The new film, Jackie, is about the life of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy during the time of her husband’s assassination. The movie details the love, loss, legacy, and a surprising conservative message that few would expect from one of the most famous Democratic families in American history.
Jackie, played masterfully by Natalie Portman, has a complex opinion about her role both as a first lady and as a Kennedy.
She spends her time as the first lady redecorating the White House, primarily working on preserving the history of the Lincoln bedroom and indulging the best of Western culture. One scene shows Mr. & Mrs. Kennedy listening to Pablo Casals dressed in Halston. It was the height of midcentury glamor, elegance, and class.
Jackie takes pride in the fact that she restored the White House using private donations and didn’t spend taxpayer dollars.
However, when her husband is killed, she begins to reveal some very conservative opinions.
Portman portrays Jackie as the complicated woman she was, having many fears and self-doubt after her husband was assassinated. Through it all, she puts her personal grief aside to create the myth of Camelot. She preserves her and her husband’s legacy, in what was at best a mediocre presidency.
Jackie knew what she meant to a country that was weeping over their fallen president. Instead of changing her clothes right after her husband was shot, she chose to stand in the blood soaked pink dress until the press arrived, so they could take pictures of what had happened. Rather than riding in a car, Jackie decided to walk in the funeral procession despite there being security risks. She also refused to cower to pressures of fleeing to Massachusetts and never being heard from again.
She knew through her pain that she had a duty to her deceased husband and her country to create an image of grief and honor that would transcend through the decades and create the Kennedy legacy.
“People like to believe in fairytales,” Portman said in the movie. “I believe the characters we read about on the page end up being more real than the men who stand beside us.”
The dedication to family, country, and supporters is something that Hillary lacked in her refusal to speak to her loyal base on election night. Unlike the former first lady who underwent an even more tragic loss than a single election, Clinton decided to hide.
The decision to put family and country above self-pity is a quality some high-profile Democrats could learn from today.
