Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan on what 'Mary Queen of Scots' says about women in politics then and now
Mary Queen of Scots is set waaaaay back in the day — the mid-16th century, to be accurate — but there’s an undeniable topicality to the historical drama in its depiction of women in power. That’s especially true in the treatment of the titular royal (Saorise Ronan), who despite overseeing Scotland and having a legit claim to the throne of England, is threatened, bullied, conspired against and altogether treated horrendously by her countrymen as she attempts to negotiate with her rival cousin Queen Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie).
“Both of them were essentially seen as a body that would create an heir to the throne,” Ronan (Brooklyn, Lady Bird) told Yahoo Entertainment (watch above). “So they held onto this power that was given to them and was sort of their God-given right, but as soon as they gave birth to a son, it was handed off to them.
“I feel like there’s still remnants of that perception of women in power left, where it’s sort of like, ‘OK, you can have it for now until a greater, stronger man comes along, even if he’s half your age.’ There’s a lot more against a woman, there’s a lot more challenges that she has to face even still. It’s a tougher uphill battle for women in power.”
In one scene that rings especially relevant, enemies of Mary chant, “Strike her down!” clearly an attempt by director Josie Rourke to play off the “lock her up!” chants that have chastised Hillary Clinton at Donald Trump rallies.
“It was interesting to explore what politics at that time meant and to find the similarities,” said Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, I, Tonya). “The kind of techniques that still exist today. Smear campaigns, fake news, propaganda. All that kind of stuff that we talk about in other parts of history and also today, it kind of existed back then. Like Saorise said, gender politics was something quite different. And being a man meant something quite different. I think we’re a little more balanced these days, not completely, but definitely more so than they were back then.
“But in the case of Elizabeth and Mary, they really were being kept apart by the male advisers, who worked incredibly hard to keep them apart. And I think they wanted to pit these women against each other, and I think that too is something we see, certainly in tabloids. ‘Catfight,’ those words are so often splashed across headlines. But I think they, the two women, started off from a place of love and wanting to find a compromise.”
Mary Queen of Scots opens in select theaters Friday. Watch the trailer:
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