REPESENTASI FEMINIS MARXIS DALAM FILM SUFFRAGETTE

Abstract

This paper tries to describe the Marxist Feminist values that are embedded within the
movie Suffragette. Suffragette is a movie created by Sara Gayron and was premiered by
the French cinema Pathé. Suffragette was inspired by a true story of the movement from
the Radical Feminist group Suffragette led by Emmeline Pankhurst, in fighting for the
women’s rights for political participation. Suffragette tells the story using the perspective
of the main character Maud Watts, a laundry service worker who joined Pankhurst in
raising the issue of sexual harassment and women’s rights to vote in front of the
Parliament; which mainly consists of upper class Caucasian men. This paper exhibits the
inequality between the upper class and the domination of masculinity towards the
labors/female labors. This research adapt on Sara Mills’ Discourse Analysis
methodology in order to provide description of the Marxist Feminist values which was
adopted within the character of Maud Watt, as the research subject, and the act of
resistance by Suffragettes as the object; in addition, placing the movie viewers as the
reader and Sara Gavron as the writer. The values of Marxist Feminism were visible
through the scene which the character Maud Watts gave her testimony before the court
and within the Darby Horse Race scene which the group Suffragette performed their
protest. The court scene showed the resistance from the female labor group, which
represents the rejection against the hegemonic masculinity values that’s projected by the
upper class Caucasian men in parliament. In the final scene, the Darby, which was
considered as an activity for the elites and demonstrates masculine and competitive
values, was chosen as a channel to demonstrate the labor class women’s resistance.
Keywords : Representation, Marxist Feminism, Suffragette, Feminist Methodology, Movie.