Lizzie Borden's film points out the realities of how women are treated in America in the 1980s (which still exist in varying degree today--2018). The story is set in an alternate 1983 New York where it is the 10 year anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the Government and replaced it with a Socialist Democracy. Borden is able to convey the real truths of women's rights in America quite blatantly by using this alternately set present day. It allows her bring to light how women are victimized and objectified by men day to day. Examples include the scene where two men pretend to ask for directions from a women only to forcefully hit on her, but when she rejects their advances they physically assault her in order to get what they want from her--sex; in another scene we watch as a man asks a woman what she is reading only to attempt to get her to play into his sexual overtones, but two women stop his advances and he becomes angry, even playing the victim.
Both of these scenes show the subtlety of a male driven society which accepts the man objectifying a woman and accusing women of being "dramatic" when they attempt to stop the psychological and physical assault. We also see how Borden pulls back the curtain of media which seems to blatantly be controlled by the patriarchal society in order to cast down the reality of the rights of women being stripped every day. The media even allows the patronizing of the Presidents message to pay women to do housework.
The culture created by a society of people who don't stand together for equal rights is one of destruction and disunity. It creates a morality that crosses many boundaries that must exist in society in order for the whole to move forward in a healthy way, and health is the only way to grow. Disappointingly, Borden shows that health and growth for all is not the agenda of the male-dominated society. It is to allow those who have the power to stay in power, and thus it creates a movement of women who see that the only way to fight and be heard is with violence. They become what they are trying to fight for better or worse.
