Growing up in Texas, you learn that there are some words you just don’t say because they aren’t polite, and any Texan child knows the value of manners and the severity of threats like having your mouth washed out with soap.
So at all costs, we avoid words with propaganda-like nicknames: “the four letter word,” “See you next Tuesday,” and my personal favorite, “the F-word.” Shall we say it in unison? “Fem-i-nism.” Not in front of the ladies, now!
We all know that were it not for feminism, any woman reading this article would be forced to check a box on her web browser that said, “My husband knowingly has given his permission for me to access the Internet." But why, then, can’t we sit side-by-side as a unified group without any preconceived notions from our peers about the connotations that feminism might bring?
HBO recently premiered the documentary, Gloria: In Her Own Words, a film about Gloria Steinem and her inimitable, feminist voice. The documentary is a raw look into the life of the social activist: the highs — vibrant, lively and full of color (though I may just be remembering Steinem’s unending supply of colored sunglasses) — and the lows, as she herself admits, are black and white, lacking the veracity with which so many associate her.
The piece is a narrative progression from the start of Steinem’s career. Her move to New York is inundated with sexism, from finding an apartment on her own to gaining creditability as a young journalist. But the beginnings of a writer who wants to be taken seriously soon morph into images of an activist whose voice, often angrily opposed, fights for the equality that her younger self couldn’t have imagined.
“The hostility is a step forward from ridicule,” Steinem says with a nod.
The first article of Steinem’s I ever read was published in the October 1978 edition of Ms. Magazine (which she co-founded in 1972) entitled, “If Men Could Menstruate.” Though I wasn’t among the first to read it, 30 years later, her well-worn prose remained shockingly relevant. On my first acquaintance with Steinem, I was struck by her wit, measure and honest ideas. I laughed at the absurdity of themed tampons for men and, thanks to my Texas upbringing, even came up with a slogan or two for the John Wayne brand. “Life’s hard. Even harder without John Wayne tampons.”
What I really gained from that short article—aside from strategies for marketing men’s toiletries—was that finding a voice empowers a person to speak about all different kinds of things, in ways never before thought of. Before Gloria Steinem, who knew that women’s rights could be attested by mockery of men’s menstrual cycles? Who would have thought an article about men menstruating could be ever published, and in a magazine dedicated to feminism, nonetheless?
While Steinem’s story is uniquely her own, the images that comprise the piece are those that we all know quite well: Grainy, black and white video of women protesting the right to vote; a mob of women pouring the streets in the 1970 Strike for Equality March; a news clip of a Walter Cronkite broadcast with the text “Roe V. Wade Decision January 22, 1973” at the bottom of the screen.
They are those events that have so rightly gotten us to the place we are at today: A place where feminists old and young join together to laud the efforts of those before us and begrudge the term that unites us all together.
We all know that were it not for feminism, any woman reading this article would be forced to check a box on her web browser that said, “My husband knowingly has given his permission for me to access the Internet." But why, then, can’t we don our “This is what a Feminist looks like” T-shirt and sit side-by-side as a unified group without any preconceived notions from our peers about the connotations that feminism might bring?
For me, this HBO documentary makes some headway in answering this question. It is incredibly refreshing to see a singular woman’s story. We constantly hear the women’s movement, the women’s federation, and even though, as individuals we are part of these things, we don’t want to have to dye our hair magenta to be noticed on our own.
Gloria Steinem is an outstanding, talented writer, an activist whose ideas are formative in the alteration of so many people’s understandings of women’s rights and more importantly of equality—mine included. But she is one person to whom we can turn for inspiration within the movement that so inspired her.
Rather than take her experience as universal, it’s time to recognize that feminism is a familiarity of ourselves that we find within the larger group. And while the movement is growing globally to new people in far away places, it’s because of how these worldly, unifying ideas impact singular stories—like Gloria Steinem’s—that feminism, however dirty of a word, is still able to connect us. She says so herself, “Do not listen to my advice—listen to the voice inside you and follow that.”
Ben Stiller, Atlas Janson, Homer Janson, and Ulysses Janson in Nutcrackers.
A holiday-themed comedy seems like just what the doctor ordered right now, and the new Hulu film Nutcrackers steps up with a little mayhem, heartfelt sentiment, and a nod to traditions. But it doesn't add up to a memorable experience.
The film stars Ben Stiller as Mike, a high-powered Chicago architect with little time for anybody but himself whose sister and brother-in-law are recently deceased. He is supposedly there to place his four nephews — Justice (Homer Janson), Simon (Arlo Janson), Steve (Ulysses Janson), and Samuel (Atlas Janson) — into foster care. But social worker Gretchen (Linda Cardellini) informs Mike that the foster family has fallen through, and he needs to act as guardian until she can find someone else.
Whether they’re still reeling from their parents’ deaths or are just wild in general, the kids prove to be more than a handful for Mike, who always has one eye on the door, hoping to get back to his own life as soon as possible. But the longer he’s forced to stay, the more the kids grow on him, especially when he learns that at least two of them were students at their mom’s dance studio, giving him an idea to stage a version of a certain holiday classic.
Directed by David Gordon Green and written by Leland Douglas, the film would seem to have all the elements that make a holiday film memorable, but the vibe is off right from the start. First of all, the audience is thrown right into the mix along with Mike, with barely any introduction to the main characters. As their backstories are mostly missing, it’s difficult to feel anything — good or bad — about Mike or the kids, and so they just kind of co-exist for the first act of the film.
Green and Douglas can also never decide what kind of people they want the kids to be. The film starts with a scene of them sneaking into an amusement park and causing havoc, and subsequent scenes make it seem like they’re supposed to be hellions. But when the filmmakers start going back-and-forth between them wrecking things and being responsible, down-to-earth kids, the plot thread gets confusing and less interesting.
It’s also perplexing why they would cast Stiller, who’s been known to play straight-laced characters who go off the rails on many occasions, and then not let him do what he does best. Even when confronted with some of the kids’ worst behavior, Mike keeps his reactions in check, which may be good for a real-life uncle, but makes for a less-than-entertaining holiday family film.
Stiller still lives up to his star-billing at times, but the arc of his character is not that inspiring, even when a slight romance starts to bloom between Mike and Gretchen. The Janson brothers, who are making their collective film debut, are fun at times, but their lack of experience shows in their unpolished performances. Cardellini is a nice presence, but she’s not given enough to do to make a big impact.
Nutcrackers is an inoffensive movie in that it’s not so terrible that there’s no way to actually finish it. But there’s little in its story, characters, or attempt to be a holiday movie that can be recommended as a fun family watch, so it’s likely to fade away into streamer oblivion.
