20th Century Women
(written by Gracie)
published 10.26.20
20th Century Women is a 2016 drama/comedy directed and written by Mike Mills. The film is about a determined single mother, Dorothea Fields (played by Annette Bening), who is raising her teenage son Jamie (played by Lucas Jade Zumann). Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women who live in the same house community-- Julie, who is Jamie’s best friend, and Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist-- to help with Jamie’s upbringing.
Jamie’s manhood is shaped by feminist principles from three different generations. Being influenced by the three most important women in his life, Jamie becomes one of the few male characters shown in film that embrace feminism so outwardly.
Abbie (played by Greta Gerwig) introduces Jamie to second-wave feminism through literature, and although his mother strongly opposes it and tells her to stop teaching feminism to her son, Jamie embraces it even more than ever. He uses his newfound knowledge of oppression and female sexuality and speaks up about it in certain scenes. In one particular scene, he is even beaten up by another teenage boy at the skate park. There is an obvious divide between Abbie’s ideals of feminism, which are aligned with the second-wave thought, and Dorothea’s ideas of the movement. Nevertheless, Jamie continues to persist in that he wants to do the right thing, which is to speak up about what he knows is just.
Julie (played by Elle Fanning) tells Jaime at one point that she is worried that she might be pregnant. Jamie buys her a home pregnancy test kit, which comes back negative. He did not scold her for having unprotected sex, but rather he simply did what he could to support her. In a time like this, or really at any time, no man has a right to judge a woman’s life and what they do. No man has a right to criticize a woman’s sexuality. Jaime, who is only 15, is a powerful character in that he exemplifies what all young men should grow to become-- a feminist.
One of my favorite scenes was when they had a tenant dinner at their house. At this point, the tension between Abbie and Dorothea (Abbie being more progressive and Dorothea seeing no point in feminism) has gotten so great that Abbie decides to announce that she is menstruating. It becomes a bigger topic of discussion when Dorothea says “You’re menstruating. OK. But do you have to say it? And do we really need to know everything that’s going on with you?” To this, Abbie continues to talk about the fact that menstruation is a natural occurring thing, so why should it be “inappropriate” to talk about it?
ABBIE
So start saying it now.
Menstruation.
JAMIE
Now?
ABBIE
Yes.
JAMIE
Menstruation.
I love this movie because it is an ideal for how people must start to raise their kids. Sure, we live in a patriarchy where women’s issues (which are really men’s issues, too) are sidelined and women’s liberty in their sexuality, life out of the household, and simply being is erased. But, that does not mean that we must teach the younger generations to simply adhere to that fact. It all starts in educating one another, but especially young men who often don’t realize their privilege because they benefit from it. We also have to start normalizing a lot of topics that are often thought as “inappropriate,” when in reality in it only “inappropriate” because the men in society have told us it is.
So, to that I say,
“Start saying it now.”
“Menstruation.”
“Don’t say it like you’re scared.”
“Like gentle, happy, but casual.”
