Movie Review: Norma Rae

Sally Field’s career, honestly, hasn’t meant much to me. Aside from recent Boniva commercials, Forrest Gump, and Steel Magnolias, I haven’t seen much of her work. She’s always struck me as a respectable actress, but not someone I seek out from a personal interest. Not being familiar with her early career, her so-called serious turn in Norma Rae was lost on me. What wasn’t lost, however, was an honest portrayal of a working woman, and a social issue that continues to dog women and men (though women, I suspect, suffer more from lack of unions) everywhere.

A primary question about social fiction is whether the story remains relevant, or if the sociopolitical situation remains mired in the past. Norma Rae does retain relevance, though she’d likely be working in Wal-Mart today instead of a textile mill (as I watched, I wondered how many textile mills still operate in the U.S.). While the movie seems to be a window on a past time in working America, it’s still relevant—and progressive—on many levels.

The plot of Norma Rae is inspired by the real life experience of Crystal Lee Jordan, a woman who worked in a North Carolina mill to unionize its employees, spurred on by an out-of-town organizer, until being fired on a bogus charge of "insubordination." Norma Rae (played by Field, who won the Best Actress Oscar for the role) lives with her parents in the beginning of the movie, and reunites with an old friend who she marries after a brief courtship. As Norma Rae becomes more involved with union activities, the she experiences the usual relationship (romantic, familial, and work) strains, but doesn't quit until the mill bosses force her out. It's at this time she makes her famous stand; she refuses to leave, scrawls "UNION" on a piece of cardboard, stands on a table in the middle of a busy factory floor, and stoically remains--in an exhilarating climax to the film--until all her fellow employees shut down their machines and stand with her. She's arrested and fired in the end, but finishes what she started and believed in.

It's true that Field gives a standout performance, and the union-organizer Rueben (played by Ron Liebman) isn't bad either. But what stands out for me in the film--and what makes this, in my opinion, a good piece of feminist muckraking--is the character's relationship with men. We don't learn too much about her relationship with other women, but what's striking about her relationship with men is the lack of romanticism involved. Norma Rae has a couple of kids from a couple of different men--neither of whom are present in their lives--and when she marries Sonny, it's for entirely pragmatic reasons. He proposes while on a date with both their children present, and makes his case to her that he's a good man and that their lives might be easier if they lived them together. There's no grand romance, and it's refreshing to see marriage represented as the economic institution that it essentially is--particularly in the face of contemporary Hollywood, which just can't seem to make a movie without a romantic sub-plot geared toward female viewers.

The other--and more prominent--relationship in the movie is between Norma Rae and Rueben. I admit that while watching the movie I waited for romance to blossom between these two characters, but felt great relief when it never happened. We see their relationship go from cautious skepticism to a fully fledged friendship, as Norma Rae becomes dedicated to the union cause. There are few representations of purely intellectual relationships (not to mention asexual friendships) between men and women that come to mind in movies, and though one could certainly argue that there is sexual antagonism underlying their interaction, it's an emotion that stays below the surface, never consummated--all the way to their farewell handshake at the end of the movie.

Norma Rae isn’t a super mother, nor does she fit the description of a woman we’re typically supposed to look up to. She's made mistakes in her life and she'll probably make a few more. She's not looking to move away from her roots and improve her life based on others' terms; she doesn't act out of selfish desire. In other words, she's a rarity in film: a real woman.

Welcome to Bitch Flicks

What is Bitch Flicks?

Bitch Flicks is a website devoted to reviewing films through a feminist lens. We’re interested in conversation about movies—good and bad—and the roles that women play in them. We strongly believe that movies both shape and reflect social values, and that the post-feminist leanings of many women today are misguided.

Not all movies we’ll review are feminist. We love all kinds of movies; whether blockbuster, foreign, independent, comedy, romance, period piece, art house, western, drama, thriller, horror, experimental, or science fiction—or any combination of these—we’ll treat movies with the same kind of respect they show their viewers. We might even look at TV shows.

It's also worth noting that we're not interested in reviewing only new movies--we're not in the business of getting you out to spend money at the theater. We see movies at the theater and on dvd from the video store, online, and the library. We're also not concerned with "spoilers." While we'll try not to give away twists in new movies, we believe that a movie's plot is often its least interesting element, especially when thinking about implications for women.

The bottom line is that we need feminism, and we also need Bitch Flicks.

Why Bitch Flicks?

We love movies—and watch so many that we thought we’d try to turn our movie watching into something productive. What we don’t love about movies, however, is how rarely we see smart, complex women represented.

In October 2007, Jeff Robinov—President of Production at Warner Brothers Films—declared that the company would no longer greenlight films with female leads. Whether this remains official company policy isn’t as important as the implications of this statement: women are seen as a liability—unless, of course, they play second string to a male character.

We—and you—know all too well the kind of women’s movies out there: chick flicks. When asked to describe a “chick flick,” perhaps the first definition that comes to mind is that it’s a movie a man wouldn’t want to watch. And a movie many women wouldn't want to watch, incidentally, either.

A majority of so-called serious films today—and in the past—are shockingly unconcerned about women, and some seem to exist in a world completely inhabited by men. Yet women are generally expected to see and like these "great" films.

Bitch Flicks seeks to bridge the gulf between these two extremes. We want to give women a unique voice, and we want to engage women and men in conversations about persistent sexism in film. We also wish to publicly demand that Hollywood and filmmakers across the United States and the world stop pandering to inaccurate and sexist views about who women are and what women want—in regards to movies, at least.

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