Christians could teach feminists one crucial lesson that we learned and is sadly applicable to women: God has no grandchildren. In less than one generation, all the advances and lessons learned can be erased. I’ve seen it in my lifetime, which is not that long, but I also watch a lot of movies: The Chaperone, On the Basis of Sex, Wild Nights with Emily, etc. A character will bemoan how horrible the past was. Characters pat themselves on the back for how far women have come and believes that we are finally enlightened in our treatment of women who will have more opportunities as a result. It is finally the era of the woman. Women aren’t going to take it anymore, and things have really changed THIS time. Yikes! Sounds familiar? Sure there is objective progress, but it is more like a cha cha, except it isn’t a fun dance. It is like we’re wearing the Red Shoes.
I’m less fascinated with progress and deeply and personally invested in the psychological toll that it takes on women to constantly feel as if they are pioneers, work hard and earnestly to make advances that they genuinely believe will make a difference then witness all their hard work turn into ashes. I think that there is a pattern that isn’t discussed enough, but has been noted in class in America versus Europe. In America, people feel individually deficient for the failings of a system versus their European counterparts. I think that pioneering women regardless of country of origin experience a similar psychological phenomenon.
Letters from Baghdad is a documentary about Gertrude Bell, who travelled the Middle East, probably contributed to the state of the Middle East today because of her work with the British colonialist government and founded the National Museum of Iraq. This film had unfairly harsh and poor reviews, especially considering that Maria by Callas was praised for using similar narrative techniques, but was haphazardly organized in comparison. Honestly I think that they wanted a movie about the overall history of the region, not a biographical focused film. The movie is solely devoted to primary sources from people who knew Bell and Bell herself. Actors on and off screen read the words of the historical figures that they are depicting. Much of the archival film and photographs used were made by Bell herself or at least were generally from that time period, which is a technique used in They Shall Not Grow Old. There are no talking heads explaining the context with the benefit of hindsight so for viewers such as myself who are unfamiliar with the history of that region, it can get confusing, but does not hurt one’s overall understanding of the story.
Essentially Bell’s story is a familiar one. She individually seeks adventure and freedom away from home, which would require her to be tamer in her achievements since she would have to conform to gender norms in her homeland. In another country, her Britishness and whiteness permit her to escape the requirements of gender norms in another country—at least for awhile. Eventually the British government realizes that they can use her expertise for their own use. She thinks that she is advocating for the locals to rule themselves and aiding in the transition of power, but psych, nope, oil. Even her efforts to help are colored by her origins so her decision to draw country lines and appoint kings may have been well intentioned, but ultimately ill advised. While exploiting her gifts, many of her colleagues are like, “Ew, she is a girl.” She is eventually pushed out and forgotten then there is the implication that she commits suicide rather than return home and be idle, but her health was also poor due to other personal and professional losses and the effect of the climate.
I found numerous similarities in the trajectories of the lives of Gertrude Bell as depicted in Letters from Baghdad, Kusama: Infinity and Finding Vivian Maier. They’re hard working pioneers without personal lives though the reasons for that vary among the women. They do achieve some of their ambitions, but are eventually solidly put in their place, which either exacerbates an existing or signals the start of a mental illness. Kusama is the only one who has time on her side then survives long enough to see her work recognized. Hansberry’s a raisin in the sun is the best metaphor for this pattern.
When Bell first goes to the Middle East and starts receiving recognition for her work, she writes, “I have become a person in Syria.” There is something invigorating and life giving about being able as a human being to use all the gifts that you possess to achieve something without other people stopping you for some arbitrary reason such as you fit society’s definition of being a woman. Near the end of her life, she writes, “In spite of all I’ve said about my activities in the office, you must please remember that I am not a person.” People recognize that men too closely equate their value with work, and women are no different, it is just that society is more inclined to see mental illness as an endemic characteristic to a woman’s psychological makeup than a man.
One aspect of Letters from Baghdad that I really enjoyed is hearing how others, including her male champions, thought of Bell compared and contrasted with what she thought that she was trying to accomplish. She eagerly tries to connect with women and create “society” for them, but everyone else sees her as high-handed except for one educated woman. Bell is quite lonely for camaraderie, especially when fulfillment through work is gradually disappearing. Only Dorothy Hess, an educated American missionary, seems to have understood and reciprocated Bell’s cultivation of their relationship. From men, she did not want special treatment just the same treatment as other men received, but many could not look past her gender.
Science has discovered that rejection registers the same as physical pain in the way that it impacts the brain. It doesn’t matter if that rejection is rooted in individual characteristics or irrational discrimination. It would have the same effect on a person regardless of the reason behind the slight. Has this phenomenon been applied to groups that experience discrimination? I’m not a psychological expert, but I have noticed the pattern. Each gain made and loss by a woman seems to be easily erased from being disseminated collectively like a blackboard.
We have to try and retain this knowledge and more deliberately pass it on to the next generation to better arm ourselves and become more resilient by not attributing our psychological turmoil to biological or individual circumstances, but as part of a collective cycle experienced by women who are forced to act like pioneers and create a path in the sand that seems to get erased every generation. Will there ever be a point when we are not inventing the wheel as we try to fulfill our ambition? Letters from Baghdad shows that Bell, for all her flaws and achievements, is just part of a familiar cycle and story experienced by women of all times and ages. I think that we can learn from the lesson of her life and other historical pioneering women to avoid the psychological trauma and pitfalls of the patriarchy.