“I served in the military right out of high school and I was deployed to Afghanistan, Kunar Province. Even while serving there, I didn’t feel like there were many good options in politics, so when I got home, I went to school and got interested in sociology.”
“After college, I went on to work with the Leadership Institute and it was during this time that an old professor of mine approached me about helping her make a documentary film called American Woman. The initial idea was to tell the story of different women who are involved in the conservative political movement.”
“The radical left has a tendency to try to dominate the narrative of what it means to be a woman. It is an extreme view that has a big platform. And so the film is trying to help expand the view of what it means to be a woman in this country. We asked questions like: Do you consider yourself a feminist? What are your interactions like with women who consider themselves feminists? What’s it like to be a woman who has values that are different from the status quo? The thing that is so great about the film that the five women interviewed all have different stories and different answers to the questions.”
“In the bigger picture, I do think that most Americans want a lot of the same things. They want peace of mind, they want economic stability, they want freedom to live their lives as they see fit. My hope is that the work I’m doing through the film and storytelling helps balance the narrative and reminds Americans that there is more than one way to be a good American.”
David Scarpelli
Columbia, South Carolina
Dave Scarpelli is a military veteran and storyteller. Through his documentary “American Woman”, he shines a light on conservative women who are not often represented in the media.
