Certainly, when “RBG” came out last month, it was a powerful movie about a powerful woman who has become a powerful icon for a whole new generation of people who still give a damn. But watching it now, after the confirmation of Judge Kavanaugh, it just goes to show that there will never be a point where Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the phrase, “I dissent,” no longer carry weight.
The documentary feels younger, trendier, iconographic in its approach to its subject, who has risen in popularity among a younger generation under the moniker “The Notorious R.B.G.” The buttoned-up prestige of the highest court in America is indulged only briefly at the start of the film. Footage of D.C.’s statues of male figures is punctuated by the classical, traditional notes of the Overture from the Barber of Seville and the voices of prominent conservatives, including our current president, calling Ginsburg “vile,” a “witch,” a “zombie,” a “disgrace.”
But then, all of that is tossed away to reveal 84-year-old Ginsburg lifting weights, doing push-ups and holding planks to Dessa’s “The Bullpen,” a prominent spitting line of which is “why am I the only one who’s acting like a gentleman?”
Aside from her killer workout routine, the film portrays RBG as the superhero she is, beyond the flashes of photoshopped images of Black Widow and Wonder Woman. She is shown holding her own in the fight to prove that institutions discriminate on the basis of sex, to earn her place on the Supreme Court and to choose to stand up for what she believes in, even when she is the only one out of nine.
It’s not your typical look into an incredible female figure but RBG isn’t typical. As one friend states, “marching just wasn’t Ruth’s thing.” Instead, as with her passionate love for the opera, she believes in the power of the human voice. She didn’t have a husband that held her back, rather one that did everything he could to push her forward. She found a way to develop quite the raucous friendship with Fellow Justice Antonin Scalia, a man about as different from Ginsberg in his political beliefs as he was in physical appearance.
It’s this atypical persona that directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen and tapped into brilliantly, capturing how groundbreaking Ruth was at the start of her career and how transformational she has become to a whole new demographic of people hoping to make a change. It doesn’t mirror the traditional way for viewing history in the same dull light that would have glossed over the time Ginsburg fell asleep during the State of the Union. Instead, it employs sharp wit, allowing her to explain that she had a hard time maintaining a sober expression during the event because she was not entirely sober.
A majority of the film centers around the current preoccupation with Ginsburg’s age. However, instead of treating it like something to be pitied or a sign to retire, the filmmakers show that Ginsberg’s age might have something to do with her appeal to a diverse audience. As one friend says, “who is more disdained or turned away than an older woman?” By showing this invincible side that refuses to be cast aside, “RBG” reflects a growing movement of people who still have standards for who should be given control of this country but who aren’t afraid to make a change of their own.
Elena Burnett is the Editor-in-Chief of District. She’s a writing major who will graduate in 2019.
