RBG On Film: "On the Basis of Sex"

Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said, "If you can't fly, then run. If you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do,  you have to keep moving forward." Although coincidentaly, King's birthday celebration is tomorrow on January 21, and he may even be compared to Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( RBG ) on some obvious levels, it is his quote that rings a loud and clear bell. 

     Providing, without a doubt, that you saw the recent Hollywood movie about RBG, "On the Basis of Sex." 

     King's message about movement is particularly suited to RBG's physical demeanor and determination  as she struggles to fight gender discrimination. Film as a medium also specifically relies

on its moving images to convey a theme unlike other art forms, like, for examples, music, the visual arts, and architecture. In fact, the motion picture's director, Mimi Leder, has a special penchant for using visual movement to enhance her themes in "On the Basis of Sex."

      Consider the opening montage where camera and character movement are dramatic devices: a crowd of men walking down the street, their backs to the viewers, their faces unseen. Claustrophobia and a  sense of impersonality suggest that this is a male - dominated world.  But it is a world where these men do not have an identity any more than a lone, unknown woman does, caught in this same crowd ,    who is also walking down the street. It's as if both men and women have similar problems that need to be solved. By the way, the female appears to be RBG.

     Change from one image to another ( editing ) in this montage is another potent way that Ms.Leder shows how movement communicates different  perspectives: it is these diverse  point-of-view that

allow the viewer to become involved with the woman wearing a blue dress as she continues on her journey. Through the streets, around the corners, up the steps. Who is this woman? Where is she going? Will she get to her destination?

    Thus the film's opening pattern of movement  sets the meaning and pace for the entire plot: steadily, although sometimes slowly, RBG fulfills her goal of obtaining non-discrimination for both females and, ironically, males alike. This fulfillment of her objective employs another movement, although not associated with physical, cinematic ones. It is the narrative that has its own kind of movement or rhythm as RBG slowly stumbles through diverse challenges and then hits her mark with a speech at the Supreme Court.

     At the end of the movie, another montage guided by camera and character movement completes the cycle, bringing us almost to the present time as first Felicity Jones, who plays  RBG, mounts the steps of the Supreme Court, a solitary figure, going forward  with passion and determination, her mission hopefully almost completed. Another image takes her place as that person also follows the same path: up the steps toward the doors of the Supreme Court. It is the real-life Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a particularly powerful shot considering that she is currently healing from cancer surgery and  is never far from viewers' minds. The very last image showing the real RBG is a medium shot as we imagine she reaches the top of the steps. She pauses, thinking about her next move. No matter the pause. We know she will be on the move again long after the movie is over. 

     Hopefully, "Art imitates Life." Another important quote to bear in mind besides the one by Martin Luther King, Jr.