The short film put together by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh, Submission left me with many different thoughts about the lack of success in the movement towards female equality and overall respect for one's personal right to safety. I am under the assumption that the female character in the movie is supposed to symbolize a traditional Muslim woman, yet I feel that her position has been revolutionized by western thought. In this manner, she seems to be very opinionated about her problems leading to what sounds like she is doubting the positive role of Allah. From listening to what she is saying about her life, it seems that her life is based on the rules of society instead of her religion. She is praying to Allah in a very sarcastic way. The overall tone of her prayer seems to be less of a prayer and more of a way of ridiculing the rules of Allah.
From listening to what she is saying about her life, it seems that her life is based on the rules of society instead of her religion. She begins her prayer talking about her relationship with the man in the market, and then moves on to the forced marriage set up by her father. Her tone about the marriage demonstrates her lack of approval of the current system, saying that the marriage ceremony was more of a part for her family, something that any woman would hope to never have to feel. Marriage should be a decision made by two people in love, something that this Muslim woman seems unattainable in her current culture. This lack of right to choose one’s own husband demonstrates the lack of female equality in the Muslim culture, something that many others culture have battled and successfully won many years ago.
Continuing on with the prayer, she jokes about the way that her own uncle raped her. This may have been the part of the movie that bothered me the most. It was the way that she happily told the story to Allah that bothered me the most. The character plays the role of being very aware of her situation yet instead of feeling anger towards her family, she tries to laugh about it. The way that her father responds to the accusations of his brother raping his daughter says something even more about the culture. It demonstrates the overall lack of respect for women and their denial of safety from the men in society.
Though the movie is arranged within a religious setting, the story only speaks about the culture associated with the religion. It disturbs me more than anything to think that a woman similar to myself may still be living in a position of submission due to a lack of assertion for change.
Though there are many responses to this film YouTube, some of the ones that made me scratch my head were ones saying that the ideas of the Muslim life-style were good. My favorite response sounded like it was from a female claiming her anger with the idea of not having the right to choose what happens to her body. This one resonated the most with me. I could never imagine living in such a situation.
Another response that interested me was on the National Review Online website. Stuttaford writes about the film and then ties in the part that the film was the an investigation into the murder of Pim Fortuyn. The writer continues on to talk about how in the final moments of both of these men's lives, there was probably a common idea of how could have such a practical place like Amsterdam comes to this? The Netherlands have always been a place of tolerance yet with these two murders, the tolerance seems to be diminishing quickly.
Searching on the Internet for responses, I came across one that was posted on the OpinionJournal from the Wall Street Journal Editorial page. It was interesting because the writer said that though he had criticized Theo van Gogh for some of his previous comments and work, he actually felt that Submission was well put together. He commented on the film saying that the ideas was cautious and subtle in relation to other works published in Holland. What bothered me about this comment is that if this film is so-called subtle in its message then why were there so many negative responses to it?
From listening to what she is saying about her life, it seems that her life is based on the rules of society instead of her religion. She begins her prayer talking about her relationship with the man in the market, and then moves on to the forced marriage set up by her father. Her tone about the marriage demonstrates her lack of approval of the current system, saying that the marriage ceremony was more of a part for her family, something that any woman would hope to never have to feel. Marriage should be a decision made by two people in love, something that this Muslim woman seems unattainable in her current culture. This lack of right to choose one’s own husband demonstrates the lack of female equality in the Muslim culture, something that many others culture have battled and successfully won many years ago.
Continuing on with the prayer, she jokes about the way that her own uncle raped her. This may have been the part of the movie that bothered me the most. It was the way that she happily told the story to Allah that bothered me the most. The character plays the role of being very aware of her situation yet instead of feeling anger towards her family, she tries to laugh about it. The way that her father responds to the accusations of his brother raping his daughter says something even more about the culture. It demonstrates the overall lack of respect for women and their denial of safety from the men in society.
Though the movie is arranged within a religious setting, the story only speaks about the culture associated with the religion. It disturbs me more than anything to think that a woman similar to myself may still be living in a position of submission due to a lack of assertion for change.
Though there are many responses to this film YouTube, some of the ones that made me scratch my head were ones saying that the ideas of the Muslim life-style were good. My favorite response sounded like it was from a female claiming her anger with the idea of not having the right to choose what happens to her body. This one resonated the most with me. I could never imagine living in such a situation.
Another response that interested me was on the National Review Online website. Stuttaford writes about the film and then ties in the part that the film was the an investigation into the murder of Pim Fortuyn. The writer continues on to talk about how in the final moments of both of these men's lives, there was probably a common idea of how could have such a practical place like Amsterdam comes to this? The Netherlands have always been a place of tolerance yet with these two murders, the tolerance seems to be diminishing quickly.
Searching on the Internet for responses, I came across one that was posted on the OpinionJournal from the Wall Street Journal Editorial page. It was interesting because the writer said that though he had criticized Theo van Gogh for some of his previous comments and work, he actually felt that Submission was well put together. He commented on the film saying that the ideas was cautious and subtle in relation to other works published in Holland. What bothered me about this comment is that if this film is so-called subtle in its message then why were there so many negative responses to it?
