Enola Holmes
(written by Gracie)
published 10.19.20
I’ll be frank with you. I was ready to click off of the movie with only three minutes in. The style of the film-- Millie talking straight to the camera-- wasn’t my favorite. I was already bored, but I decided to stick through longer because I had heard so many good things about it. Long story short: I’m glad I did.
Enola Holmes is a film that follows a young Enola Holmes (played by Millie Bobby Brown) in her search for her missing mother, Eudoria (played by Helena Bonham Carter). While trying to outsmart her brother Sherlock Holmes (played by Henry Cavill), she finds herself helping a runaway lord-- none other than the Lord Tewksbury (played by Louis Partridge).
In a way, part of the film is a story about a “damsel in distress--” except for the fact that the damsel is not a damsel, but rather Tewksbury. Enola becomes the hero that has to save him from the dangers out to get him. (Extra points for reversing the stereotypical gender roles here ++)
The film is hugely a piece made for the feminists. At large, the film isn’t merely about Enola finding her mother or saving Tewksbury; it is about finding individuality, freedom, and equality. She is often judged for her character, much of which is thanks to the progressive teachings of her mother. She was raised as an intelligent young woman who has learned everything from chess, to the works written by Locke, to jujitsu.
When her mother disappears, her older brother Mycroft (played by Sam Claflin) intends to send her to finishing school, which (spoiler alert) he eventually manages to do. This is highly representative of the time (late 19th century). A finishing school is a school where young girls are taught the “social graces” and upper-class cultural rites (essentially: etiquette, how to laugh politely, stand tall, etc). The primary goal was to teach students to acquire husbands. Enola, being the independent, progressive woman she is, sees no need for a husband (mind you, she’s 16 at the time) or need to “learn how to become a lady.” What does that even mean? Being “ladylike” is a socially constructed idea. Women do not have to be one way or the other. The idea that women always have to be modest and polite is a means to simply restrict us-- not to mention the idea that a woman’s life only revolves around marrying a man. It was this way then, and it is still this way now.
Enola is a feminist icon. She refuses to go to a “school” that will make her change who she is simply because she doesn’t fit society’s expectations of her. She refuses to let men walk over her and she speaks up about the things that bother her. Here are a few of my favorite moments:
Enola: “You’re a man when I tell you you’re a man”
There are so many boys in this world and not enough men. Women see that very clearly.
Enola: “A corset: a symbol of oppression for those who are forced to wear it.
And that’s on wearing what you want to wear, not what society says you should wear! Wear something because you want to, not because others say you have to in order to fit in/look pretty/etc. Us women dress for ourselves and for no one else.
Edith: "Politics doesn’t interest you because you have no interest in changing a world that suits you so well."
Such a prevalent discussion with this quote here! Privilege is huge, and if you have it, it’s difficult to notice that you benefit from it-- much less have it in you to dismantle the system of oppression that benefits you.
(read the below post on privilege!)
And, finally:
Enola: “So?”
Tewksbury: “What?”
Enola: “Thank you? You’re supposed to say thank you”
Tewksbury: “For what?”
We’ve all been there-- men not realizing they actually have to have the human decency to say thank you. Is it really that difficult though?