Anne Boleyn (played by natalie dormer) shares a tender last moment with her head on the tudors

Current events on the North American political landscape suggest that the glass ceiling may finally be shattering, but women have always found a way to influence world affairs. While she remains something of a poster-girl victim of foul politics (gender and otherwise) nearly 500 years on, this was certainly true of Anne Boleyn, the doomed second bride of King Henry VIII.
“She was a phenomenal, formidable woman — incredibly intelligent with sharp political instincts,” says Natalie Dormer, who portrays Boleyn on CBC’s The Tudors and was in town last week for interviews to promote the series’ second season.

“Obviously Anne was dealing with a whole different environment because she doesn’t have the luxury of being in an emancipated, post-feminist era,” the British actor adds. “In the politics of those days, women were very much second-class citizens. People point a finger and say she was a very calculating, manipulative bitch but gentle maneuvering was the only way women could exercise any form of influence — softy, softly, catchee monkey — so the nature of women’s involvement back then is misconstrued.”

Boleyn became a polarizing figure following her demise, equally revered and demonized. Dormer notes that Henry did “an exquisite job” of purging her from the historical archives, causing her motives to be misunderstood. 

“She was truly a reformer,” she says. “She wasn’t just some avarice-­driven, gold-digging troublemaker. She was a woman with a genuine vision for her country, a revolutionary. She was part of the Protestant Evangelical faith and wanted to destroy the corruption and power of the Roman Catholic Church.”

Dormer also takes umbrage at the idea that Boleyn was not in love with Henry but rather using him to further her political ends.  

“They don’t have to be mutually exclusive — an ambitious woman who wants to get her hands dirty in politics can still love her man. Clinton Incorporated was a very good team. Hillary/Bill works as a unit and the same was true for Henry and Anne, certainly for the seven years that were the genesis of The Reformation.”

Then, of course, Henry had Anne’s head chopped off — an event set for this season’s end — because she was unable to produce a male heir. Which kinda puts the McCain campaign’s accusations of sexism against Palin into perspective. Ironically, Henry and Anne’s daughter Elizabeth would go on to become one of the most powerful female leaders in history.
“She was one of the greatest monarchs that Britain ever had, and 40 years on the throne is no small feat,” Dormer says. “I like to think of Elizabeth I as Anne’s vindication. You can tell a lot about the historical figure of Anne by what her daughter achieved.”

THE TUDORS AIRS TUESDAYS, 9PM ON CBC.

Sexual politics
As much as men still dominate North American politics, this extraordinary election season has pivoted around female politicians. Hillary Clinton remains a media obsession long after losing her campaign for the Democratic nomination, while Sarah Palin, the second-ever woman on an American presidential ticket, will undoubtedly smash ratings records as everyone tunes in to see if she train-wrecks in Thursday’s (Oct. 2) VP debate.

In Canada’s own, inevitably overshadowed current election buildup, Green Party’s leader Elizabeth May generated some much-needed excitement with her successful demand to join the televised party debate. Her performance is expected to embarrass the Harper-led boys’ club who tried to keep her out.

And over in SNL’s world, Amy Poehler’s ever-appalled version of Hillary trounces the competition (Fred Armisen’s coasting Obama; Darrell Hammond’s dull McCain) while Tina Fey’s triumphant return engagements as an eerily dead-on Sarah “I can see Russia from my house!” Palin have actually been cited for helping sink the real VP candidate’s approval ratings. It wouldn’t be surprising, considering Palin’s entire persona has been defined by television — the looped footage of her hoisting rifles, clips of her attacking “media elites” in her convention speech and those moose-in-headlights interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.

As further evidence of the new zeitgeist, 24, which featured black president David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) in its first five seasons, returns for its upcoming seventh season with a female commander-in-chief (Tony-winner Cherry Jones), whom producer Howard Gordon describes as “aspirational in the kind of way David Palmer was.”