Power+Differentials+and+Conflict

**Power Differentials in the Group**

Power differentials definitely exist within the team. Chris is the unofficial leader in several respects. She is the most out-spoken and creative of the bunch. It is Chris who comes up with the nude calendar idea. It is also Chris who buys a pre-made cake to enter in a WI contest. She even leads her group of friends in tai chi on a local hilltop regularly. Chris takes risks and pushes the envelope. In all areas of her life, Chris is unconsciously powerful and influential.

**Handling of Conflict** Most often conflict is avoided. The story essentially begins with Annie’s husband, John, belatedly telling his wife that he has cancer. Time and again we observe Chris and Annie, Chris’ longest and dearest friend, giggling in the back row of WI meetings. Annie, but particularly Chris, finds the meeting topics dreadfully boring. However, until they come up with their calendar idea, they stay quiet. Conflict avoidance is woven throughout the film. Chris’ husband struggles to run their floral business while she is busy with the calendar, but he does not address it directly. This leads to an accidental conversation where he unintentionally vents to a tabloid writer. Their son, Jim, struggles with his mother’s public nudity, but cannot find words to express himself. Instead he goes quiet and compensates with alcohol.

There are additional examples where conflict is avoided through humor, taking behind others backs, and passive aggressive comments. Against a backdrop of conflict avoidance is the powerful display of two conflicts addressed directly. These moments are pinnacles of the story.

First, it is witnessed when Chris and Annie go the Federation of Women’s Institutes Conference to seek approval for their calendar idea. Annie tries to explain to an auditorium of hundreds of what appear to be stiff, uppity WI women why their idea should be supported. Emotion wells up as she is reminded of her late husband, and her thoughts are cut short by an offensive red light noting her time is up. At this moment Chris courageously takes center stage and shouts “No, no, no. Just hold on a minute with your red light.” Without the assistance of a microphone she continues to address the group with passion: “ Look, I hate plum jam. I only joined the WI to make my mother happy…if you can’t give us 10 minutes of your time Madam Chairman, then frankly guys, I’m going to do it without council approval…because there are some things that are more important than council approval. And if that means we get closer to killing off this shitty, cheating, sly, conniving, bloody disease that cancer is, oh god I’d tell you. I’d rather run around Skipton Market naked, smeared in plum jam wearing nothing than a knitted tea cozy on me head and singing ‘Jerusalem.’”

The second conflict addressed head-on is between Annie and Chris. As the story unfolds Annie becomes increasingly frustrated with what she perceives as Chris’ focus on being successful and famous through the calendar. For a while Annie is conflict avoidant about it, but emotion bubbles over while on a publicity trip to Hollywood. The best friends end up yelling at each other about how they think the other is focused on stardom. After hearing Annie’s frustration, Chris quickly retorts that she sees Annie chasing after something very similar. Chris points out Annie’s devotion to responding to the hundreds of letters she receives from wives who have lost their husbands. She asks Annie “ What’s with all these letters…doesn’t that smack just a little bit of being a star?” The scene ends with Annie expressing her pain about losing John and telling Chris that she needs to focus on spending time with her husband who is still alive. It’s a beautifully honest and raw conflict between friends who know each other so well.