Sally Field's Creation of a Role Model

This is my entry for The Performance That Changed Your Life Blogathon being hosted this weekend by Emma at All About My Movies.

I saw Norma Rae soon after it opened in 1979. I was a young, impressionable woman, soon to be headed off to college. Up until the advent of NR on the screen, I had been raised on a steady diet of literature, film & television created by white men – all of it privileging their world view. In 1979, I was as yet unaware of my heretofore indoctrination into patriarchy. And I was raised during the women’s lib movement!!

And then – along came Sally Field as Norma Rae. Her gutsy, determined performance of a poor white woman who has the audacity to fight for labor rights & to unionize her fellow workers against their powerful, greedy employer was absolutely captivating. I remember staring wide-eyed at the screen in the darkened movie theatre. Wow! Norma Rae was an ordinary woman. She had problems in her personal life. She wasn’t terribly well-educated. She was surrounded by powerful, controlling men – YET SHE TOOK A STAND – not only for herself but for others. And on a very public stage! This was not a story about a woman heroically overcoming problems domestic – such as divorce, spousal abuse, etc. – the more standard fare for films that feature strong women. No. This was a film about a woman who acted heroically in PUBLIC, i.e., within a space still predominantly controlled by men.

And, significantly, Norma Rae fought for the rights of ALL – women & men. She was an egalitarian social activist. And this is precisely why Ms. Field’s passionate performance (which won her an Oscar, by the way) so resonated with me in 1979. At that time I was just beginning to find my feminist voice and my social critic voice. To this day I can recall the goose-bumps I felt creeping up my spine as I watched NR/SF bravely & stubbornly perch atop a work table in her factory, mutely – yet, oh so eloquently - appealing to her fellow workers.

The image I clipped in above of the original advertising poster for Norma Rae is odd. It seems to imply that Norma Rae is a about a happy woman joyfully cheering "yippie!" at her child’s birthday party. What were they thinking?! The image clipped in here of the most memorable moment of Sally Field’s performance does much more justice to the weighty subject matter of this film.

Sally Field’s Norma Rae was a long over-due role model for me of younger days in 1979.