Bella seems like the most rational woman on the pro-ERA side, but there’s a catch.
We’re nearing the end, so let’s start with the obvious. You probably won’t be able to understand this piece without taking a look at Parts 1 and 2 first, so be sure to do that. Also, this article will spoil the last three episodes of Mrs. America. Therefore, click away and come back if you want to discover the miniseries on your own.
Get it? Got it? Good. Let’s go!
Episode 7 – We’re Going To A Con!
If the writers actually acknowledged Phyllis’ talking points, this subplot would be a complete waste.
“Bella” returns to some more political maneuvering, but at least it’s more interesting than usual.
The story opens at a Women’s Republican Club lunch in April of 1977, which features Phyllis as she gives a speech on the “positive woman,” defense policy, and the ERA. Some people might find it difficult to tie the three topics together, but it makes sense if you pay close attention to Blanchett. With that said, her words seem like an afterthought when compared to what happens immediately after.
Just as Phyllis sits down to eat, a man named Aron Kay calls her a gender traitor and slams a pie in her face. I’m not going to ding the show for using a cream one instead of the historical apple, but I’m not sure if Aron actually said what he said in the show. It seems rather out of character.
With that out of the way, the story splits into its usual two parts, but they’re more intertwined than usual. The feminist side focuses much of its attention on Bella Abzug and her effort to organize the National Women’s Conference. She was supposedly put into the position because of the work of Midge Costanza (Annie Parisse), a closeted lesbian and the Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. According to the show, Midge resurrected Jill Ruckelshaus’ idea for a national convention. However, reality tells us that the money was already allocated in 1975, so there’s a bit of a problem here.
Of course, the pro- and anti-ERA segments of this story start arguing over the fine details of their approach. Phyllis has to deal with an eye injury and the festival, which gives Rosemary a chance to forward the idea that Stop ERA should develop a splinter group called the Citizens’ Review Committee. Meanwhile, Bella has to organize, but the writers accidentally managed to point out that one of the feminism’s apparent intolerance of dissenting opinions.
Oops.
Of course, Rosemary’s plan doesn’t really work, but the Stop ERA crowd takes over the Missouri, Hawaii, and New York delegations.
Bella is quite annoyed by the sudden setback, which propels a discussion with Gloria that is awfully interesting. Gloria shares her frustration over Phyllis’ successes, but Bella rebuffs her younger counterpart by pointing out that she just wants to preach to the choir. That made me laugh, even though I probably wasn’t supposed to.
Back at the Schlafly house, Liza (Olivia Scriven) is on the lookout for a package. In a rather human exchange, Alice figures out that she’s getting something from a boy, which is kind of funny. The show quickly derails that moment by suddenly revealing that Liza has feminist sympathies, which would be sort of understandable if the actual Liza didn’t allegedly say that she changed her name for byline purposes and was against the ERA all along.
Soon after that, we cut to a confrontation at the state convention. Alice, Rosemary (Melanie Lynskey), and Pam (Kayli Carter) suddenly meet Bella in a hallway, and a mostly cordial conversation that is probably nonsense ensues. The anti-ERA women say that they idolize Phyllis and that they don’t want to be working girls, but Bella turns around and states that Phyllis taught them how to fulfill all of the requirements of working girls.
Now, that would be a good point… if I didn’t already point out that Phyllis didn’t really think poorly of working women. That’s why she focused her talking points on female privileges!
A little while later, Gloria and Bella return to a discussion over the convention, which brings up the episode’s main theme of radicalism vs. centrism. Bella believes that the conservatives should be seated, but Gloria does not think that’s a good idea because of their previous “compromises” with George McGovern.
Wait. They compromised with the guy who was so far to the left that he virtually destroyed the New Deal Coalition? Huh?
Back in Illinois, Phyllis discovers that Liza got a mixtape from a boy, which gives her an idea to combine edited quotes with messages from evangelical ministers. The tape in question was actually produced by Dianne Edmondson, so this is just a matter of cutting and compressing with some selective editing thrown in.
The tape inevitably leads to the loss of the Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi delegations. The sudden fear of losing more seats irks Bella, so she proposes dropping a gay rights plank that has already been passed by 26 states. The very thought pisses Midge off beyond belief, which is perfectly understandable and genuinely sad.
