“Kirsten Gillibrand and Oprah Winfrey, get your guns: Frontier women in modern American life - New York Daily News” |
| Posted: 27 Dec 2010 12:42 AM PST  DelMundo for News U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has proved she's up for a hard fight in the Senate.While recently watching the Coen brothers' new movie, "True Grit," I thought of how the story of a 14-year-old girl functioning in a world of rough and ruthless men conforms to the longstanding American myth of the pioneer woman - a myth that is especially relevant today, in the wake of congressional legislation that would have perished without a woman's strong leadership. American women were central to pushing the country westward and managing frontier towns of men who would've been happy drinking, shooting and killing each other if the female desire for order and tranquility had not been imposed upon them. Women prevailed through a hornet's nest of miseries, from death during childbirth to gun battles on the prairie to the ravages of disease. In addition, pioneer women learned to shoot guns and do many things that their sisters in big cities did not know about. It is unimaginable that an extraordinary sharpshooter like Annie Oakley would have thrived in Boston. All of this has been sentimentalized and reduced to a barrel of purple clichés. Any serious American artist has to avoid hollow platitudes because, when delivered well, the story of a pioneer woman not only captures the 19th century, but speaks directly to our time. That's why "True Grit" is so relevant today. The movie reminds that our national myths are very different from the propaganda passed off as fact by Fox News. Myths like that of the frontier woman are not only grounded in historical reality, but recur often enough to elevate us beyond the cynicism of well-advertised and well-packaged lies put forth by the right. Because it is about a genuinely American woman who learns terrible things about life but prevails over all obstacles, "True Grit" will be a sure success. And it will likely benefit from our shared affection for the person from whom nothing is expected, but who nevertheless manages to persevere. There are fine examples of pioneer women in our own time, the kind who are willing to endure what they must in order to achieve important things. These include, among many others, the billionaire queen of national goodwill, Oprah Winfrey, and New York's junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. Some would even put the narcissistic balloon of hot air known as Sarah Palin into this group. At the moment, Gillibrand is the most talked about of this bunch because of the impact she has had since Gov. Paterson appointed her to take the seat of Hillary Clinton, who left the Senate to serve as secretary of state. Little was expected of Gillibrand, but she came through in the way that American women often do, regardless of color, class, religion or sexual orientation. Gillibrand seems to have gone into training for political battle when she lost 40 pounds. Like it or not, men take women more seriously if their good ideas pair with good looks. Gillibrand made herself crucial to repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. She was also central to passing the Zadroga bill to help ailing 9/11 first-responders. Not too shabby for someone who was branded as so insignificant by so many. When the remarkable heroine of "True Grit," Mattie Ross, finally gets the drop on the film's villain, a look of great conviction flashes across her face as she points a rifle at him. I am sure that it is a look Gillibrand and all women of her type, whatever their political persuasion, will recognize easily in themselves.
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