Tea at Trianon: Another Feckless Feminist Rendering

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, January 10, 2020

Another Feckless Feminist Rendering

What a disappointment. I still might see it, though. From The American Conservative:

There’s a lot to love in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s timeless classic, Little Women. The film boasts a stunning score by Alexandre Desplat, breathtaking cinematography, and a star-studded cast including Emma Watson, Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, and Saoirse Ronan. But by taking Alcott’s heartwarming story to “new feminist heights,” Gerwig has abandoned some of the critical themes that made the original 1868 novel so important, and timeless.

These messages cannot be glossed over or forgotten if women today want to remain true to what Alcott was trying to convey with her landmark work. Little Women is the story of the four March sisters—motherly Meg, independent Jo, selfless Beth, and artistic Amy— and their heartaches, joys, triumphs and failures as they grow up against the backdrop of the American Civil War. In Gerwig’s adaptation, it’s the strength of the March sisters that takes center stage: their wit, their independence, and their determination to succeed against all odds. But Alcott’s novel reveals that the true source of the sisters endurance and stamina was their faith in God.

In one of the novel’s earliest scenes, mother Marmee gifts her girls copies of the Bible. She draws an analogy to the book Pilgrim’s Progress, telling her daughters that just like the characters in the book, they each have their own burdens, or their own weaknesses, to overcome. She explains that the Bible will be their guidebook for navigating life’s difficult journey, and that God will be their friend whom they can look to for joy, consolation, and power.

A key scene in the 2019 film—borrowed from the novel—shows Jo discouraged because she has failed to control her temper once again. Marmee admits, “I am angry nearly every day of my life.” When asked by Time magazine if the line was meant to be emblematic of feminist rage, Gerwig commented: “If you strip away this pre-Victorian morality, what you have is ambitious, passionate, angry, sexual, interesting women who don’t fit into the boxes the world has given them.” (Read more.)