Miss Potter
Posted by J on November 7, 2007
Movies like Miss Potter remind us that the American self-made man myth has expanded. It now firmly and happily includes females too. Nevermind that this movie takes place in late-Victorian England, hardly the place of modern feminist ideals. It plows ahead with the idea that Beatrix Potter can and will be an Independent Woman. Every scene constantly reaffirms how easy it is for a plucky female to get rich, and how happy she is when she gets to do what she wants.
But Miss Potter does not fully indulge in feminist ideals. The fictional Beatrix Potter relishes the idea of marriage, and the movie in fact repudiates the feminist viewpoint of one of Beatrix’s friends, who at first says that men are only good for procreation but latter reverses that statement by enthusiastically urging Beatrix to marry because that’s what women need to do. You see, moviemakers understand that women need to have their cake (Marriage) and eat it too (Independence). Thus ideology, despite its attempts, will never totally trump biology.
The story engages in another cliche when Beatrix removes from London into the rural Lake District. Here, the old city/country dichotomy flourishes. In London Beatrix is cooped up in her parent’s upstairs studio. But once she leaves London and inhabits the Lake District, she’s surrounded by the inspiring beauty of the countryside. Not surprisingly, something tragic happens in London (always a place of disease in these kinds of stories), and as Beatrix copes with that she finds redemption in the country. The message, as always: stay away from cities! This message is further augmented by the last 15 minutes of the movie, wherein Beatrix battles real estate speculators from — cue bad guy music — the city, who want to develop the country into the city. Wouldn’t that be a shame? So Beatrix uses her enormous wealth to thwart the bad guy speculators, and we are told in the end that she establishes a land preservation trust to give to farmers. How agrarianism meshes with female independence beats us, but then again, this is a movie where you just have to shut the old brain down and take the night off.
Entertainment: 5
Intelligence: 3
Morality: 6
