Girl with a Pearl Earring
I used to have a teacher in elementary school (he was a staunch Republican and tried to get me to vote for Bush in the last presidential election) who used to say that priviledge equals responsibility. I think he mostly meant that if we were going to be allowed more freedom in school, we'd have to clean up after ourselves and be responsible for the school. But there is also the same quote in Ever After, one of my favorite films, where the prince's mother states that with priviledge (in this case the priviledge of being royalty) comes certain responsibility (the responsibility of running the kingdom).
Girl with a Pearl Earring also made me aware of my priviledge as a feminist living in this particular society. Some feminists think this priviledge makes us reponsible to spread our notions of feminism to all the women in the world so they can be extended the same freedoms. I'm not sure where the line is; in the name of freedom imperialism has thrived for centuries.
Griet is a poor peasant girl. In this film, she is forced to work for a rich family in order to support herself because her father is blind and can no longer support her. Servanthood meant doing whatever anyone said or losing your job. She puts up with a lot of abuse and an attempted rape. She does choose to have sex with a man she likes out of wedlock; the last servant who did that got pregnant and shamed for having sex out of wedlock. The father of the baby was rich and had no reprecussions. The man Griet has sex with asks her to marry him, saying that she'll no longer have to work for anyone (she'll be free, if free means bearing his children and taking care of his household). She doesn't want that either. The man she really seems to love, the man of the house (played by Colin Firth who looks so handsome with long hair and an unshaven face) is off limits, although there are some intimate scenes of him painting her. What an interesting world.
Girl with a Pearl Earring also made me aware of my priviledge as a feminist living in this particular society. Some feminists think this priviledge makes us reponsible to spread our notions of feminism to all the women in the world so they can be extended the same freedoms. I'm not sure where the line is; in the name of freedom imperialism has thrived for centuries.
Griet is a poor peasant girl. In this film, she is forced to work for a rich family in order to support herself because her father is blind and can no longer support her. Servanthood meant doing whatever anyone said or losing your job. She puts up with a lot of abuse and an attempted rape. She does choose to have sex with a man she likes out of wedlock; the last servant who did that got pregnant and shamed for having sex out of wedlock. The father of the baby was rich and had no reprecussions. The man Griet has sex with asks her to marry him, saying that she'll no longer have to work for anyone (she'll be free, if free means bearing his children and taking care of his household). She doesn't want that either. The man she really seems to love, the man of the house (played by Colin Firth who looks so handsome with long hair and an unshaven face) is off limits, although there are some intimate scenes of him painting her. What an interesting world.
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