Jeannina Perez
WST 3015
April 14,2010
The Secret Garden in Women:
Blooming Daily
The Secret Garden is a story of a girl who doesn't know the life within her or the power she has to bring it out in others. Her true connection with the world around her brings her to the realization of how to smile and how to live.
Through out the film we see the different gender roles play there stereotypical parts. The male surpresses nature, by Lord Craven locking the secret garden and keeping its gift of beauty from the world. It is as if he feels that by draining the life from the garden he can stop feeling any pain or hurt that life brings with it. Mary is the nurturer, the mother figure. Her we see the important role a women plays in nature and in the household. Prior to her arrival, the manor is nothing more then a lifeless shell, where people moved around performing daily task almost in an auto pilot fashion. With her presence, a women of the house, we see the emergence of a home again. We see a son learn to walk, and a father smile and experience fun again. We see love that seemed so distant, return as strong as ever. In our class discussion regarding the home, we talked about the limiting ideas of what home is (4/5/2010 Perez). This film captures the idea that a womans spirit creates the foundation of a home. Though I don't agree with this concept, I can see where as a society we have placed this burden of creating the home on women.
Mary also plays the role of Mother Nature in this film as well. She has the natural ability to know what the plants need to survive. that natural green thumb that can turn the dark and sad to a place of flowers and beauty. Though I know this film was not made with a political motive behind it, it is surprising to see how deep the natural roles of women with nature have been breed into us. Much like Elizabeth in Gaia Girls, Mary's natural knowledge of the land gives her the power to change the world around her. I looked at the Robin as Mary's little Gaia. Though he is far less out spoken, he is the catalyst that propels her out of her sour attitude and frees her with the power and allure of the natural world around her. Though their power is inspired by different mean, that power is still there and still powerful.
I like your comparison of the Robin and Gaia. I think that makes sense because the Robin is what first prompts Mary to find the garden. He is also shown later in the movie, kind of as her first real friend at the manor.
ReplyDeleteI really love this movie and wanted to write about it myself. I thought another interesting point was the fact that the one male who actually IS in touch with nature is Dickin who is from the lower, working class. It's Colin, the rich and pampered boy, who's never even been outdoors his entire life. And it's Mary who finally introduces her sickly cousin to nature, which ends up being his salvation.
I've seen this movie many times before and now, looking at it from an ecofeminist point of view, makes me realize how often women and nature are clumped together. Mary is the person responsible for the garden and before her it was her aunt. Women are too often seen as the only sex responsible for nurturing our world.
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