Vivienne Ngo

PS&J 7
Donlin
May. 01. 09
Independent Outing Reflection

In an era where text messaging and iPod listening have become vital life processes, it is obvious

that contemporary society is increasingly dominated by technology and modernism. From most

perspectives, this is a marvelous feat: a mark of civil advancement, a paradigm of human intelligence, a

stepping stone towards humanoid superiority over long-reigning Mother Nature. But while seats on the

modernist omnibus rampantly fill, fundamentalism lies bleeding on the side of the road. History

becomes unneeded. Classical music becomes superseded by the synthesized stylings of Britney Spears.

The art of conversation begins to die; the value of refined prose, to diminish; and the joy of reading, to

wilt. There is “No Country for Old Men” in a society where “old” is considered defunct and ineffectual.

It is precisely this latter mentality that Pam Walton's Raging Grannies: The Action League attempts to

shatter.

The Raging Grannies, originally founded in Canada in the late 1980's, are an unorthodox social

activist group comprised solely of female senior citizens. Their claimed mission is a seemingly simple

one—to voice one's opinion and opt for change despite any obstacles age or gender may present.

Although each remain autonomous of one another, there exist various chapters, or “gaggles,” of the

group on the international plane, including in Israel, Japan, Greece, and the United Kingdom. The

specific chapter featured in the film, however, is the San Jose “gaggle” in California.

The documentary is summarily a collage of the Grannies “achievements,” littered by interluding

footages of the ladies' interviews and hardships (one of the Grannies received orthopedic surgery) as an

attempt to illicit sympathy and support for the Grannies' cause. Highlights include the ladies' protest

against unfair recruitment at US Army centers, their confrontation with labor unions' call for illegal

immigrants' deportation, and their siege of Representative Mike Honda's office in anger of his
“spinelessness” against HR 508 (a measure that would theoretically provide more resources to

American troops in Iraq).

The film ultimately fails in validating The Raging Grannies (the San Jose chapter, anyway) as

an effective social activist group. The Grannies' reverberating statement, that their decrepit, senile

exterior is only a deliberate mask which does not reflect their own ideologies or professionalism, is

repeatedly refuted throughout the film by their unacceptably disruptive behavior and hastily-formed

liberal ideologies.