The Gordon Sisters Boxing

The Gordon Sisters Boxing is an American short black-and-white silent film directed by Thomas A. Edison. It is one of the earliest female boxing movies. Edison’s film catalogue describes the film as follows: “Champion lady boxers of the world. Here we depict two female pugilists that are really clever. They are engaged in a hot and heavy one-round sparring exhibition, which is photographed against a very pleasing background, consisting of a park, with marble entrance and walk, and beautiful trees and shrubbery. The exhibition is very lively from start to finish; the blows fall thick and fast, and some very clever pugilistic generalship is exhibited.”^[1]

In an analysis of boxing in the context of modernism, Irene Gammel argues that the scene’s “symmetry and beauty [gesture] towards the artfulness of boxing as a cultivated sport.” In addition, she argues that the women’s choreographed movement shows “their boldly modern female physicality and sportsmanship.”^[2]