RBG is a 2018 documentary feature directed by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.
It is a documentary about the life of crusading lawyer turned federal judge turned United States Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film, using a fairly standard documentary format, traces Ginsburg's life growing up in a Jewish home in Brooklyn, New York (her father emigrated from Tsarist Russia). Ruth Bader meets discrimination and resentment from the moment she enrolls in pre-law at Cornell and especially after she goes to Harvard Law School, but she is loyally supported by her husband Martin Ginsburg.
After New York law firms refuse to hire her because she is a woman, Ginsburg becomes a law professor, and then becomes a leading advocate for equal rights for women, pursuing a canny strategy of picking cases that are likely to result in not just wins but changes to federal law. Her success in this gets her appointed as a federal judge by Jimmy Carter and then to the Supreme Court by Bill Clinton, where she has some high-profile wins (opening the Virginia Military Institute to women) and losses (Bush v. Gore). The film also examines Ginsburg's family and personal life as well as the "Notorious RBG" meme that has been associated with her in her old age.
See also On the Basis of Sex, a Ginsburg Biopic that was also released in 2018.
Tropes:
- At the Opera Tonight: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an opera fan and one scene shows her going to an opera.
- Brooklyn Rage: When Ginsburg is asked about the meme comparing her to The Notorious B.I.G. and calling her "The Notorious RBG", she says why not, and points out that they were both born and raised in Brooklyn.
- The Cameo: In-Universe, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is shown in November 2016 appearing in an opera, in a non-singing part, as "the Duchess of Krakenthorp."
- Decided by One Vote: The 2000 presidential election as the Democrats and Ruth Bader Ginsburg lose Bush v. Gore by one vote, as George Stephanopoulos points out in stock footage.
- Documentary: The life and career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
- The Ken Burns Effect: Used with most every still picture. One scene underlines how few women there were at Harvard Law School (nine in a class of over 500) by going on a long, long pan down the class graduation photo before stopping with Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the very end.
- Lethal Chef: Marty apparently banned Ruth from the kitchen permanently at some point. Her son James said in the documentary that he still can't eat swordfish after what she did to it and her daughter Jane claimed that she hadn't eaten an edible vegetable until she was 14.
- Narrator: There is no conventional narrator but various settings in which Ginsburg recounts her life—a public forum in which she was interviewed, her Supreme Court confirmation hearings—are used as narration.
- Odd Couple: Right-wing SCOTUS justice Antonin Scalia actually says "Why don't you call us The Odd Couple? The next segment of the film discusses how Ginsburg and Scalia, polar opposites politically, formed a close personal friendship. They even toured India together!
- Spinning Paper: A very understated example of this hoary old trope. Ginsburg's various decisions in the 1970s as an advocate before the Court are summed up with newspaper headlines that sort of wiggle as the camera zooms in.
- Stock Footage: Lots. Stock footage of interviews, footage of her SCOTUS confirmation hearings, stock audio of her arguments in front of the Court (the Supreme Court does not allow cameras), home movies.
- Talking Heads: Many, including her childhood friends, acquaintances from college and law school, professional colleagues, clients from her days as a lawyer, Supreme Court scholars, and her family (but not Martin Ginsburg who died in 2010).
- Training Montage: One whole scene is devoted to Ginsburg's workout regimen.
- Worthy Opponent: Ted Olson, who lost the VMI case to her, describes Ginsburg as "a worthy and formidable force."
