{"id":56423,"date":"2025-09-02T15:20:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T20:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=56423"},"modified":"2025-09-02T15:29:37","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T20:29:37","slug":"our-ordeal-is-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=56423","title":{"rendered":"“Our Ordeal is Worth It!”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We find it fascinating how many of the WLBOTT <\/strong>communal ideals intersect with The Shakers<\/em>. Radical equality between the genders and the races. Communal living. Compassion and a joy for life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This morning the editorial staff was pleasantly surprised to find a review of a new movie in The Guardian<\/strong>. The movie, The Testament of Ann Lee<\/em>, follows the life of the founder of the Shaker movement, Ann Lee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Testament of Ann Lee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our ordeal is worth it!” This is the cry of one of the faithful in Mona Fastvold\u2019s movie, co-written with her partner Brady Corbet, with whom she co-wrote The Brutalist<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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It is a vehement, fervent, striking but sometimes baffling drama about the historical figure of Ann Lee<\/strong>, who endured religious persecution in 18th-century England as leader of the fundamentalist Shaker movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the embodiment of Christ\u2019s second coming, Lee took her radical message to the New World and in pre-revolutionary America founded an enduring community of souls, persecuted all over again by the new patriarchy for being a woman and a pacifist.[…]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a genuinely strange film, elusive in both tone and meaning, one which deploys the obvious effects and rhetorical forms of irony, while at the same time distancing itself from these effects and asking its audience to sympathise and even admire Lee, because she is not supposed to be the villain. Fastvold is perhaps asking her audience to take whatever elements from the film they find congenial. An enigmatic ritual that is not for everyone.<\/p>\nThe Guardian<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Amanda Seyfried Sings\u2014and Screams\u2014in The Testament of Ann Lee<\/strong>
Before she emerged as a founding leader of the Shakers in the mid-18th century, Ann Lee gave birth to four children. All of them died in infancy. Lee grieved these losses in quick succession, then dreamed up a rebellious Christian sect that advocated for total celibacy, the abandonment of marriage, and female leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mona Fastvold\u2019s new film, The Testament of Ann Lee<\/em>, imagines Ann\u2019s personal tragedy as a fateful turning point\u2014dramatizing it as an alternately ecstatic and harrowing musical sequence, choreographed with precision and performed at an operatic scale by star Amanda Seyfried.<\/p>\nVanity Fair<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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At this point, we don’t know if the chickens make uncredited appearances. The Ann Lee production company has not responded to our unsent emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following stills are from the IMDB page<\/a> for The Testament of Ann Lee<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Soggy Chicken<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ann Lee<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Ann Lee<\/strong>\u00a0(29 February 1736\u00a0\u2013 8 September 1784), commonly known as\u00a0Mother Ann Lee<\/strong>, was the founding leader of the\u00a0Shakers, later changed to United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing following her death. She was born during a time of the Evangelical revival in England, and became a figure that greatly influenced religion at this time, especially in the Americas.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Here is the timeline of Ann Lee’s life. She only lived to be 48.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timeline of Ann Lee (1736\u20131784)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1736<\/strong> \u2013 Born February 29 in Manchester, England, the daughter of a blacksmith. Grew up poor, worked from childhood in textile mills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1762<\/strong> \u2013 Married Abraham Standerin. They had four children, all of whom died in infancy\u2014a loss that profoundly shaped her faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

c. 1765\u20131770<\/strong> \u2013 Joined a radical Quaker offshoot known as the \u201cShaking Quakers.\u201d Began to experience visions emphasizing celibacy, confession, and equality of the sexes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1770<\/strong> \u2013 Had a defining vision in which she believed God revealed to her that sexual relations were the root of human sin. She emerged as the spiritual leader of her group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1772<\/strong> \u2013 Imprisoned in England for her unorthodox religious practices and preaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1774<\/strong> \u2013 Emigrated to the American colonies with a small band of followers, including her husband (who soon left her), her brother William, and several others. They settled near Albany, New York, at Watervliet\u2014the first Shaker settlement in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1776\u20131783<\/strong> \u2013 Faced hostility and persecution, especially during the Revolutionary War (Shakers were pacifists and refused oaths of allegiance). She was jailed several times, accused of being a British sympathizer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1780\u20131783<\/strong> \u2013 Traveled through New England spreading her teachings, gathering converts, and establishing the basis for future Shaker communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1784<\/strong> \u2013 Died on September 8 at Watervliet, New York, aged only 48. Buried there, where her simple gravestone still stands today.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Timeline of Ann Lee (1736\u20131784) with Cultural Legacies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1736\u20131784<\/strong> \u2013 Ann Lee lives only 48 years, but her teachings lay the foundation for one of the most distinctive communal movements in American history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 1784 \u2013 Expansion under Successors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Joseph Meacham and Lucy Wright<\/strong> (Lee\u2019s immediate successors) systematize Shaker life and establish gender-balanced leadership \u2014 every community is governed by both men and women.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Dozens of Shaker villages eventually form across New England, the Midwest, and as far south as Kentucky.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
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    Shaker Cultural Legacies<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    1. Music & Worship<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    • The Shakers expressed spirituality through ecstatic dance, singing, and rhythmic movement \u2014 earning them the name \u201cShakers.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Hymns were central to their worship. The best-known, Simple Gifts<\/em> (1848), became a cornerstone of American folk and spiritual music, later adapted by Aaron Copland in Appalachian Spring<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      2. Architecture & Furniture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      • Shaker communities produced iconic architecture: clean lines, functional spaces, and ingenious communal meetinghouses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Their furniture became world-renowned for its simplicity, durability, and elegance \u2014 embodying the principle that beauty and utility were inseparable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        3. Agricultural Innovations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        • Shakers pioneered seed packets<\/strong>, revolutionizing how farmers and gardeners accessed plant varieties.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • They developed new tools, machinery, and sustainable farming methods, leaving a lasting mark on American agriculture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          4. Social Innovations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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          • Practiced gender equality<\/strong> in leadership \u2014 radical for the 18th and 19th centuries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Lived communally, emphasizing shared work, celibacy, pacifism, and charity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Their model of utopian communal living<\/strong> inspired later intentional communities and even aspects of cooperative economics.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            5. Lasting Influence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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            • Though their numbers dwindled (only a few Shakers remain today at Sabbathday Lake, Maine), their ideals \u2014 simplicity, equality, innovation \u2014 continue to resonate in art, design, music, and alternative visions of society.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              At their peak in the mid-19th century, there were about 4,000\u20136,000 Shakers<\/strong> spread across more than a dozen communities in New England, New York, Ohio, and Kentucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              A few highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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              • The largest Shaker villages \u2014 such as Mount Lebanon, New York<\/strong> (the spiritual center), Canterbury, New Hampshire<\/strong>, and South Union, Kentucky<\/strong> \u2014 each housed several hundred members.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Shakerism never became a mass movement, but its influence was disproportionate to its size because of their innovations in design, music, and communal organization<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
              • Numbers began to decline after the Civil War, as celibacy and communal discipline made recruitment difficult in an industrializing society.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                Today, only a handful of Shakers remain \u2014 the last active community is at Sabbathday Lake, Maine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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                A Shaker Worship Service by Salli Terri, featuring the University of Kentucky Choristers under the Direction of Professor Sara Holroyd. Produced by the office of Instructional Resources, University of Kentucky, with Support from a grant by the Kentucky Arts Council. Directed by Leveque McDonald, Narrated by Dr. Thomas D. Clark September 29, 1979