CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Study
God create men and women in this world. The aims of creation men and women are to complete each other. It means if men need something, women should fulfill the
man’s need and also if women need something, man also should fulfill the women’s need. But in the practice of the compliment each other, women are always in the low position
and men are in the top position. This condition put women as inferior creature in various aspects such as in social, politic and economic aspect. The condition also pushed women
to fight for the equality between women and men. The women effort to have equality in every aspect is known as feminism.
Feminism is one of literary criticism informed by feminist theories or politics, and feminism appears in the 1300’s by Christine de pizan
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. On the other hand, feminism is defined as the belief of the political, social, and economic equality of men and women.
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It is a discourse that involves various movements, theories, and philosophies which are
concerned with the issue of gender difference, advocate equality for women, and campaign for womens rights and interests.
Nowadays feminism becomes a popular and controversial topic. Many people become the figure of feminism. Such as Julia Kristeva, that master in language and the
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Bachrudin Mustafa, Teori dan praktek sasra dalam penelitian dan pengajaran,Jakarta, Pt. Cahaya Insan Sejahtera,2008, p.84
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http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiFeminist_theory 3
rd
of December 2008
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written. She began to write about feminism and the gender topic in the last of 1960’s. Beside her there is Luce Irigaray a feminist from French.
Resurrection of feminism in the last 1960’s, already made a big change for women’s life. Most of feminist believe that they already won the war. Part of them also
think that their journey still be longer. Beside the different of that opinion, there are the influences or the effects of feminism movement into some aspects of women’s life such
as opportunity to get high education, religion, language, heterosexual system and civil right.
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Feminism issue has been discussed in the real life and also it is already discussed in the movie. The movie talks about women’s resurrection and about women’s life.
One of the controversial issues is feminism. Feminism becomes controversial issue because there are some different point of view between man and women. Feminism
issue not only written in article or novel but also can be represent in a movie. One of the movies which represent about feminism is “North Country” by Nikki Carro. This movie
talks about struggle of the woman character that get violence from her husband and she tries to fight for getting out from the violence.
Another movie about feminism is Mona Lisa Smile. The main character in this movie is Katherine Watson; she is a lecturer in Wesley College. In Wesley College
Watson makes big change, such as makes her students understand that education is very importance. Watson also teaches her student that women also have right to not get the
sexual harassment.
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Bachrudin Mustafa, Teori dan praktek sasra dalam penelitian dan pengajaran,Jakarta, Pt. Cahaya Insan Sejahtera,2008, p.87
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While the movie about feminism that interesting for the writer is Iron Jawed Angels movie. It is woman cinema that directed by Katja Von Garnier,
from 1989-1994, she studied at the University of Television and Film Munich. Katja is woman who looks cinema from the woman side, such how women fight
to get their equal right. The setting of Iron Jawed Angel movie in 1912 Philadelphia, there are two
young women suffragist activists, they are Alice Paul Hilary Swank and Lucy Burn Frances O’Connor. Alice Paul is an American Feminist who risked her life
to fight for women citizenship and the right to vote. She found the separatist nation women’s party and wrote the first equal right amendment to be presented
before congress. Lucy Burn is a social former who helps Alice. They both had a meeting with Carrie Chapman Catt and Anna Howard Shaw; they were the
activists of NAWSA National American Women Suffrage Association formed in 1980 by Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Alice and Lucy stared one of their actions on parade of President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration day. They asked many women to follow the
parade and the parade and it was successful. In the parade they got bad treatment from the audiences especially men. Men audiences threw at women who followed
the parade. Alice and Lucy became more active with in NAWSA, but they began to
realize that their ideas were much too radical for the established activists, and eventually they leaved NAWSA and created the National Women’s Party NWP.
National Womans Party NWP, was a womens organization founded in 1916
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that fought for womens rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men much more radical
organization dedicated to the fight for women right. After NWP was formed, the activists of NWP did the protest in front of
the white house and they brought the banners that written what they want. They are: equality right to vote, janitor for women justice, etc. Relationship between the
American Government and the NWP activist also intensively. In the American war time the protester is still holding their actions, but
they got be arrested because the government considered that they “obstructing traffic”. Even though their line picket in the sidewalk of the road and didn’t
disturb the main road. Because of that, the government gave a fine to the protester. They should pay 60 for fine, but they refused to pay a fine for a crime
they didn’t commit. So, they were jailed for sixty days in Occoquan the Virginia women’s jail or women prison.
Their picket line is still going on, even though a part of the protester had jailed, when Alice and Mrs. Leighton joined the picket line, they were attacked by
mob. They also became the prisoner such other protester. In the jail they did not get the healthy and sterile food. They refused to eat not only of those problems,
but also because of what they wanted were not agreed by the government. Because of their action was refuse to eat, the guard of the jail treated them
so bad. They were pushed to eat badly. They fed the prisoner Alice Paul by a machine and were tight on a chair. Alice Paul wrote all the bad treatment that she
got in the jail. She gave the notes to Mrs. Leighton, than Mrs. Leighton gave the
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notes to her husband by snaking when her husband visited her. Finally, her husband gave the notes to mass media. The mass media put news from Alice’s
notes as a headline news. Then they got free from the jail and their cassis of women right to vote was agreed by the government.
What Alice Paul has done can be an issue in the feminism discussion, that interest to discuss so the researcher interest to write about the Alice Paul’s
Character trough the feminism approach. It wills discussed by using the first wave feminist idea that concern on the women’s right that influenced by Mary
Wollstonecraft whose write the book which the title is Vindication of Right of Women.
B. Focus of the research
Kategori