I have to add a new film to my favorites of all time.
THE MAGDALENE SISTERS (2002). it is based on a true story about young Irish women who were virtually enslaved in convents during the 1960's just before the Catholic Church lost its strangle hold over the people of Ireland (which is a whole other story). The physical and psychological damage the nuns and priests inflicted on these unfortunate girls was shocking beyond belief. Deserted by their families and accused of sexual misconduct they were given to the nun for atonement. Unable to speak to anyone in the outside world beyond the gate they were imprisoned with no release date. There were actually several older grey haired women there. It was actions like this by corrupt people of power that destroyed the social order. The rest of us in the 60's were revolting against that abuse. Perhaps it has gone to far, but who do you trust? The government? Church? Schools? what are our institutions that can sustain us. They are all broken and until we find new ones we are doomed to disorder. Entropy rules!
The Magdalene Convents were closed in 1996.
THE MAGDALENE SISTERS (2002). it is based on a true story about young Irish women who were virtually enslaved in convents during the 1960's just before the Catholic Church lost its strangle hold over the people of Ireland (which is a whole other story). The physical and psychological damage the nuns and priests inflicted on these unfortunate girls was shocking beyond belief. Deserted by their families and accused of sexual misconduct they were given to the nun for atonement. Unable to speak to anyone in the outside world beyond the gate they were imprisoned with no release date. There were actually several older grey haired women there. It was actions like this by corrupt people of power that destroyed the social order. The rest of us in the 60's were revolting against that abuse. Perhaps it has gone to far, but who do you trust? The government? Church? Schools? what are our institutions that can sustain us. They are all broken and until we find new ones we are doomed to disorder. Entropy rules!
The Magdalene Convents were closed in 1996.
posted by Anne Coe | 7:30 AM
2 Comments:
I wrote yesterday in response to this email; however, it disappeared into the ozone, pushed there undoubtedly by the wicked nuns of magdalene and other nasty hierarchies who hid the truth and punished the innocents.
I wrote two things (1) throughout much of human prehistory and history, getting pregnant out of wedlock was a very unwelcomed event, both by the mother and her kin (distant and close). The girl was punished, at times by death. Even if allowed to live and give birth, the mother and child probably paid a heavy price throughout their lives. People remember. The question this behavior raises is why humans are so harsh. The answer I would propose is that our ancestors desperately wanted to prevent this from happening--that is why women had so little freedom and were punished so heavily for going over the line. In order to protect one's lineage, one protects the genes allowed into it. Marriages were arranged. The couple was kept apart; until marriage they often never met. As far as the ethnographic evidence shows, these marriages were happy ones, but they grew into happiness. Remember, we are not talking royal families here, in most cases, just ordinary people picking a mate for their loved child. I am sure that they considered their what their child wanted when they made the choice. One ethnography from a tribe in the Amazon and aother from early Tiwi Island says that mothers and grandmothers were the primary ones to actually make the choice and that the girl could have a strong influence on who they chose.
Anyway, this reply is wandering around picking more than one or two themes. The second thing I wanted to discuss is what happens to hierarchies in a time of change. I wondered this morning if the environment didn't change--girls started getting pregnant without a mate to help be a father to the child -- and in amazing numbers (there were many girls in the convent) and the hiearchy, encouraged by PARENTS, responded as one would in a desperate situation, without time for compassion. The question that now becomes interesting for me is why so many girls were getting pregnant outside marriage and one answer, of course, is the breakdown of extended kinship systems that would have protected her from charming young men with selfish interests and kept her out of places where seduction might occur. I am sure there are more reasons.
Only one of the girls was pregnant. The rest were just deemed bad.
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