1984: Year of the Heroic Farm Wife
Wednesday, August 24, 2016 at 2:00PM As we look back at 1984, please welcome new contributor John Guerin to talk about a famous Oscar triple...
In 1984, 60% of the Best Actress category was farm wives
In May 1985, after scoring Oscar nominations for playing distressed farmwives in Country and The River, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek testified before the U.S. House of Representatives and urged senators to help aid farmers during a devastating agricultural crisis. After a toxic combination of faulty economic policies, mounting debts, high interest rates, and a declining Midwest population, American farmers were experiencing financial hardship unseen since the Great Depression. Both Country and The River offer visions of farm families under such pressures, pitting family and community against unyielding forces of nature and government.
Can you remember the last time an actress testified before Congress after starring in a politically-minded film?