With more than a passing nod to Jacob Bronowski's THE ASCENT OF MAN, the magisterial BBC series from 1973, Amanda Foreman uses her four- part documentary to discuss the ways in which women of different ages and different cultures have made significant contributions to the development of history.
The subjects cover territory both familiar and unfamiliar: the Trung sisters of Vietnam who led a rebellion against Chinese domination; and Empress Wu Zetian, innovative ruler of China; set against the women who argued for 'liberté, egalité et fraternité' during the reign of Louis XIV. The story is brought up to the present day with stories from Africa as well as Europe.
The mission is laudable in itself, but is undercut by the style of presentation. Foreman is an advocate of the "great man" theory of history, advocating that lone individuals largely reshape the course of people's lives. This represents a perfectly logical view of history, but does not acknowledge the fact that feminist historians have often challenged this view on the grounds that it simply reinforces patriarchal values. Put another way, this view of history views women as surrogate male figures, adopting masculine strategies of divide and rule so as to secure their ends. A suitable example of this from recent British politics might be Margaret Thatcher. Very little credence is given to the idea that women might have other methods of accomplishing their aims involving conciliation and negotiation rather than resistance.
The problem also extends to the style of presentation. Foreman is a forceful personality in her own right who dominates the screen in such a manner as to suggest that power and strength are the only means by which success can be achieved. The way she clenches her fists to emphasize a point, accompanied by emphatic nods of the head, suggest a desire to prove her point to all those (male) doubting Thomases amongst the viewing public who might want to question her. Ultimately this style of presentation proves irritation: we yearn for a more relaxed presenter who perhaps could sacrifice some screen-time in favor of more historical and/or documentary visuals.
