Battle of the Sexes, movie by Simon Beaufoy in 2017
Throughout this semester we´ve touched on important topics regarding gender, religion, identity, race, injustice, sexism, inter-cultural relationship, and the list goes on. These are all important topics to understand the complexity of our society and world in general, wherever you go you will meet someone with a story to tell about how their experiences has shaped their life. In this text review assignment I am going to talk about the movie Battle of the Sexes which is based on a true story, the themes in this movie are among others injustice, prejudice, and sexism.
The movie is in short terms about Billie Jean King (29), an American tennis player, who was tired of the injustice and unequal pay in the tennis sport speaking up and challenges Bobby Riggs (55) to a tennis game. This game got the name battle of the sexes and it´s the most talked about game in tennis´ history. Billie Jean King ended up winning the tennis match, showing that women deserves equal pay and equal rights.
Billie Jean King started her riot when she found out men was competing for a prize worth 9 times more money than the women, she then talked to the man responsible but he refused to make things equal. This is a good example of sexism and inequality, and why should women just accept this? Billie Jean King refused to not do anything and she started a riot, she was tired of being stepped on just because she´s a woman. We´ve seen many cases of gender inequality in this class and this is just another example. The movie portrays how it was being a women in sports, where men make the rules and they don’t listen to the people (the women) who it actually affects. Billie Jean King experiences othering because she’s looked at as the other while the men is the one. But through the movie she changes this because of using her voice and defeating gender norms. Her work has affected so many lives and a big thanks to her, tennis now has equal prize money.
This movie is telling us that women are facing discrimination, unequal pay and sexism, but by speaking up, things can change for the better. Gender roles and norms can be changed if we challenge them.
sources:
https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/battle-of-the-sexes-review-1202545833/?sub_action=logged_in
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/king-triumphs-in-battle-of-sexes
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4622512/plotsummary