Soon after that, a report drops in the newspapers which states that Stop ERA developed a genuine connection with the KKK in the South, and this is where I get to throw tar at the Eagle Forum. If we take the word of President Ed Martin, one might get the impression that the delegates denied association with the KKK by affidavit. However, we know that the wife of a Grand Dragon was selected as a delegate (Source/Archive), and that Klan members said that they infiltrated southern meetings (Source).
The conclusion of the episode naturally leads into the conference, but with a little bit of self-doubt thrown in. Bella wonders why she is no longer considered to be radical, but kind of counteracts that with the knowledge that she is in the mainstream. On the other hand, Gloria suddenly decides to reverse course and allow all of the delegates in, which is odd because we never actually witnessed her change of mind.
Then again, neither one of them really know that Phyllis is about to blindside them. Again.
Episode 8 – Faking It.
Are the writers trying to say that you’d have to be on drugs to be enamored with Gloria Steinem?
“Houston” focuses almost all of its attention on the fictional character of Alice, so you know that this is going to be a propaganda piece!
The story begins with the opening of the 1977 National Women’s Conference. The feminist side of the story opens up with a torch run that resembles the one that precedes the Olympics, but we’re soon thrown over to Alice and her daughter, Pamela.
And of course, Alice isn’t much of a reader… because anyone who disagrees with the narrative is dumb and couldn’t possibly have their own reasons.
Anyway, the two of them meet Rosemary after they check in and have to bunk with a black feminist. Their roommate just so happens to be associated with Gloria Steinem, which is one hell of a coincidence that we’ll get to later.
Oh, Pamela is there without her husband’s knowledge, partly because she can’t even think when Kevin is around. After all, marriage is either an abusive nightmare or a sham. There is no in-between!
Ugh.
After some deliberation, Rosemary decides to take charge and delegate certain tasks to the Stop ERA crowd, so Alice throws a hissy fit and wonders why she can’t talk to the media. Rosemary eventually relents, but Alice implodes when a female reporter asks her about her stances and the opinion polls that are in favor of the ERA. Naturally, Rosemary is annoyed at Alice’s failure and mentions that polls can be wrong, which is a glossed-over point that expands beyond obvious shocks like the election of Donald Trump.
For instance, consider Medicare for All. According to some pre-pandemic polling, 56% of Americans supported the idea. However, support dropped to 37% when a variant of the question included the notion of higher taxes (Source/Archive). I didn’t find that kind of nuance in my look into the time period, but such a disconnect would help to explain how Phyllis Schlafly managed to mobilize an army of conservatives.
Alice feels sad about her mistakes, so she goes to the bar. A NOW member offers her a magical pill and has a drink with her, but Alice is repulsed when she learns about that. This leads to a drug-fueled walk across the convention because Hulu has a lot of time to kill!
After overhearing some workshops and participating in a scream sesh, Alice discovers that she can eat like a pig and sings “This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie. Most people don’t know that Guthrie was associated with socialists, if not outright communists. However, the song itself doesn’t make any explicit references to Marx or his authoritarian ideas…
…but these writers sure as shit want you to think that. They even included a bit where Flo Kennedy implies that an ideology that killed tens of millions of people is patriotic.
Right.
Later on, Alice comes off her high. On some level, she becomes enamored with Gloria Steinem for reasons, so she goes off on this monologue where she’s worried that her conservative friends won’t compromise. The rest of the group ignores the woman who didn’t exist, which is kind of funny when one considers that 300 conservative delegates walked out in a huff (Source/Archive).
Anyway, it all ends with Phyllis’ massive counter-rally. Strangely, the writers didn’t bother to show any of that or explain what it’s about… even though it would’ve helped people to understand how the nation turned to Reagan. On top of that, we know for a fact that KKK members wanted to send people to Houston, which could’ve been used to amplify certain points about Phyllis’ message in a historical context (Source/Archive).
Wait, what am I talking about? This show is barely interested in factual information!
Episode 9 – It’s Ronnie Time!
Pull my finger!
“Reagan” may seem like a natural endpoint for the series, but the show doesn’t spend that much time explaining the how and why behind Reagan’s rise to power. Instead, it jumps around to the point of absurdity.
The final episode opens in 1979. At this point in time, Phyllis is still in law school. Her efforts compel a female reporter from what could be the Chicago Tribune to approach her for an interview, which lasts all of a few minutes.
Once we sit through the title sequence, we’re treated to another planning session that is immediately derailed by Pamela’s screaming baby and a discussion about her allegedly abusive husband, which starts to turn Alice against Phyllis. For some reason, Rosemary tells Alice to get her head on straight because a conservative revolution is coming in the form of Ronald Reagan.
