shy and quiet.
Rita in "Made in Dagenham" is also such a woman, shy on the outside, but resolute on the inside. There is a huge disparity in the treatment of women and men, and although women's work is also very heavy, women's wages are very low because of gender alone. Rita stood up appropriately and shouted the slogans of "equality of wages" and "equality of men and women". She is a very ordinary woman, but this is the moving part, isn't it? I've seen so many speeches that are free-flowing, either motivating or outrageous, but I can't help but cry when Rita is almost trembling and plucking up the courage to make her point. I guess that's the power of fragility.
A woman with a slightly shy personality, she is vulnerable but not weak against the huge state apparatus. When talking to Barbara, she said, "We are all ordinary female workers, and so are you." Rita is very smart, she got out of the misunderstanding of her thinking early, and told the world, "This is how the hell should be, we have to be equal! "
The three experiences of Rita in the movie made me cry. First, she was trembling, and for the first time in the sweltering workshop, she shouted the slogan: "Wage Equality". The second time was when her husband said, I don't drink, I don't beat my kids, I've tried my best. Rita couldn't hide her anger and pain, "What do you think is the point of a strike? ... You don't drink, you don't beat children, but everything should be like this!" The third time she spoke to everyone at the convention, calling for Equality between men and women. I think what makes Rita attractive is that she is fragile and ordinary. But she was so bold, so powerful, so clever, so wise.
The gap in front of everyone is actually not difficult to bridge. Most importantly, give it a try. I was in Taipei, and the day after watching the film, I saw this sentence on a roadside sign calling for same-sex marriage to be allowed. No matter what level of society develops, there will be some drawbacks and blind spots. What we need to do is to try it out and see what we can achieve, so that the world can be changed a little bit because of you.

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Extended Reading
  • Sterling 2022-04-22 07:01:55

    Feminist movement inspirational film.

  • Troy 2022-04-22 07:01:55

    Greatness comes from the ordinary.

Made in Dagenham quotes

  • [following her talk with Rita, Connie and the rest of the Dagenham women, Barbara Castle makes a statement to the waiting journalists]

    Barbara Castle: I am delighted to announce that, following our talks this afternoon, the 187 Ford machinists *will* be going back to work on the 1st of July. They will receive an immediate pay rise of seven pence an hour which will put them at 92 percent of the male rate. However this is not all. As a result of our discussion, I can confirm that the Government is in full support of the creation of an Equal Pay Act, and by the autumn of this year I guarantee appropriate legislation to ensure that this act becomes law!

  • [Peter Hopkins is entertaining Ford boss Robert Tooley at home. He clearly regards Lisa as a wife whose only purpose is to look pretty and to be a cook, but Robert sounds out her opinions]

    Robert Tooley: Lisa. Do you mind if I call you Lisa? You must have quite a head on your shoulders. Peter tells me that you read history at Cambridge.

    Lisa Hopkins: [nervously] Yes I did.

    Robert Tooley: Mind if I ask: what do you think of our little problem over at the factory? Do you think maybe he's a bit too much velvet glove, not enough iron fist?

    Lisa Hopkins: Not at all, no. Quite the opposite, actually. Look at Vauxhall. *They* don't have any problems with the unions. And that seems to be because General Motors have a more collaborative approach to management. Whereas at Ford you only deal with the unions because you *have* to. You tolerate them. And as a result they're more entrenched and they're aggressive in their dealings with you.

    [Robert and Peter look speechless]

    Robert Tooley: [patronisingly] Well that's a very *progressive* point of view.