March 10, 2022
By Vanessa Guevara
Staff Writer
This piece is part of The Lighthouse’s four-part collection celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8 and Women’s History Month.
“The Crown” (2016) chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy). This movie depicts the struggles Queen Elizabeth II faces both before and after marrying Prince Phillip (Matt Smith).
“I Am Woman” (2019) is a biographical film that focuses on single mother Helen Ready (Tilda Cobham-Heavey) who in 1966 left her old life in Australia for New York and stardom only to find out that the industry did not believe in her or take her seriously.
“RBG” (2019) This documentary explores the life of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her role in shaping the nation’s legal system. In her later years, she became a pop culture icon known as the “Notorious RBG.” She was born on the Upper East Side and earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. She went on to attend Harvard and Columbia Law Schools. Ginsburg founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union and was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1992 by then-President Bill Clinton. Ginsburg died in September 2020 at the age of 87.
“Reversing Roe” (2018) Through interviews with abortion rights supporters and opponents, this documentary addresses the decades-long political campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade. Before Roe, abortion was legal or decriminalized in a few states while most states criminalized or outlawed it. This movie notes the problems with abortion rights and how women are manipulated or put down for the decisions they make on behalf of themselves and their unborn children. The film also examines the religious right’s political impact in the 1980s with the election of President Ronald Reagan, the rise of the Moral Majority and fringe extremism in the 1990s in the form of violent abortion clinic bombings and horrific assassinations of doctors.
