From pioneer in the fight for women's rights to symbol for new generations. Here is how and why Ruth Bader Ginsburg became a heroine, celebrated by the documentary RBG (in cinemas from 15 July) and the film On the Basis of Sex.
Few people in Italy know who she is, but in the United States 86-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a justice of the US Supreme Court for 26 years, is today a pop icon, known by the nickname The Notorious R.B.G. and emblazoned on T-shirts, mugs and even tattoos. Born in Brooklyn in 1933 to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Russia, RBG was, from the 1950s onwards, a trailblazer in the fight for gender equality. That is why her figure is today regarded as one of the most groundbreaking in the long struggle to win rights and equal opportunities for women. So much so that her statements and her celebrated dissents continue to influence many young activists today, who have helped turn her into a symbol. Evidence of this status is the attention that first ignited on the web before spreading to American television and popular culture, ultimately finding its consecration on the big screen, with two films about her released in almost simultaneous succession.
The story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg has indeed become the subject of both the documentary RBG, which will arrive in our cinemas on 15 July, and the film On the Basis of Sex (released in Italy on 28 March).
A superhero in robes. This is the image that directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West paint of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in their documentary RBG, nominated at the most recent Academy Awards and released in the United States on the very 25th anniversary of the justice's appointment to the US Supreme Court (she was the second woman in history to receive the nomination, in 1993). The film is a biographical and celebratory portrait, though never polemical, adopting the same calm and resolute tone that its subject has always brought to bear in life when championing her causes. "Anger is a waste of time," her mother used to tell her, encouraging her to pursue her goals through dedication. And so it was that, without ever raising her voice but always weighing every word, Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed the world of American women and, literally, "made history".
To convey the scale of the undertaking the justice faced in the years when she began her career, the film captures the society of that era through the legal cases RBG argued, reminding us how, in the — not all that distant — 1960s, women could be dismissed if pregnant, how they needed their husband's signature to open a bank account, and how rape within marriage was not considered a prosecutable offence. But the most insidious obstacle RBG had to confront was the fact that the judges before whom she appeared simply did not believe that sexual discrimination existed at all.
As we retrace the milestones of her career as student, teacher, lawyer, activist and judge, we also discover her personal story through archival footage, hearing recordings, photographs and private home videos. These alternate with interviews with colleagues, childhood friends, her children Jane and James, her granddaughter Clara, who has followed in her grandmother's footsteps by pursuing a legal career, and Shana Knizhnik, the law student who in 2013 coined the nickname Notorious R.B.G.
To establish her superhero-and-fighter image right from the outset, the directors show us the justice today, working out with focused determination alongside her personal trainer, wearing a sweatshirt that reads Super Diva! It is a perfect device for capturing the woman's self-deprecating humour, which also comes through in the moment when, sitting in front of the television, she watches comedian Kate McKinnon's irreverent impression of her on Saturday Night Live for the very first time.
The directors' skill lies in drawing out all the symbolic power of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's story by drawing on her personal experience. Before becoming a champion of gender equality, she was herself a victim of the sexist system of her time. When she enrolled at Harvard Law University in 1955, Ruth was one of nine women in a class of five hundred men, finding herself in the position of having constantly to justify the fact that she had "taken a place that could have been taken by a man". Once she graduated, Ruth became a lawyer at a time when "women were not wanted in the legal profession", and struggled enormously to find work. What makes her even more heroic, however, is that the fight against discrimination against women was not the only battle Ruth had to face in life. Newly married and a mother, she first had to fight a cancer diagnosed in her husband and later defeat not one but two tumours herself.
But RBG is also the story of a love affair. The one between its subject and her husband Martin Ginsburg, whom she met at university and who remained by her side throughout her life (he died in 2010). "An extraordinary man," as she herself describes him on more than one occasion, also recalling how he had been "the first man I had ever met who cared that I had a brain." Reserved and shy where she was concerned, gregarious and very witty where he was, they were a formidable couple, admired by everyone. The directors wisely devote ample space to their bond, allowing the viewer to discover the more intimate side of their subject and showing how much it shaped and smoothed the entire public journey of RBG.
To understand how judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg went from being a heavyweight figure on the legal and political landscape to becoming a fully fledged symbol, one must go back to June 2013, when law student Shana Knizhnik, profoundly disappointed by a decision handed down by the US Supreme Court, decided to open a blog, naming it Notorious R.B.G. Rather than venting the anger that, in Bader Ginsburg's own words, "brings nobody closer and brings no change", the young woman reacted by publishing the judge's dissent on the court's decision. The nickname, borrowed from the imposing rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (murdered in 1997), played on the contrast between the woman's slight build and her great moral and intellectual strength. The effect was explosive, tapping into a deeply felt debate and ultimately turning that name into a symbol of the fight against all discrimination. In no time at all, in quintessential American fashion, the judge's image — oversized glasses, robe and lace jabot — became a brand, printed on T-shirts and mugs, even tattooed on people's skin or worn as a Halloween costume. Parodies, videos and impressions soon followed in its wake. A level of media attention that confirms the continuing relevance of the fight against discrimination and gender equality — which, it should be remembered, is also one of the sustainable development goals set by the UN for 2030.
As mentioned at the outset, in addition to the documentary RBG (which will be coming to Italy soon thanks to Wanted Cinema and Feltrinelli Real Cinema), the story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg also became the subject of the biopic Una giusta causa (On the Basis of Sex), in which the lead role was entrusted to British actress Felicity Jones (already acclaimed in The Theory of Everything, another biopic dedicated to Stephen Hawking).
The film's screenplay was written by RBG's nephew, screenwriter Daniel Stiepleman, inspired by the deep bond between his aunt and uncle, as well as by Ruth Bader Ginsburg's public persona and the role she played: "There is no marriage I have admired more than that of Uncle Marty and Aunt Ruth," Stiepleman recounts, saying he sensed the narrative power of their story in 2010, following the death of Martin Ginsburg. "When, during the funeral service, one of their dearest friends stood up and made us smile by recounting the one and only argument between Ruth and Marty, I thought: 'Wow, this could be an incredible film!'".
And so it was that after about a year he decided to put the project to his aunt: "I called Ruth and told her I had an idea for a screenplay. I asked for her permission and, if possible, her help. Ruth replied: 'If that's how you think you'd like to spend your time…'. So I went to Washington and we spent several days together."
Having landed on Hollywood's blacklist (the selection of the most compelling screenplays), the film finally came to life in 2018, directed by Mimi Leder. Released on Christmas Day in the United States, it arrived in Italy on 28 March 2019, distributed by Videa, with the tagline "La battaglia di una donna. La vittoria di una generazione".