Mrs. America: Betty
April 24, 2020 3:00 PM - Season 1, Episode 4 - Subscribe

Betty Friedan decides to debate Phyllis Schlafly at Illinois State University. Other members of the women’s movement look to Gloria for leadership, who tells Betty she’s going about this all wrong.
posted by Monochrome (4 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I think I died inside a little when Betty Friedan lost her grip at the debate. She'd been doing so well up to that point.

I am loving this series. It's such an immersive, compelling watch. The set design, the costuming, the script, the acting -- everything is amazing.
posted by orange swan at 2:37 PM on April 25, 2020 [3 favorites]


I was hooked on the 70s intro haha. But really it’s a substantive show. Like you said, all aspects of filmmaking are first rate.

I felt heartbroken for Betty the whole episode. “Thank you, Gloria Steinem!” I get the sense that Betty is itching for an overdue revolution, but other women want incremental progress. I wonder if that’s accurate?
posted by Monochrome at 9:21 PM on April 25, 2020


Phyllis, who is losing the debate completely on the merits of her arguments, primarily because her arguments have no merits, attacks Betty personally, alluding to the fact that her husband left her and married a much younger woman. (The way Blanchett pauses just a half-second longer on the word “beauty” when she talks about women losing their beauty, as if to imply that Betty never had beauty to lose, is absolutely wicked.) It’s a total Trump move, and also a move that Phyllis learned from debate prepping with her husband, Fred.
Vulture recap added to link box
And [Phyllis'] personal attack gives her what she wants—at Alice’s son’s wedding, she is treated like the celebrity Betty was in the beginning of the episode. “We have our own champion,” says one woman.
AV Club recap added to link box
“The John Birch Society is doing a wonderful work, and my husband and I both joined promptly after the Chicago meeting,” Phyllis Schlafly wrote in a Dec. 5, 1959 letter
Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly Leaves A Legacy Tied to Conspiracy Theories, discovered via the Vulture recap
posted by Monochrome at 12:25 PM on April 29, 2020 [1 favorite]




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