At around the same time, most of the feminists of the story are more than a little annoyed by the fact that President Carter is cutting social spending and building up the military. This political problem actually happened, but there are a few extra details that the show didn’t mention. We’ll get to those in a little bit!
On the night of the original ERA deadline, Phyllis throws a party to galvanize support. It’s filled with some of the usual things that one might expect, such as a spoof of her opposition, black ties, a speech about God being on the side of conservatives, and so on (Source/Archive). The entire event annoys Alice for reasons, so she whines that Phyllis is a big meanie-head and storms out.
I’m not sure about the rest of you, but it seems a little late for that, doesn’t it?
The show doesn’t dwell on that for too long. Instead, Phyllis’ guards usher Phyllis out of the building because of a bomb threat (See Previous Source). In the middle of the commotion, Phyllis is approached by Reagan’s campaign team, and she immediately offers her endorsement.
Why? Who knows?!
As all of this is happening, Bella learns that President Carter fired her from his Women’s Committee, which starts up another sob story that is based on lies. The show would have you believe that the White House fired her because she canceled a meeting, but what the writers don’t tell you is that Bella actually attempted to talk down to the President about the function of an advisory committee. To make matters worse, the dialogue actually twists around the fact that Bella authorized a press release that accused Carter of being insensitive to women, pinning said behavior on the White House itself (Source/Archive).
The show effectively closes out most of the feminist storylines with a gaggle of resignations.
Oh, and by the way, Phyllis got approached by Paul Manafort (Brandon James Sim) and Roger Stone (Alex Gravenstein). Apparently, she’s about to meet with Reagan!
Wait, the show completely dodged that and skipped to Reagan’s election victory in November of 1980! Apparently, Bella thinks that the Gipper will completely turn back 50 years of progress for reasons, but we don’t have time for any of that! Let’s skip to the next thing!
Oh, it’s a speech by Gloria about how the revolution isn’t turning back. Apparently, she thinks that society automatically excludes women, minorities, and those with too little education from leadership roles. But wait, President Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court, four African-Americans were appointed to the President’s Cabinet by 1980, and Donald Trump got elected in 2016, so doesn’t that debunk all three of these points? I’m confused, but we don’t have any time to dwell on that even though the show is on a streaming platform. Next!
At last, Phyllis has a moment where she receives a phone call from President-Elect Reagan. The Gipper thanks Phyllis for help in the election, but can’t actually guarantee a position for her in the government because he has a woman problem and doesn’t want to piss off the pro-ERA crowd… and that is all there is! Don’t you start talking about how Reagan campaigned against the ERA (Video/Transcript/Archive) or how Phyllis was actually at odds with the national security establishment of the time (Source/Archive)!
Oh, wait. The writers actually admit in the closing title cards that President Reagan hired Jeane Kirkpatrick to be his Ambassador to the United Nations, which totally undermines the show’s previous points. Then again, we don’t have time for that because a political game has to be played. Alongside a general statement about how the Republicans and Democrats embraced their modern alignments, they state that the ERA died in 1982, but also contradict that by pointing to the effort to convince Congress to magically remove the deadline after the fact. Don’t you even think about how people like Ruth Bader Ginsburg admitted that the process has to start all over again (Source/Archive)!
Wew! We’re almost done!
Conclusion.
In many ways, President Reagan was the Bernie Sanders of his day. He wasn’t quite as conservative as people might think, but he also said stupid things & let the idiots and lunatics into his party.
So, why did I do this series? After all, I’ve taken shots at Phyllis Schlafly and the pro-ERA crowd, so am I just a joker who laughs at everyone for internet clicks?
I’d like to think not, and it’s for a very important reason.
When writers and entertainers attempt to tell stories that are based in history, they have an obligation to get things right, regardless of their political affiliation or interest in the matter at hand. It may not be possible to get everything right because the only people who know what was said behind close doors are those who were actually there, but a good creative team with a reasonable attention to details can get the broad strokes right without compromising too much.
However, the writers, producers, and cast of Mrs. America didn’t even try to do that. Sure, they had costumes and sets at their disposal, but none of that actually matters when the miniseries seems to be focused on race- and sex-baiting more than anything else. The cast and crew erased the presence of well-known historical figures, fabricated videotaped debates, randomly screwed with known statements, and pawned off lousy positions and behaviors onto other people.
We all deserve better.
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