The (female) Respect: Respect should really be at the basis of any relationship among individuals, instead, as proven by statistics and personal reports, it seems to be absent or violated between men and women. And let’s not believe that the emancipated, cultured, committed to her job woman, hopefully with a socially recognized career, is safe from risking to become a victim of behaviours and actions aimed at stepping on her. Actually, in most cases the tendency to take (others) blame and responsibilities is ‘female’, because of the still strong sexist subculture spread everywhere and of a self-analysis skill which is much more common and deep in women than in men: a man questions himself less than a woman generally speaking. I am far away from being a feminist and I’ll never be so, I don’t believe women are superior to men nor viceversa. But the reality one lives in must be well known: talking of today reality, it’s quite different from last century, though it’s still very far, not from admitting an equality between male and female – which thing I wouldn’t look for, but rather from a gender equality based on some balanced criteria, for instance for assessing a financial reward for a wo/man. There still are so many business areas in so many places and countries where men and women are not paid the same just for their being men or women that a serious reflection is required. Let’s think of the USA actors and actresses, just as an example among thousands: very few actresses are paid as much as their male colleagues not because they are less worthy (!). The movies, tv and radio programs, theater plays and other artistic products focusing on such theme are countless, therefore the choice this time is hard. Nevertheless, here are the two choices and they are quite different based on the time and .. on the type: the book ARTEMISIA written by Susan Vreeland and the 2016 movie SOLE CUORE AMORE (SUN HEART LOVE) directed by Daniele Vicari with actress Isabella Aragonese.
The book tells us Artemisia Gentileschi life and rise: she was the first Italian female painter coming from the Caravaggio school who was admitted into an Academy of Fine Arts. She became a heroine because of her professional and personal story: after being raped by her teacher, she courageously sued him and faced with fierceness and strength the whole heavy process that marked her life forever. She was a proto-feminist.
This movie main character is called Eli: a nowadays brave woman who’s overwhelmed by the financial crisis and by a master-employer whose insulting gestures she almost always accepts out of necessity, who wakes up every day at 4am (she’s not perfectly healthy), at times doing her job till late in the evening, and who often speaks up for a weaker colleague, this way risking her job as a waitress, this is her job which is so crucial for her and her family. Eli has an adolescent daughter and an unemployed husband.
(Italian) Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fjr3MtDxEI
