Rooster Cogburn- KPower

In the years prior to the making of Rooster Cogburn (1975) the second wave of the feminist movement began. This second wave focused on the equality of women. In the film, Eula Goodnight embodies the strong and opinionated women that lead the feminist movement. Preceding the movement, women were in charge of the home and did not work. The man was the bread earner in the family and was head of the household. Eula contradicts these notions of womanhood by going on the mission with Rooster Cogburn, often outwitting him and by saving his life on more than one occasion. Eula does not merely sit in the shadows during the film, as women do in a typical western. She participates in the action and even kills a man. Cogburn even says about her, “If we ever give them the vote, God help us all.” His comment proves just how strong of a woman that Eula is and, through her, the strength of the feminist movement.