Mary and Anne Boleyn: Women's Roles in "The Other Boleyn Girl"

        (Mary and Anne Boleyn)

          “The Other Boleyn Girl” is a historical fiction movie depicting sisters Anne (Scarlett Johannsen) and Mary (Natalie Portman) Boleyn, who are pitted against each other to vie for the affection of King Henry VIII. Because Anne is a woman, she has no control over her fate and because Mary is a woman, she is exiled from the country for standing up for herself publicly. The stereotypes are inherent in the culture of Elizabethan England, and it wasn't seen as sexist in those times because it was the way things were run.    

This movie has a strong message that men, be it your husband, father, or lover, are in charge. The women's main jobs were to bear children, and acquiesce to men's wills. Mary Boleyn, the "good" sister, is forced by her father and her uncle to have sex with the King in order for him to have a male heir, despite her incessant pleas to not have to have an extra-marital affair and hurt her husband, the Kings wife, or her sister Anne, who was originally appointed to bear his children.  Her mother attempts to voice her opinions against this plan for the family to achieve a higher status in the county by saying that it was a bad idea and would ruin the family's reputation, but the men dismiss her thoughts. Not once are any women in this movie asked how they felt, because they are shown as mere subjects and pawns.

Anne was originally chosen to be the Kings mistress, but because she showed too much strength, he decides that he doesn't want her anymore and goes for the more willing, vulnerable sister. Anne is sent away to France to learn “proper female behavior”, all because she is a woman and women were not supposed to show self-will and independence.

Mary and Anne Boleyn had their lives completely ruined and were under the reign of the men in their lives all because of their gender.

(Anne Boleyn, Mary Boleyn, and King Henry VIII)

--Breana Swain