Short Film Review: "The Girl With The Rivet Gun" Shows How Important Women Have Been To Our History
Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly are a filmmaking duo that have worked together for more than fifteen years. As collaborative partners, they share a deep commitment to projects that celebrate the transformative power of the human spirit as well as exploring the human connection to social justice issues. Their latest project, The Girl with the Rivet Gun, is an unconventional animated documentary short based on the adventures of three real-life “Rosie the Riveters”.
Focusing on three women from vastly different backgrounds - Esther Horne, Susan Taylor King and Mildred Crow Sargent –this film weaves together powerful moments from each of these Rosie's journeys of transformation, which serve as our entry point to a rich, layered, and adventurous rewriting of history as herstory, providing new understanding of this pivotal time in the transformation of America.
Everyone knows the iconic image of “Rosie the Riveter” with her red bandana, muscular flex, and exclamation that, “We can do it!” However, when it comes to WWII, the actions Americans’ were taking on their own soil tend to be eclipsed by the soldiers overseas. While a lot of credit is due to the servicemen who risked their life waging war in the global conflict of “Good v. Evil,” the women who worked in the factories and shipyards during wartime, helping America stay afloat in its time of need, also deserve to have their stories told.
Culturally, the image of “Rosie” is used as a symbol of American feminism and female empowerment, and with feminism, once again, being a major topic of discussion (due to the #MeToo movement) as it enters its fourth-wave, there’s no better time to have these women share their stories. Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly collected the stories of three “Rosies” — all of which have different backgrounds — to highlight the historic nature of these women’s patriotic duty and present a fully-rounded perspective on this cultural shift. Mare and Kelly also partnered with animator Danielle Ash to help bring their stories to life.
WWII was an important era for American women, with “Rosie” being a key figure that allowed them to enter the workforce, and The Girl with the Rivet Gun captures the immense sensation this new feeling stirred in each of its subjects. Aside from allowing women to enter the workforce, “Rosie” also broke down societal barriers by integrating white workers with black workers, which proved to be an early step toward a healthy recognition of diversity in America, which the documentary covers via Susan Taylor King’s story, an African-American “Rosie”. However, as groundbreaking and monumental as this was, it unfortunately didn’t last forever. Once peace was restored, few women returned to their wartime positions, resuming their domestic vocations or transferred into sex-typed occupations, such as clerical and service work, which the short touches on as well.
Outside of the subject matter and the compelling personal tales, a major part of what makes The Girl with the Rivet Gun such a great watch is Danielle Ash’s unique style of animation consisting entirely of cardboard. Her compositions and arrangements have an experimental/DIY edge (in the vein of Michel Gondry — think The Science of Sleep) and give the film a lot of interesting flair. The interviews mostly consist of audio that overlay Ash’s fascinating animations, but each woman makes an appearance on-screen, which helps to create an emotional connection with the viewer.
The one thing the documentary doesn’t touch on is how these women feel about the women in the modern world and the battles for gender and racial equality that are still being fought today, which would’ve added another layer to the film. It does certainly give perspective, and shows that, while progress has definitely been made, a lot of the same issues that occurred then are still present today. Overall, the film is as inspiring as it is informative, and it does a great job of showing how important women have been to our history.
Rating: 3.5 cardboard planes outta 5.
Wanna learn more about this short documentary?! Check out our interview with the filmmakers here.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!