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Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Iron Lady Revisited

Following my post of Sunday, it occurs to me that the apparently non-political nature of the film actually needs a better description. 

In avoiding any description of the issues behind the Howe resignation (essentially the nature of the UK's relationship with Europe), the film effectively implies it was no more than a personal disagreement _ that Lady Thatcher became arrogant with power and alienated people through personal behaviour.  I think that does a disservice to Howe, Heseltine and Thatcher herself.  All of them had a fundamental disagreement over a major political issue affecting the future of the country, not just a personal spat.

Secondly, the portrayal of Thatcher as overcoming male chauvinism and snobbery begs the question: aside from her personal case, how did she fight these issues politically?  She would no doubt make a case for overcoming snobbery, but I can think of no way in which she advanced womens rights at all.

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