Suffragette Analysis

Still from the movie, Suffragette.
 

There is a mixed representation of women in this film. At the beginning of the film, the original suffragettes are represented very negatively. The first we see of these women is when Maud - the protagonist- is accidentally caught in the middle of a suffragette demonstration. The women are shown sporadically destroying the window display that Maud was admiring. This gives the audience the immediate impression that the Suffragettes are a negative group of women, and initially makes them side with Maud and the other characters who do not agree with their actions.

The characters in the film represent a variety of different types of women, as seen in the above picture. The Suffragettes were made up of women from very working class backgrounds, middle class educated backgrounds, and also very wealthy political backgrounds. This shows the audience that the suffragette campaign inspired and effected people from all walks of life, and it brought women together as one unit.

The use of different camera shots was also effective. In the scenes where the women were rioting, or being charged by the police - any scene with chaos-the shot changes were fast and the shown quick
moving images of women being caught, pushes and knocked down to mimic the panic of the women involved. This makes the audience engage more with the action on screen as it is fast pace and grabs their attention.

Men are represented negatively in this film as they are the main cause of the antagonist in the film (the law stating women do not have the right to vote). In particular Maud's husband Sonny, he is representing the average British working class man, who earns a living for his family and see's his wife as no more than a wife and a mother. As the film progresses he also represents all of the sacrifices the Suffragettes had to make in order to fight for their cause- the loss of her old comfortable life with a husband and a son.