East Coast critic (i.e., not HE): “I find it funny to see the entire media world tie itself into yoga knots pretending that Little Women is a good movie. Sasha is right about it — as storytelling it’s a mess, eager but muddled, and as a result it lacks cumulative power. The overpraise is ludicrous and sexist — it’s the empress’s new clothes.”
West Coast critic (ditto): “He’s right. Men are taken seriously and thus are given a decent and respectful critique. Women? People are ‘nice’ to them, forgiving and thus aren’t taking them seriously. Meet the new patriarchy, same as the old patriarchy. It’s a way of keeping women in a box or a gilded cage, so as not to be any kind of real threat. It’s infuriating. Women can never be taken seriously if they aren’t treated as equals.”
Reminder: “I happen to believe that Little Women is somewhere between decent, passable and not that bad. A month ago I called it ‘highly respectable, nicely burnished, well performed, lusciously authentic,’ etc. I was mildly taken with much of it, and I especially loved the scenes between Saoirse Ronan‘s Jo and Tracy Letts‘ ‘Mr. Dashwood.'”
“But I have to admit I was a wee bit taken aback by the Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic ratings of 97% and 88% respectively.” — from “Go Easy on Little Women,” posted on 11.25.
