Mona Fastvold’s new film, The Testament of Ann Lee, depicts a rush of faith, loss and community connectedness. It portrays a shared life free from greed, conflict, or hierarchy as the dream. The critics describes it as being an example of the feasibility of establishing utopia and gives cause to be encouraged by this idea.
However, the film’s portrayal (which also raises questions about power dynamics and gender) raises a more difficult question. Would we respond to an Ann Lee-type experience with enthusiasm if she were a man preaching control through the ideal of purity?
Charisma Gets a Pass When It’s Female
Ann Lee demanded that her followers practice celibacy; she broke up families, and she appointed herself the focus of her followers’ devotion. Her followers sang, “I love Mother, I love her ways,” which is an actual Shaker hymn that appears in the film. The degree of appeal that Ann Lee had was based on authority rather than being kind and nurturing.
Coverage from leading publications, including TIME and the Daily Beast, often depicts her authority in a gentle tone. They state that Fastvold’s film flirts with skepticism regarding the extent to which fasting, emotional trauma, and extreme fatigue contributed to Ann’s visionary experiences. However, both publications portray Ann Lee in a gracious and caring manner overall.
But if you replace Ann Lee with a male leader who bans sexual relations and dissolves marriages, the word “cult” would be used to label him. In the case of Ann Lee, people admire her, and it’s all because gender changes the lens.
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Utopia, With a Control Panel
The Shakers were able to create something that was rare in their time. They created communal property, gender equality in leadership, and promoted a message of pacifism during the Revolutionary War. The very idea of a woman leading an entire movement would have looked radical to people in the 1770s. The filmmaker has highlighted the Shakers’ triumph, and it should.
Although the Shakers created a utopia, it came with rules that were enforced by belief and pressure. Children were separated from their parents, and sex was framed as a sin. Public confession rituals were held to crush dissent.
Supporting women does not require hero worship. Feminism can voice praise towards Anna Lee due to her courage, while at the same time questioning who held the off switch. The film believes utopia is possible, which is fair. However, don’t turn a blind eye to reckless power control because a woman holds it.
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