CONCEPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FOREPLAY - Blog 3 of 10
A Mine Field Revealed
My on-going studies of the vast and prickly topic of feminism has lead me to conclude that I am technically a humanist, not a feminist. With that in mind, let's plunge-in.
Feminist scholars have found it useful to think of the woman's movement in the U.S. as occurring in "waves." The history of the modern feminist movement is divided into three "waves," each describing different aspects of the same feminist issues. The First Wave refers to the movement of the 19th through early 20th centuries which concerned itself mainly with suffrage. The Second Wave occurred from the 1960s and ran well into the 1980s. This is the period in which "Crossing the Bar" is set. This wave dealt with the inequality of laws, beyond the early quest for political rights, to fight for greater equality across the board, e.g. in education, at home and in the work place. Third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, arising as a response to perceived failures of the second wave and also as a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second wave.
The female protagonist in "Crossing the Bar" encounters a world in which women actually lost ground. Despite the gains made by women over the first half of the 20th century, the essential problems of discrimination, inequality, and limited opportunities reappeared after World War II ended and men returning from combat re-established their previous positions. Consequently, the gradual emergence of a new feminism after World War II was referred to a Second Wave feminism, to reflect the hiatus the war had created and the new directions taken following women's experiences during and after that war.
Historical Importance of a Ship Pilot
The value of a ship pilot is well understood by those who own and operate the ships that have always been considered massive over each maritime generation and borne her increasingly valuable cargos. Key to this understanding is to grasp the fact that a ship is always safer at sea than she is when near or surrounded by land.
The film's audience will experience this dramatically as a vessel gets close to land and see the story change before their eyes. The story now become one about the mounting risk to the cargo, vessel, crew and environment (in that order of importance). Where 98 disastrous shipwrecks have occurred on the Bay of San Francisco over the last 150 years, the pilots have to contend with narrow channels, sharp turns, strong tidal currents, reefs and shoals. A watchful pilot instinctively grasps that quarters are close and there is no time to think or consider action to be taken. Solutions must be instant and intuitive. Traffic may come from all directions and a moment's delay may court disaster. The audience will witness times of poor visibility when all the radar blips must be correctly interpreted and proper decisions made immediately. Only an expert can properly cope with the drama of these dangerous variables. The ship pilots of the Bay are such experts. To this filmmaker "Crossing the Bar" represents not only the outward appearance of Bay Area ship pilots, but also the inward significance of all ship pilots, both male and female, on the great upwelling of commerce in North American harbors that continues today.
Synopsis
This is the moralistic story of Aimee who journeys from Tahiti where she was born as World War II ended, to France where she grew up on a ship pilots training facility operated by her parents, to the Bay Area at age 20 to attend Vallejo's California Maritime Academy. Only with unyielding persistence and unexpected bravery is she able to forge a brilliant career and ultimately pierce into an elite, male clan of mariners as California's first state-certified ship pilot.
By the way, a local newspaper has contacted me with an offer to publish a column on the subject of local feminism. Think I should do it?
Copyright 2010 G. Leo Maselli
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